HAPPY HOLLOW-WEENIE FROM CLOUDLAND! (unknown mushroom we found along the trail this morning) Lazy Dog Cam (below)

10/03/03 Late at night now, and while it is rather chilly outside - and feels GREAT! - it is toasty warm inside the cabin. It has been a busy week here, with a hectic weekend and even busier week ahead (sounds like a broken record). We had some rain overnight, and many of the trees in the area have already popped, or at least are beginning to pop color-wise. The peak of fall color is still at least a week or two away here, but some hillsides are showing very nice color already. Most of the other hillsides are still green. Must be the rain and the light.

Amber had a couple of basketball games this week. They lost both of them, but the girls really played hard. In the first game, things got a little bit out of hand, and we had three girls knocked out of the game because of injuries - Amber was one of them. The other team was trying to play like an NBA, or should I say NFL team, and really got way too rough for a 5th grade girls b-ball game. And their coach - what a dufus he was - his team was only ahead by 18-2 at half time, and he was so mad that his girls let our girls score 2 points that he made his girls practice the entire halftime break. I'm really glad our daughter is not on this guys team. Perhaps that would be appropriate for a high school team or something else, but not at this level. Amber is OK, but took a pretty hard knock. She played really well.

This is a very special weekend at Cloudland. Two of our close friends have husbands that are serving in Iraq, and have been over there for six months now. No matter what Bush said, the end to major fighting did not happen last spring, and it continues around the clock, and you no doubt witness each day on television. There is not enough thanks in the world to send to our troops who are over there - and they are doing a terrific job. But they also have families back home who have had to cope with them being gone - many tens of thousands of them are National Guard troops and not regular Army, and so the strain on and sacrifice by their families is just incredible. Anyway, we are producing a movie here this weekend to send over to these two great guys, starring their two lovely wives (plus a cast of dozens more). We have already shot some of the scenes, and will spend much of the weekend shooting more. This little bit of home video will certainly bring a good bit of laughter, and tears, to at least two of our brave fighting men in Iraq. I suspect this video is going to wind up being shown to quite a few more folks over there as well - never enough laughter in a war zone to go around.

The elk in Boxley Valley are putting on quite a show themselves these days. The big bulls are out rounding up their cows, and a symphony of bugling happens as they call them in, and other bulls vow to take their place. We stopped on the way home this evening in the dim light to listen and enjoy. Some of those bugles and video will make it onto the movie for the troops.

Getting back to the color for a minute, I must say that we have had quite a bit of movement in the color both in our upper Buffalo canyon area and down in Boxley Valley in just the past two days. The overall scene is still mostly green, but it is changing rapidly, with yellows and golds and oranges and reds all beginning to pop out in some trees. It first appeared that we were going to have a late season this fall - especially since the Rockies are a week or two behind - but these trees that are changing now are a week or two ahead of schedule, although many of them are black gums and sweet gums, which you would normally expect to change now. A few maples and even some hickories and oaks have started to change too. One valley will be glowing, while all the rest will be just summer green. Sounds like a normal autumn in the Ozarks!

Our server in Fayetteville had a bit of trouble this week, and we have not been receiving all of our e-mails. If you sent anything to me this past week and have not heard back, please re-send your e-mail - things seem to be working better now.

The trees are still loaded with nuts - especially acorns - and they continue to come down on our tin roof. I was sitting in the hot tub at first light this morning, and a strong wind from the east was blowing the nuts right on into the tub with me - two hit me right on top of the head! Good thing they weren't walnuts! The temps have been down into the 40's and 50's at night this week, with highs in the 60's during the days. Nice to be wearing blue jeans and long-sleeved shirts again. I have made a couple trips down to the river of late, and have been able to wander around through the thick brush with my long pants on with no worries about stickers or even snakes being out. Soon it will be time to simply set off and go on a long ramble, and I have a few of them in mind. The chilled air has been heavy and just perfect for taking deep into your lungs. How come we can't have this sort of weather 12 months out of the year? Well, of course, if we did, we would all get tired of it.

By the way, I know many of you take pity on me because of the tough job I have and life that I live, but I must confess my job just got a little bit better. As I was typing this I turned around and was flashed by three young ladies in their bathrobes - all headed for the hot tub. Hum, while there is a ton of work sitting on my desk and on my hard drive for me to do, there is also a half-moon lighting up the entire wilderness outside - I think I will sneak on down to the hot tub and see if there are any full moons!

Oh yea, before I do that, just one little story. Amber has this basketball that glows in the dark - really. After her game tonight she and I went out onto the court and played for another half hour. It was chilly enough that Amber had a jacket on. It was kind of surreal being out there on the court - not seeing anything other than the bouncing ball - and then trying to make a shot with it. And surprisingly enough, we made quite a few baskets! And while we were out there, a couple packs of coyotes began to howl - the half-moon had already risen and was high above. I'm not sure if they coyotes were howling at the moon, or applauding our good shots! And one final thing about playing b-ball in the dark - you can never really tell if you make the shot or not, so ALL of the shots can be swishes!

Another grub worm coming out of an acorn

10/6/03 HAPPY MONDAY, the best day of the week! It is way before first light here, and we are engulfed in pea-soup fog that is dripping our of the trees and the air. Temp about 59 degrees, no wind. The early morning air is filled with the music of crickets, tree frogs, owl hoots, and howling coyotes way off. There seem to be a lot of coyotes out these days. Sounds like a lonely life, out roaming the deep forest all night long, but I suspect they rather enjoy it - some folks are more adept that such things than others.

We had a wonderful weekend shooting the movie, and produced what I think will be a classic movie that will be enjoyed by quite a few of our troops in Iraq. Just in case news of this somehow reaches one of the husbands, I won't give any of the details away, but suffice it to say that their wives and friends created something they will cherish for many moons to come. The ladies have spent weeks coming up with the plot and script - ever since Bush instantly doubled the tours of duty of our many terrific National Guard troops over there. And everything seemed to fall into place once the camera started rolling. While my part in all of it was quite minor (I got to shoot some of the footage), I was proud to have been able to take part in such an important event.

Scott and Carolyn Crook came out to pick up nuts - goodness the nuts continue to fall. In fact it is tough to get a good night's sleep these days because they make so much noise when they hit the tin roof. Some of the nuts come crashing down onto the roof, then make a "clunk" when they hit the deck, then sometimes even roll off onto another deck with another clunk. We don't really have any squirrels right around the cabin - never had had them, even before Aspen moved in. But there is a good population of flying squirrels here. We only know of them by the acorns they leave behind that have been scoured out. And once in a while when someone sleeps out on the back deck they hear and/or see them scurrying about in the night. Scott and Carolyn reported being bombarded with acorns in the night while under the deck, from flying squirrels. That seemed most appropriate since they have seven or eight pet flying squirrels in their living room!

It has rained a good bit this weekend, mostly at night. We got more than an inch of steady rain Saturday night, then some more yesterday, and last night. And all of this fog will keep things nice and moist for awhile. But we got some good sunshine for a lot of the movie shots, and in fact the weather cooperated perfectly for all of that, which is not normally the case.

The colors in the trees seem to be changing hourly here, and with different lighting and moisture content in the air - bright, dry sunshine produces the dullest color overall, while wet, misty, rainy dim light really brings out the reds and yellows and oranges that are beginning to pop in many trees. We have a red oak growing right over the pond in the front yard that has some of the brightest RED leaves I have ever seen - oaks seldom ever turn RED, usually they are rust or orange if anything at all. Even Boxley Valley is getting into the color mode, and has made dramatic color shifts in the past couple of days. However, most of the rest of the countryside remains green overall, and the peak of fall color is still a week or two away. It will be a very confusing season though, because while it feels like it is going to be late this year, it also is producing some very good early color. Kind of odd, which is about normal for the Ozarks!

The forest is very healthy right now since we had plenty of rain during the summer, and now this fall. Everything is lush and fat and juicy, especially some of the bugs that we have been seeing.

A laurel sphinx caterpillar

Hiking in the forest is just delightful right now, at any time of the day. The earth is soft and quiet underfoot, the air is loaded with woods perfume, most bugs have disappeared - although there are still quite a few spiders out working the trails - and it is cool enough that you can put on long pants and shirt and roam around off trail if you like without fear of SNAKES. Still lots of thick underbrush though, so those long pants are a must if you get off trail. There is a great deal of eye candy too, from the still-bright poison ivy and Virginia creeper, to the sumac and dogwoods and black gums, and now a few other species that are putting on their fall dress. Even if some of the longer views are still green, you'll find lots of color up close. I highly recommend that you get out into the woods and do some hiking - especially in the next two or three weeks.

This week is going to be one major computer session for me. I have that expensive digital projector here on loan, and I have to ship it back on Wednesday. I have run some tests on it already, but I really have to put together a "real" digital slide show and see how it works going full steam. Problem is that I have to update a ton of software on my computer before I can do that, then will spend a good bit of time creating a short program to test the projector. This digital stuff is really neat, and I will have much more control over what is on the screen, from different types of fades, to the titles, and can even add a bit of motion to the still images if I care too. Actually you can get way too cute for my taste with this digital stuff, and so I will probably stick with the bare bones basic stuff, at least at first. It is possible that the current crop of software and equipment is not quite good enough for me, but I will try to work with it anyway and see what happens.

We have a basketball tournament this week, and so will be on the road quite a bit too. AND, the advance copies of Pam's new book should arrive later in the week! In fact the entire shipment should be here next week and available for sale - I'll post a notice here when they do become available.

It is beginning to break day here now, and I can gradually see a few ghostly forms of trees just outside my window. Still very thick fog - there may or may not be a scene to photograph for the Cloudland Cam until later, but I will get one posted as soon as I can. Although the computer will be taken over soon with a two-hour download of some new software, so the cam may be late today.

The windows are all closed, yet I am now hearing a number of different bird songs filtering into the cabin - they must be singing their hearts out to be able to get through all of this wood - I think I'll post this now and go wander outside for a little while as the computer updates and see what I can find.

Why do I LOVE Mondays? Because when you work for yourself, you often really enjoy your work - like I do - and I look forward to a brand new week filled with neat stuff. Also, on Monday I have the entire week to get things done - as opposed to Fridays, which I really don't like too much - once Friday arrives, I am usually way behind and only have one day to get everything done! So I hope that you can enjoy your Monday too.

It is later in the afternoon now, and while the computers were downloading a couple hundred megabytes of files we managed to slip off for a wonderful hike around the mountain. At first it was really foggy, and we couldn't even see the tops of the trees. Lots of muted yellows and oranges filtering down through the mist. Lots of bright colors out at the edges of the meadows, including sumac, goldenrod, and, of course, those dogwoods - my oh my how the dogwoods are glowing! Some trees have brilliant red berries but still green leaves, while the leaves of other trees are red with red berries, some are in between - each one an entirely different color scheme.

Goldenrod and sumac (above), dogwood berries (below)

And then we found this really neat orb weaver web in the orchard, and the dude was still asleep right in the middle of his web. I snuck up on him and fired off a couple of frames, then the battery in my camera went dead. How great these little artists of nature are! (They don't taste too good, but I love their webs on a dewy morning!)

An orb weaver web in the orchard

The rest of our hike was very nice, as we wound on through the colorful understory of the forest and along the edges of meadows. Lots of mushrooms popping up all over the place too, although they were all really tiny, and mostly white.

Pam's dad got us a couple of GIANT pumpkins to place at the base of our entrance sign last week. As we approached them today it was obvious that something had disturbed them - one had been knocked over and the other one had visible marks on it. Looks like Mr. Bear had paid a visit to our pumpkins! One of them had a clear set of claw marks on it where the bear reached out and slapped it. The other one had a clear set of TEETH marks on it! The bear had opened wide and dug his teeth in, but did not take a bite - one set of upper teeth marks and one set of lower teeth marks, about 5-6 inches apart. I guess he just didn't like the taste of those Missouri pumpkins!

When we got back to the cabin the computers were still downloading, so I loaded up my real camera equipment and headed back out into the forest once again. The fog had almost entirely lifted, but the light was still soft and the air moist. I returned to the best patch of dogwood berries and spent about 45 minutes taking photos there. Then I moved on to the orchard, back to the spider web where my camera batteries failed (ALWAYS carry spare batteries!). The spider was awake now and hiding at the very top of his web, but there was still plenty of dew on the web so I took a bunch of photos. A slight breeze had come up though, and I was not really sure I got a good shot.

When I returned to the cabin I jumped into computer stuff, and spent the next couple of hours working on stuff, leaving just enough time to make this post before we headed off to Amber's next basketball game tonight in Flippin. I didn't have time to look at the second set of photos that I took, but hope to have one good enough for a calendar shot - I just LOVE those dogwood berries!

10/7/03 It was 2:45am when I finally gave in and got up out of bed and headed down to the computer. I had been tossing and turning for quite a while - seems like ever since we got home very late from Amber's basketball game. Visions of computer screens were running through my head, and I just could not get to sleep. So I fired up the computer and dug in for a long haul of research and reading and downloading. When I next looked up at the clock it was 2:55 - PM! I had been sitting at the computer without a break for more than 12 hours. Sometimes I get into this zone and can't hardly break away. I do vaguely remember that we had once spectacular morning outside, with a classic bank of clouds in the canyon, and bright sunshine above. I waited to take the deck cam shot for just a few more minutes, and then I looked out the window and all of the clouds had vanished - had it been two minutes or two hours?

At 3 in the afternoon I had run into yet another dead end, so I decided that my bug eyes had had enough for one morning, and decided to take a break and go out for a hike. I also had to download another 180mb of software from the Apple site, and that was going to take a while.

Holy foliage we have some wonderful color in the area right now! Brilliant oranges and reds and yellows - could it only be October 7th? For some reason, the Buffalo River Valley area is turning color, and at a quick pace (some of it 25-30% turned). That does not seem to be the case elsewhere (mostly still green), but then I don't live elsewhere so don't worry about it too much.

It was a wonderful hike down to the river, but on the way back up I realized it had been too long since I had been down there, and not only were my breaths quite long and heavy, but my legs were weary. And my head was pounding - from the computer screen no doubt. Even the dogs were tuckered out by the time we reached the base of the bluff. The temp was warm - probably up into the low 70's, and the humidity was in the upper 80%s - very humid for this time of the year.

A little while before I went on my hike Pam yelled down from the loft for me to go outside and "listen." It was cloudy, and not much wind at all. What she wanted me to hear was the rush of an oncoming rain shower - sounded like a large waterfall to me, man it was loud! And steady. We could see the rain way out there in the valley, but it didn't seem to be coming in our direction. As it turns out it wasn't, and we didn't get even a single drop of rain, even though the shower continued on within our hearing range for 30 minutes. In fact there were even clouds formed upstream by the rain, but none as far down as Whitaker Creek.

Pam was able for the first time to actually sit down and relax and enjoy her prize that she had given herself for completing the kids guidebook - a rocker with large, stuffed pillows, out on the sunrise deck. This was to be her reading spot, and that is what she was doing much of today - sitting out there with a dog in her lap and cat at her feet, rocking and reading and listening to the rain that never came, and enjoying life. She deserves it more than most.

Speaking of the new book, we will get the advance copies of it TOMORROW (Wednesday)!!! Pam's first interview with a reporter about the new book will be on Thursday. We should have the books here and ready to sell sometime next week. I'll soon post an image of the book cover, along with a listing of all the trails, and order info. I did a very good job picking out my bride.

It is after 10pm tonight and I just quit for the day. I have run into what will perhaps be a major dead end for me and my hopes of converting my slide/music programs over to digital. I have been working on the project for many, many moons now, and have finally determined that the software that I need to produce these shows simply is not available. The $4,000 projector will go back tomorrow, and I will get on with other business items that I have been neglecting. The problem is the software, which is a problem that will be solved in the near future. Something may come along tomorrow, or next year, but when it does, I'll jump back into it and spend many more sleepless nights working to perfect my shows.

Speaking of the moon, I was just outside soaking in the hot tub. It is one incredible scene out there right now. The moon is about 3/4 full (full moon will be on Friday, not before!), and it is shining down onto a sea of clouds that have all crowded down into the bottom of the canyon - from the afternoon rains no doubt. The air is still, but yet filled with motion - the motion of the sounds of the night, which include hoot owls and coyotes. Their cries and laughter skip across that sea of clouds and bounce off far ridgetops, then echo throughout the wilderness. I am a happy listener, and content to view all of this as my digital slide/music program for the night - none better!

10/9/03 We are in the middle of a real frog-strangler here this morning - more than an inch so far and it doesn't look like it will let up anytime soon. Sometimes a lot of rain can cut back on the fall color, but this past week every time we have had rain the color just seems to have come charging forward. No telling what this rain is going to do for it, but I look forward to sitting around and waiting to see!

The color here yesterday morning was nothing short of spectacular. We had heavy fog that hung around for a good long while, and even through it was not raining, the moisture in the air really brought out vivid color everywhere you looked. I mean the ground was COVERED with fire it seemed - poison ivy and Virginia creeper and other short-growing plants and small trees were brilliant reds, yellows and oranges. Many of the maples here have begun to turn - what am I talking about - they are PEAKED and bright yellow! At least the young ones are. Other maple trees are bright red, while still many others remain summer green from top to bottom. When the sun came out in the afternoon much of the color went away, but there was still quite a bit around. I can tell this is going to be a tough fall color season to judge - since it is already terrific around here, yet still completely green just over the hill. My advice to anyone looking for good color is to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE and go look for it!

Speaking of fall, I just had to pass on the following poem that the grandmother of a Journal reader in California sent me the other day:

How in the world could anyone say it any better? THANKS Lois for passing that along!

I spent most of yesterday at the computer, updating to a new operating system and installing new software. That will go on for weeks I'm sure. Since I am operating now with two different e-mail systems for a while, and switching back and forth between two operating systems, you may see a glitch here and there with the Journal, but I will try to make it all smooth without any major problems. One issue is that the software I have been using all these years to produce and edit the web pages does not work with the new operating system on the computer. I have wanted to switch to new software anyway, so that will happen soon. In the meantime, I have to go into the old system to do the Journal, but I think it will be OK. May be another several weeks before I switch to the new Journal software, and when I do, you will also see a completely new format for the web pages - still simple, but I think even better than they are now.

My lovely bride Pam had one of the best days of her life I think. We got to roam around the beautiful forest here a little bit in the morning, then she went out and picked up a couple buckets of hickory nuts and acorns for our friends Scott and Carolyn. I have always found doing that is so relaxing and enjoyable - especially when the surroundings are so beautiful. And then her moment of truth came - our UPS guy drove up with a copy of Pam's new book!!! We've both been holding our breaths because some of the things we did on the computer with the files that they printed the book from were untried by us, and we did not get a chance to see proofs of the books before they were printed. EVERYTHING about the book looks GREAT!!! I am so proud of this young lady, and what she has been able to do from scratch with this book. There was a broad smile on her face as she drove away to go into town for a painting class she is taking. While in town she sold 100 copies of the book at her first stop! Then, as she drove up to the window as Chick Filet she heard cow bells going off - she was the 100th customer of the day, and her dinner was free! And if all of that wasn't enough, she brought home a beautiful pastel painting that she did in class - it was way late at night when she got home and she was tickled pink with her new work of art - and so was her beaming husband! And then, to top off the day in grand style, it began to rain - she loves wind and rain. Good night my sweet princess, and may you have many more days like this one at Cloudland - you deserve it!

Speaking of the new book, they arrived at the truck terminal in Springdale at 4:19 this morning. Since it is raining now - and looks to continue for awhile - I won't be able to go into town and get all 2300 pounds of them until later. But I am about to activate the new book in the online store this afternoon, and that means you can go ahead and order it later today - the books will ship out on Friday, or whenever you want to order! CLICK HERE to go directly to the guidebooks spot in the store.

Right now the wind is blowing hard and the rain is still coming down. I can just barely see a few distant ridges beginning to show through the fog and rain. You should hear the NUTS crashing into the tin roof! And here in a few minutes I am going to hike up to the office to process some book orders for UPS to pick up today, and I will need to take a hard hat with me - or be very good at dodging the flying nuts.

10/12/03 Another hectic few days at Cloudland, but I think we are past most of the rush for a few days. We've had some rain, and a bit of sunshine. The temp was in the upper 40's early this morning, and the sun is just now popping out at 9am. It is a beautiful, early fall morning in the Ozarks.

The other night I was up at the office moving books and calendars around to make room for the shipment of Pam's books. There was a constant barrage of acorns hitting the tin roof, and it sounded like a shooting gallery. I got clobbered on the way back down to the cabin in the dark - got nailed by more than a dozen acorns by my count, a couple of them right square on top of my head! Here is a photo that I took the next morning of our lower deck at the cabin - it had been swept clean just the day before. There is a Wise Old Owl saying in the new guidebook that says a mature oak tree can produce 50,000 acorns a year - from the looks of our deck each day that may be an UNDERstatement!

We've taken a few short hikes around the mountain, and have been seeing a lot of bear sign. The hiking is easy and the earth underfoot soft and silent. This is a time of the year when you can wander and ramble and take any turn or direction that you please in the forest and be met with pleasant scenes, and often downright incredible sights. There is so much beauty in the detail, there for the taking if you have the time to slow down and look.

Indian Pipe (left) and "pumpkin" mushrooms (right)

Sassafras leaves

Hiking the lane

The maples are beginning to turn!

I've been getting up at 3am most every day this past week - simply cannot sleep because my mind is racing. Still so much computer work to do, and a lot of book processing to do now that Pam's new guidebook has arrived. It has been received quite well, and orders from individuals are coming in often. You probably won't see it at your local bookstore for a little while (ask for it so they know someone is interested in it!), although you can already get them at the Pack Rat in Fayetteville, Books Galore in Harrison, and at the Elk Info Center in Jasper. Soon they will be on the shelves at all the normal outlets that stock our other books. If you order direct through our online store (or call the 800-838-HIKE number) we get orders out the next day, so it doesn't take too long to receive your books. It has been fun getting to hand Pam a pile of books for her to autograph - we sign everything that goes out the door here direct to customers. I hope she gets writer's cramp by Christmas!

10/13/03 I must admit that I am an addict, and have been one for some time. I guess it is all of these early mornings and late nights that have gotten to me. I am hooked, hopelessly, and it is really cutting into my personal life. But now I think that I have finally hit bottom, and can finally admit it out loud - I am addicted to the computer. The darn thing has taken over my life. I can't run my business without it. Nor the business of the Ozark Highlands Trail Association. Certainly the Cloudland Journal would not exist without my computer. Now all of my photo things are done entirely on the computer. Nearly all communication with the outside world is while sitting right here at the keyboard. I've had a personal computer for nearly 20 years now, including six horrid years with a IBM PC and DOS - good grief, do some of you remember DOS? While Windows is still a far cry from even the early Macs, it is miles ahead of DOS. Anyway, I am addicted, and really need to do something about it before I go insane. (Note that I do not have any games on my computers like most others do, nor spend even a second in chat rooms or other personal online areas - I really only use the computers for business - good grief, how could I survive if I got into all of that other stuff?) Anyway, the only place I know of to go for treatment is out into the wilderness, which is where I headed this afternoon.

We had HEAVY fog cover all day today, from well before first light until dark. I decided to pack my "real" digital camera with me today when I loaded up and headed down the steep hill towards the river and into that thick fog. The woods were silent, except for the acorns and hickory nuts that came crashing down here and there around me. Hardly any spider webs across the trail today - I wonder why?

The river was flowing pretty good - higher than it has been in a month or two. I had trouble getting across it without getting my feet wet, but I did manage to get across and to the other side OK. The floods that we have had in the past five years have been eating away at the creek bank, and I had to struggle to get up the ten-foot tall wall of bare dirt, roots, and rocks.

Very few people ever venture over to the other side of the river, and while it was nearly flat over there, it was also completely grown up with green briar vines, wild roses, and all sorts of sticker bushes. Good thing I had on long pants and shirt. It took only about two minutes for both dogs to be covered with stickers.

There were some nice colors along the riverbank, but very muted ones. Dogwoods were the most colorful, with some trees being completely bright red - leaves and berries. Sweetgums were mostly yellow, with some red along the edges of the leaves.

I had intended to take photos of the colors reflected in the quiet pools of the river. As soon as I fought my way upstream and back out to the edge of the river I realized that was probably not going to happen. There were some really nice reflections for sure, but Aspen would not allow any of them to remain that way as long as he was around. And I certainly could not fault him from jumping into and swimming laps in each pool that I came to - he is a Springer Spaniel, and has webbed feet, so naturally he has to be in the water!

The Buffalo River today

Beech leaves in a quiet pool (the blue sky appeared for just a few minutes, beaming color down into the water)

I never did see the intense color that I had hoped for, and the foggy air made everything even more muted. But it was a delightful wilderness that I was tripping through all the same. I hardly ever thought about the computer way back up there on the hill that was waiting for my return.

After a while I stumbled (literally) onto this area that had several big old beech trees growing right along the creek bank. The river had eroded away much of the dirt around them, revealing an incredible patchwork of bare roots. I was stopped dead in my tracks by one particular tree, and spent nearly 30 minutes taking his picture. Sometimes you just connect with a tree or a rock or a certain spot out in the forest, and today this was my spot, and this tree was mine. Aspen didn't think too much of it - he was busy messing up another photo that I had wanted to take nearby. But Lucy seemed intent on sticking right next to me, and she did so the entire time I was with this old beech tree.

My beech tree buddy

One of the best things about digital photography is the fact that you get to see your picture right after you take it - there is no wondering if you "got" it right or not, especially the exposure, because the camera shows you everything you need to know right away. You save a lot of time and "film" that way.

Speaking of time, I don't have a clue how long I was down wandering along the river, but I do know that when I finally turned around to head back out there was a lot less light than when I had began! It didn't take me too long to reach the bottom of the hill and begin the steep trek. It also didn't take me too long to realize that the extra weight of my big camera gear on my back was going to make the climb a lot tougher on me. I have grown fat and lazy once again from sitting in front of this computer the past couple of months. No matter, I was bound and determined to keep up a steady pace and not stop to blow all the way to the top. My legs got a little bit wobbly a couple of times, but I did manage to make it all the way up and out without stopping. Then I did 60 sit-ups on the back deck, just as the light was fading from the sky.

That little trip into the wilderness was a great bit of therapy, but since I have been back the computer has had a hold of me once again. No doubt we cannot run our lives out here without regular use of one, two, or three computers, but in the future I will try to curtail my addiction and spend more time in the woods, or at the very least type faster!

One funny story from yesterday. We were coming home from Missouri late in the evening. You should have seen the circus going on in Boxley Valley. There were cars lined up on both sides of the highway, and people sitting and standing all over the place - all looking for elk. Yet not a single elk in sight! It was so funny. I guess they were waiting for them to come out of the woods. BUT, about a half mile up the valley, there was a herd of elk, actually two herds - one herd of cows with a big bull elk in command, and another smaller herd in the same pasture that was all young bulls. The big boy was sounding off, which echoed up and down the valley and sounded just great. There was perhaps 35-40 vehicles watching it all. And many of them were locals (hum, I guess that we were too!), but also lots of folks who had spent the weekend in the area and waited around for the elk to come out. They have really become quite the tourist attraction.

The cabin has been pounded with nuts the past hour or two - a big storm seems to be brewing, although there is nothing on the radar to indicate such. Pam loves the wind, so we are going to open her window tonight. I love the wind too, but when I am out there in the forest where I can really experience it - I am a very light sleeper, so wind keeps me up all night. Hum, if that happens tonight I guess I will need to wander downstairs and fire up the computer and get a little work done...

10/15/03 The temp is just a little chilly early this morning - 48 - the sky is clear and there is no wind. There is a little bit of soft music in the air, music that we have not heard much of in the past couple of months. The Buffalo River far below is humming a lullaby to autumn. We got nearly two inches of rain night before last, which brought the waterways up just a little bit. All of that moisture seems to have slowed down the progress of the color too, and that, along with brilliant blue skies and sunshine, show that we still have a great deal of green left in our hills. I think this coming weekend will be great for color, but there will be plenty left for the next weekend too, especially in other parts of the Ozarks.

The lower deck is once again completely covered with acorns - we had strong winds along with the rains, and that tossed the trees back and forth and knocked lots of fruit from their branches. What a great year to be a squirrel! Or deer, or any other critter of the forest that loves acorns and their associated worms.

Pam and Amber had their first big newspaper interview about the new guidebook last night (on the phone). It will appear in the Springfield News Leader in a couple of weeks. Pam was really dreading doing an interview, but from the sounds of the laughter on her end of the phone line I think she did enjoy it. While I didn't know about this tree when I first moved here, there was a large fruit tree nearby, and when someone shook it really hard these two peaches landed and rolled up onto the front porch and into the cabin - I am very proud of my two girls!
Milancy McNamara is coming by later this morning with a brand new William McNamara original painting. I have been photographing each one that he does this past year or two for their web site. Billy is certainly one of the most talented painters in the land, and I look forward to seeing what he has been up to. It is actually quite a treat to get to see his new work, in the raw, before it is framed.

Pam is going into town to help out with an ice cream party for Amber's basketball team. It was amazing to watch this group of young people work and play so hard. While they didn't set any records, they did have a respectable season, and it was a lot of fun to go watch each game. I have always felt that athletics are an important part of growing up, and as many kids as possible should participate at whatever level they can. Amber is a perfect example of that - she is certainly not tall enough to be considered a natural basketball player, but she turned out to be one terrific defensive player, one of the most feared on the team. She'll begin to score some points as the years roll on and has she becomes a more round basketball player (if she continues to love the spot as much as she does now). Neither Pam nor I plan to push her in any particular direction as far as sports goes - she can play if she wants to, or not - but we do want her to participate in something she is going to enjoy, and then work at and do the very best she can - just like we encourage and expect her to do in any other part of her life. Of course, if she continues this basketball stuff, I'M going to have to get a lot better just to keep up with her on the Cloudland Court!

A persimmon tree after the storm blew away all of its leaves (Pam's photo)

Evening light in the headwaters of Whitaker Creek

When I arrived I found that most of the brilliance of the maples had either faded away, gone back to green, or been knocked off by the storms of the past couple of days. Not much to photograph, but I did venture on down to the bluff and got a shot of some clouds setting low in the valley.

Boxley Valley

The new McNamara painting is really nice, and I spent about an hour with the former Mrs. William McNamara photographing the painting and working up an image to go on their web site. It always amazes me when Milancy shows up with an $8,000 painting tacked to a sheet of board that we just set on a chair in the living room - we have to shoot the photo before the painting is protected and framed.

The new William McNamara painting (untitled as of yet)

After another hour or two of computer work I decided that it was time for me to take the afternoon off, so I grabbed my little digital camera and walking stick. The mail had run and I needed to hike out and go fetch it.

My route today was along the top of the bluff towards Hawksbill Crag, from there I would follow the trail on out to the road and to the mailbox, then return via the road.

It was obvious those big storms had knocked down a LOT of leaves - the forest floor was carpeted with newly-dried leaves several inches thick. I absolutely LOVE walking in those dry leaves! No other sound in the world can match that of your boots crunching their way through the leaves. I found myself dragging my feet just so I could hear the swoooooshhh of the leaves. The sun was bright, the sky blue, a nice breeze kept the color of the forest above my head swirling around - it was a delightful time to be in the woods!

There was no one at the Crag, and in fact I did not see another soul the entire hike. The trail had been covered with falling leaves, yet most of the trees were still green. Lots of color has already happened around here, but lots more to come!

Hawksbil Crag today

My normal routine on a hike to the mailbox would be to leave the trail just before the climb up and out to the road and bushwhack up a little creek that heads up to near the mailbox. That area of forest was cut - no actually butchered a year or so ago, and now it is a no-mans-land in there and almost impossible to cross. I've been sticking with the trail ever since the cut, all the way out to the road. But today, for some strange reason, I decided to go ahead and leave the trail at the normal point and cut across the clearcut area. It was awful colorful in there.

I hadn't gone 20 feet and knew it was a mistake. I found myself completely surrounded and engulfed in a thick mass of STICKERS! Wild rose bushes and vines that were taller than me had me by the throat. But I insisted on pushing forward, deeper and deeper into the mess. The footing wasn't too good either, as there were deep ruts of two and three feet deep left by the logging skidders. It was a mess of the first degree. I pressed on. And when the stickers and vines gave way to a little bit of daylight, there were these ten-foot-tall weeds that were covered with a million burs and seeds and all sorts of things that reached out and grabbed you. Poor Aspen - he was covered with them in an instant, as were my pant legs and long-sleeved shirt. They were sticking right on through that shirt and poking my stomach and back and sides. But the sun was shining and the sky was blue and there was a great deal of color all around. I had to press on - too much mess behind me to turn around.

FINALLY the three of us emerged on the other side, cut up and torn, but so happy to be out of that mess! It was a short climb up through a beautiful stand of maples to the main road, and then out to the mailbox. Not a short-cut I would want to do again tomorrow, but I'm glad I fought my way on through. Life should not be easy all the time.

As we were hiking the road on back through the maple grove I could look down into the tangled mess we had just been through and laugh just a little bit. Aspen kept me company up on the road while Lucy disappeared on down the hill - she seems to do that a lot on these hikes, especially once we have turned around and are heading back towards the cabin.

A minute later I heard her yell out. Then again. And again. She had something, and was hot on the trail of it. Most likely it was a rabbit - Lucy loves to chase rabbits. Sometimes she will run them around for an hour, then show up back at the cabin all tuckered out, yet ready to jump up and run another one. Her voice got louder. And louder. Sounded like she was coming up the hill towards me. She had been right back down in the middle of all that thick stuff - why in the world would she venture back into that mess? Of course, I think for Lucy, it wasn't really a mess, but just a jungle playground!

I stopped on the road and turned around to look and she what she was going to run out onto the road. Then son of a gun, I was at once stunned and proud and, well, speechless for just a few seconds. It all happened in an instant - maybe even in a half instant. I could hear Lucy getting close, really close. Then there was a crash. And another crash. Then another. And then there he was - he bounded right out into the middle of the road, jump, jump, then disappeared into the thick brush on the opposite side of the road - he never even bothered to slow down and glance my way. It was a BEAR!!! Lucy, our little city-slicker, dainty, puny, skinny, dog, had not only jumped up a bear, but had chased the darn thing right on out of the thicket! Just as I was rubbing my eyes in disbelief, Lucy appeared at the edge of the road, in hot pursuit. I managed to yell out and get her stopped, and she immediately came running over to me. GOOD DOG LUCY!!! Just about that time Aspen came trotting back to see what all the commotion was about. While he was not exactly ready to give up the title of SuperDog, there is no doubt a new SUPERDOG on Cave Mountain, and her name is Lucy!

It wasn't a large bear - probably just a couple of years old and on his own for the first time - but his fur was shiny black and he seemed fat and healthy, as he should be at this time of the year. Quite a handsome young bear if you ask me.

The rest of our trip back to the cabin was rather uneventful, but I do believe I could detect a little more bounce in Lucy's stride, and a broad smile on her face.

10/18/03 Cool and crisp outside early this morning, and it feels great! Temp about 44. The sun just popped up over the eastern horizon a little while ago (it is 8:15 now), and is sending bright sunshine spilling down into the canyons of the wilderness below. The tall bluffline that runs through most of the wilderness (and also just down below the cabin) is one of the indicators we use to know when it is time to get up - if the sun hits the bluffline at this one point, we know we have slept in too late! This is the same bluffline that Hawksbill Crag is on, but it is out of this photo and about a mile away if you were hiking along the top of the bluff. Time to get up!

Time to get up!

I drove into Harrison late yesterday to deliver some packages to UPS there ($5,000 worth of Pam's new books going to the main Barnes & Noble warehouse in New Jersey - they will be on the shelves in a couple of weeks). I was stunned at how dull and lifeless the colors where all around. We've had nearly six inches of rain here in the past couple of weeks, and as I had noted might happen, all of that rain has really knocked the color right out of the forest. There are still many nice individual trees, but the overall view is very dull. Much of the bright colors that we had a week ago got knocked off by the strong storms, and the moisture literally stopped the progress of additional color in its tracks. Will the color come back from this? I suspect it will, and still think we will have a splendid fall color season here - now it will be on time instead of early!

Speaking of storms, the other night we had a big one roll through late in the evening. All three of us were working away at computers in the cabin. The power began to flicker, then went out, then back on again, then out again. We shut everything down (our computers are connected to expensive backup batteries so we don't lose stuff when the power goes out), and got the cabin ready for a night without power. The girls went up into the loft and read by candle light, I dug out the guitar and sat on the sofa and played in the dark. It was actually a very nice, relaxing evening without power, with John Denver music drifting up into the candle light and past my two sweet ladies...

Even if the color views are not dramatic right now, the hiking is some of the best you will ever have, EVER! The fall forest is always so inviting and wonderful to be a part of. And now that so many of the leaves have been blown off the trees - and many others have simply let lose and fallen to the ground - the SMELL of the forest is just terrific! Nothing else has the aroma of just-fallen leaves. Smells bring back to many vivid memories, and what we have right now always reminds me of the many years I spent in the fall woods deer hunting. Those were some of the finest days of my youth and young adulthood.

I used to bow hunt and muzzle loader hunt, which got me out in the woods before the leaves all were gone for the main gun deer season in November. And those hunts and scouting trips gave me ample time and opportunities to simply wander around in the woods, taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells. It was on those hunting trips that I learned so much of the forest and its critters, and that formed the base for who I am today, good or bad. I know, I know, so many of you are dead set against hunting, but I must tell you, it is one of the best things that a young person - or a person of any age for that matter - can do. Being out in the woods, on your own, teaches you a great deal about yourself, about the wilderness and wildlife, and about life in general - lessons you cannot get anyplace else. For me, and for a lot of folks, killing is not the only reason to be there. I used to live and die for hunting seasons, often spending literally months each year out hunting, even when I was in school (I always found ways to go hunting every day!). I quit hunting back in the early 1980's - not because I turned against it - but because I simply felt I no longer needed the "excuse" of hunting in order for me to get out into the woods. Also I lost the taste for wild game. I am still behind hunting and the reasons for it (hunting seasons are REQUIRED in order for us to have healthy herds of wildlife, believe it or not, and hunters are the ones who pay to have wildlife here in the first place - early pioneers nearly wiped out most of our wildlife), but I prefer to let someone else kill my "game" for me - every ounce of meat that all of us eat came from a living animal that had to be killed by someone!

Anyway, I LOVE the smell of the woods in the fall, and I highly recommend that you get out into the forest and take a few deep breaths...It is great for the soul....

10/20/03 We had a great hike-in and 22nd birthday party for our little Ozark Highlands Trail Association hiking club - more than 50 folks from six states hiked in and enjoyed a feast around the campfire. The weather was perfect. Amber and Pam both carried large backpacks, as did Aspen. It was a wonderful time to be out in the woods.

One couple had come from far off over in southern Oklahoma somewhere, and we were tickled to discover that they are avid Journal readers. Their knowing who Aspen was paid off bigtime because they were kind enough to keep him corralled a time or two while Pam and I were off doing other things. Only the BEST people read the Cloudland Journal!

Late last night I got into it with a swarm of wasps up in the loft. Each year the wasps and ladybugs swarm on warm October days, and it got up to nearly 80 here yesterday so they were really active. I battled them for nearly an hour - there were hundreds of them coming out of the woodwork. By the time it was all over the floor was covered with dead wasps, and my arm with wasp stings. My lovely bride came to the rescue with a mix of baking soda and water which help take the burn away. We'll be bombing the cabin several times in the coming weeks to help take care of the problem.

Don't know if it was the wasp thing or the fact that I didn't get much sleep the night before, but I was wide awake by 2-something this AM so got up and went down to the computer to work. Sometime in the middle of the night my efforts were rewarded as I stumbled onto a note in a computer software message board where I was researching that saved me $110 on an operating system upgrade that I am getting ready to do - I need to spend more sleepless nights doing research! Seems that the info was in a hidden area of the company web site, and you just had to know exactly where to look.

It is really hot out today, with good breezes though. Bright sunshine too. Pam is out hiking to the mailbox with the dogs, Amber is downstairs watching "You've Got Mail" on the TV (they are out of school today for "fall" break). The ladies spent much of the morning outside in the sunshine cleaning off the decks - the decks were covered up again with acorns - hundreds of them!

Today is newsletter day for me, and also "fix stuff" day - we have at least three major components of our cabin system on the blink, and I have to figure out how to get them working again (when things stop working out here you don't pick up the phone and call a repairman - you simply figure it out). I've made several trips up to the office and back this morning, and with all of the work I have left to do, that will probably be my hiking for the day. I prefer cooler weather anyway, which I think will be here tomorrow. No doubt it is going to be a glorious week in the Ozarks - we should have a great deal of color all over by the weekend. I have two digital photo workshops this weekend, so am looking forward to all that color.

Both dogs just came running into the cabin - that means Pam can't be far behind...

10/22/03 Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. Well, you get the idea. That is what is sounds like hiking in the Ozarks these days! The air is filled with streaks of golden sunshine, and blowing leaves that at first race along with the wind, and then stop in their tracks and begin to float back and forth when the breeze quits. Few things in life are as wonderful as spending time in the woods right here, right now.

I was up and outside early this morning watching the heavens for shooting stars, or actually for the "Orionids" meteor shower. Actually it was more of a trickle than a shower, but the other objects in the pre-dawn sky were of more interest to me anyway. There has been just a TINY silver sliver of a moon rising just before dawn this week, and it has been flanked by Saturn and Jupiter, both shining brightly in the dark blue/black sky.

Not much wind this morning, only the soft hush of the rushing waters of the Buffalo River far below in the darkness.

After spending a bit of time staring into the sky, I decided to go ahead and hike around the loop, even though it was still mostly dark. And I even took my big camera and tripod with me! Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. I didn't find too much to photograph - or perhaps I was having too much fun just wandering around out there in the woods to take the time to stop and work. But it was a wonderful hike, and I got to visit a lot of the mountaintop just as it was beginning to wake up for the day.

The one time I did stop was to photograph my favorite deciduous holly tree whose berries have just turned bright red, no make that BRILLIANT red! I have been watching those berries all summer as they began to grow, then reached their final size but were green in color. And now they have matured. The entire tree is heavy with these berries - what a feast a flock of birds will have later this winter! And I think we are going to be in for a pretty "good" winter, so the little fellows will need the extra calories.

We had a great deal of color last night at sunset, and it was more like an Alaskan sunset then one here in Arkansas - the color lasted for nearly an hour! Not sure what caused that, but long after I put away my camera gear and went inside I stepped back out and found the western sky still on fire. This is just a wonderful time of the year. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch..

Sunset last night

10/27/03 A big sigh of relief today at the cabin - we survived a hailstorm of people over the weekend that included two digital photo workshops, Bob's 200+ folks at his big BBQ and Bluegrass event (many of them came to the cabin to enjoy the view), plus a Boy Scout troop, and horses and no telling how many other folks coming and going. And, of course, we DID NOT have any of the bad weather they were glooming and dooming about - it sprinkled lightly for about five minutes and that was it all weekend.

We turned the cabin into a classroom with computer cables and stuff all over the place. I realized early on that my workshop that filled up quickly had too many people in it, so I split it up into two workshops - thank goodness for that! The basement entertainment room was all sealed off with heavy blankets so no light could get in. I borrowed a $4,000 digital projector and ran Ethernet cables to a laptop computer connecting it to the big computers upstairs. We used all of this for most of the classroom work of editing photos the groups took in the morning sessions, then sent the finished files upstairs to be printed (each participant got to take home a nice color print of their work).

We also got to spend some time out in the wilderness taking pictures, but not nearly enough of that.

These were the very first digital photo workshops that I have ever done (I've been doing workshops for nearly 20 years, but all of them have been film-based). One thing I noticed right away was that the quality of photographers we had in attendance was higher than in previous years - I think one reason is that we were all shooting digital, which seems to make you a better photographer! At least, that is what happened this weekend with our two groups. We had folks come from as far away as down along the Texas coast near Galveston. One thing about nature photographers - they are just like most hikers that I know in that they are the best sort of people you could ever want to be around, every one of them.
 

One really funny moment for me, and I guess it would have to rate as a Cloudland moment. My darling daughter of ten not only helped her momma get the place ready for all of the company and kept things running, but she also spent a lot of time in the classroom with all of us. I had no idea she was absorbing so much of the technical stuff we were discussing (some of it way over my head), until late on the second day she spoke up and made a comment about something that was up on the projection screen that was giving me problems - "Perhaps you need to lower the opacity of your curves layer from 100% down to 10 or 15%." What? Most of us in the room could barely even speak that language, and not only was Amber speaking it quite clearly, she was RIGHT! For being such a great all-around kid I am going to award her a computer of her own. I was quite proud of her.

That goes without saying for her mom as well, but I must confess that I did not treat Pam too well on her birthday - which was yesterday - I got up early and left her to clean up the cabin and prepare for the next group, then made her cook us all lunch, and kept her cabin hostage until long into the evening. Then when everyone had left I collapsed up into the loft. And all I got her for her 34th birthday was a vacuum cleaner! In my defense I must say that is exactly what she wanted. (I'm not very good at giving gifts.)

The fall color around here has not come charging back as I had hoped, and in fact much of the Buffalo River area is on its way towards winter. Oh there is still much green around, but many of the really spectacular species have already lost their leaves. I have not been out so don't know what the rest of the state is up to, but I suspect it too will have duller colors than normal because of the large amount of rainfall we've had in October.

I've been out in the woods a couple of times this morning and can report that the forest is absolutely WONDERFUL, blazing colors or not! It smells great, and the cool temps (39 here this morning) FEEL terrific. We've got lots of sunshine today, and it is breezy. There has been a wall of clouds across the southern horizon all morning that doesn't seem to be going anyplace.

At some point later this week I may post a few photos that our students took this past weekend, and will let you know if and where. Right now I have to run into town and get some business done, then I hope to get back in time to go hiking before sunset!

10/28/03 The sun was sinking low in the eastern sky when I put on my boots and headed down towards the river late this afternoon. The dead leaves on the ground were so thick that my boots disappeared into them and I could not see what I was stepping on. It was a glorious afternoon filled with bright sunshine, a slight breeze, cool temps, and not a care in the world. And while the overall view from up here has gotten quite dismal, once you get out into the forest there is color a plenty. In fact, the trees were on fire with color on my way down the mountain! Of course, late afternoon is the very best time to view fall color - the warmth of the spectrum at that time of day really makes the leaves pop.

Then I hiked down onto a lower bench and the lights went out - my forest was now in the deep shadow of the surrounding mountains. It took my eyes a moment or two to adjust, and when they did I found myself in an autumn wonderland - there was color everywhere! I had in fact hiked into a beech forest, and the trees there were covered with as much color as I had ever seen in beeches before. These wonderful trees don't lose their leaves in the fall like most others around here, but rather hold onto them throughout the winter and only drop them as new leaves begin to bud out in the spring. Many a cold and frosty winter day has been rescued by the sight and sound of a forest of golden beech trees rustling in the breezes!

Today they had begun to turn gold, but parts of the leaves were also rust - too much rain this month has caused that. Parts were still green too, so the beeches took on a tri-color pattern. And enough of the leaves had already dropped (been blown) off of the trees that the ground all around me was completely carpeted with them - a golden carpet to stride across. Each leaf was curled up tightly into a narrow cylinder, with their many fine ribbed-veins lining the outside. These guys did not have the normal "crunch" of the hardwood forest, but rather a hushed and softened crunch, sort of like biting into a cinnamon-coated graham cracker.

As I got near the river I could see an explosion of color ahead - the trees on the far side of the river (still sunlit) were reflecting in the water, and the breezes were creating ripples which spun the golds and blues and yellows and reds into swirls of wonderful color; moving color, color with emotion, color with great depth. And then the dogs came splashing through the middle of it all, and the color parted for a moment, only to be reunited again when they passed. This was a moment for me to sit and ponder and reflect on how great our wilderness was, and how nice it was to have to many wild places around for us to visit and sit and ponder and reflect. One of the reasons why I became a nature photographer was for scenes like this - only today I got to simply enjoy and soak it all up as all of my cameras were way back up the hill at the cabin. No, this was not a work trip, although taking pictures has hardly ever been actual work for me.

On the way back up the hill I looked up ahead and could see where the sun was shining and lighting up the trees once again. The big trees were like giant spotlights in the night, beaming that sunshine back out for everyone to see. They were flanked by hundreds of tiny slivers of silver - narrow bands of bright light on their tiny trunks.

Did you see the moon setting tonight? Quite incredible for sure. I believe it has already been to its dark phase and is now back again and gaining strength. When you see it as a sliver in the early morning hours in the east, it is going down, and when you see it as a sliver in the west, it is getting bigger. I know there is a saying about waning and waxing but I can never remember which is which.

I'm headed out early in the morning to take elk photos - for once leaving before my girls do. If I get anything I'll let you know.

By the way, there is going to be an article about Pam and Amber and their new guidebook in the Springfield News Leader paper on Thursday - it will be the "Trailblazer" article by Ann Keyes.

10/29/03 It was well before first light when I stepped out of the truck in Boxley Valley this morning. The almost-frosty 35-degree air felt great. Glenn and I were going to use that big lens to shoot a few photos of the elk, and also wanted to scout around a little bit up and down the river. There were three herds of elk at the north end of the valley - the main one with mostly cows and a big bull, with another couple of bulls nearby; a group of three little bulls at the opposite end of the field, and a herd of 13 bulls another field away. I walked around in the twilight with a pair of binocs watching all of them at play.

Momma and pappa elk (10293-5675)

Once Glenn showed up we shot a few photos of the elk, then went off into the thick brush along the river to see what we could find. While much of the area is mostly void of color right now, there was a surprisingly good bit of it in the trees lining the river. We spent the next couple of hours hiking and looking and taking pictures. Few things in life I enjoy more than finding and photographing some of the wonders of nature. I have not been able to do too much of that lately since I have become a computer nerd, which made the morning photo shoot all the more wonderful.

Before the sun came up (10293-5711)

(10293-5754)

A quiet pool (10293-5741)

My favorite shot of the day (10293-5775)

Later we met up with Pam and a group of painters over at Steele Creek. One of them was Tim Tyler, a great landscape painter who has just gotten into digital photography himself. He and I stood on the banks of the mighty Buffalo River with bright sunshine illuminating the great Roark Bluff that soared above us. He was creating a new masterpiece not doubt - I was on break having already done my creative work for the day. I still don't get it about painters - they can create such magic with their hands! I am proud to say that my wife is now one of those, and continues to produce some really nice images - I can't believe she has only been doing this for a few months!

After I got back to the cabin I loaded all of my images into the computer and was really pleased at what we shot. There are three or four really nice shots in the bunch, which is really good for the short time we spent in the woods along the river. I will be making some big prints of them in the next week or two. With my new big color printer here, and Pam's expanding selection of her own art, looks like we're going to have to build another cabin in order to store it all in! Anyone want to buy a print? Come to think of it, all of these are available as custom prints - just go to the online store and place your order! I think you will be mighty pleased.

Right now the moon is high in the southern sky just outside my window keeping me company - still just a sliver, but gaining width each night. All around it are zillions of bright stars. The sky is very clear and black tonight. And the WIND is thrashing around like crazy. So odd to have the wind doing crazy things yet the sky clear. I wonder what storm gods up there somewhere are planning for us ahead?

Amber and I have been working on a secret present for Pam's birthday (only a few days late). Well, actually Amber has been doing all of the work, I've just been supervising and making sure no paint made it onto the floor or furniture. Pam is in town at class this evening, so Amber and I have the run of the place. I believe I will shut down early tonight and go dig out the guitar - it's only been a 15-hour day, but I need to slack off once in a while.

10/30/03 Heavy winds this morning, and warm.  The sun is just barely up and already we have had a good day at Cloudland. First off, the article about Pam and Amber in the Springfield News Leader was very good - Pam was really worried about it, and with good reason - no telling what reporters are going to write or editors are going to edit and publish. But it is a very nice article, and I think does a great job of telling the story (we have come to expect that from Ann Keyes - she's a great writer). The actual printed paper has more than is available online, but you can get the idea.

We had been up and working for over an hour when the sun began to rise, although I must confess that both Pam and I were taking a much-needed break down in the hot tub. (And just for those of you who try to find evil in everything that happens in life, sex is not allowed in our hot tub, and anytime my wife and I are in there it is G-rated.) There were billowing clouds blowing up from the south and moving rapidly across the sky, each one touch on the bottom by the first rays of sunshine. Patches of blue sky shone through from behind. It was a very colorful scene. And then, all of a sudden, a large bird appeared, soaring close by right over Mom's meadow. It was the size of a vulture, but the shape was just not correct. "That is one giant hawk!" It made mini-circles over the hot tub, looking down on us with a bit smiles, and, of course, never needing a single flap since there was plenty of wind power. And just about the time I was making the comment that it "could actually be an immature eagle," another large bird appeared, once again up close. A MATURE bald eagle! I was very surprised to see them down here so soon - it is normally late November or even December before we see them. For the next ten minutes the two of them put on quite a show, diving and swooping and soaring and darting around all over the place, all of it right out in front of us in plain view. Eagles normally just soar past the cabin and keep on going, but these guys were obviously enjoying the wind currents right here (and perhaps the view of my lovely bride). Yes sir, a Cloudland Moment Supreme! What more could a guy ask for? And just when we thought the show was over, a third eagle appeared, and we were in store for more acrobatics. By the time the trio had finished and moved on, the two of us were prunes.

Lots of office work to do today, then we are off for teacher conferences in Jasper, then to Harrison to cash in on a free pizza for Amber doing such a great job in school. Last night Amber built a bedside table for her mom, complete with a neat paint job. We are "Trading Spaces" junkies here at Cloudland, and so it was not great surprise to me when Amber pulled out paints and started to work on the table - "I'm going to give it the Hilde touch!" (Hilde is one of the designers on Trading Spaces.) And sure enough she did. That's my girl!

The wind continues to howl and blow leaves around. And I just realized that I was remiss in noting the fact that a couple of days ago our beloved bluffline that lives just across the way over on Beagle Point began to appear. The more leaves come off the trees the more of the bluff we can see. Soon all of the leaves will have fallen/been blown off, and we will be able to see and enjoy all winter long this great wall of rock that extends for more than 75 miles through the wilderness. And one of these years Pam and I will hike the entire length of that bluffline - I suspect there will be an eagle or two hanging around just to make sure we make it all right.