CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - FEBRUARY 2005
 

Cloudland Cabin Cam, 2/28/05, 7:18am, sunshine and chilly

CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL, updated 2/27/05 The new print of the month is coming!

The February Print of the Month

2/1/05 Cool and hazy and calm this morning. They are calling for snow tonight - I hope it is a big one! However, I have a big meeting with the forest service tomorrow so if we do get a good bunch, I hope it remains cold so that it hangs around long enough for me to get some photos. I suspect we will either get just a light dusting or several inches.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP! Today would have been my dad’s 92nd birthday, so I thought I would post a photo of him back in the 1970’s. That is him with his hot rod Dodge. Actually he bought this 1967 Dodge Charger Limited-Edition SE 440 magnum V8 for my high school graduation present in 1973 (he got a really good deal on it for about $3000 from my cousin - we could never afford new cars back then). Needless to say I was THRILLED with this powerhouse. However, as I got into college my thoughts and dreams pointed more towards the woods and so I gave the car back to him a year later when I got an old beat up International Scout II (named the “Trail Snail” because while it could not drive too fast, it could crawl up a tree!), and my dad inherited this bright red hot rod, which he loved. I doubt that either one of us ever really blew it out on the open road.

Anyway, here's to you pop - happy birthday and THANKS for being the sort of father you always were to me. If I am 1/10th the dad to Amber that you were to me she will be one lucky girl!

My dad and his hot rod Dodge Charger SE

2/2/05 Few things in life are as exhilarating as stepping out onto a snow-covered deck barefoot and then jumping into the water - thank goodness the water was 104 degrees! At 4-something this morning we had about two inches of snow on the ground, and it has continued to snow heavily ever since (about 5:30am now). My head was covered in about 60 seconds, and I always love the feel of a frozen top and steaming rest-of-body (while sitting in the hot tub).

It is sort of strange inside the cabin this morning - a child filled with the anticipation of not having to go to school and able to go out and play all day in the new snow. Only problem here is that Amber WANTS to go to school at any cost, while I DON'T want to go to my "school" (a meeting with the forest service down in Clarksville) and would much rather go out and "play" - otherwise known as work for me (taking pictures). So we are kind of odd here - the sixth grader wants to go to school and the adult wants to go work!

It is a heavy, wet snow that has already covered everything in sight - of course, we are still two hours from sunrise so I can't really see too much, but the roads are solid, which is surprising since the ground is so warm, or at least is above freezing. I guess the snow has been coming down so heavy it simply can't melt fast enough so is piling up. Oh how I wish we would get a foot that would stick around for a few days!

Speaking of a few days, I have not said anything about this but will do so now. I am giving a program in Fayetteville tomorrow night (Thursday) - it is for a photo club but is open to the public. Their meeting is at the Restaurant On The Corner from 7-9pm. I will be there with one or two slide programs, with books and calendars and prints on sale - come early, and I hope to see ya there!

I'll post another update about the snow levels here later one today - and if the "kids" got their school wishes. Shhhhhhh......I've got to go gather up a snowball and sneak into Amber's room now...

7am update - all schools in the area are closed so Amber is not happpy. We have FIVE INCHES of snow on the ground at the Cabin, and it is still snowing. Don't know yet about my meeing, but I will be out shooting photos as soon as I find out....

Late night update. We had one heck of an unusual snowstorm today that's for sure. It snowed like gang busters for quite a good long while, and we ended up with 8-10 inches of snow here around the cabin, with a foot of snow on other parts of Cave Mountain. I heard there was not nearly as much down in Boxley Valley, which is where I was headed when I left out of here at daylight. While it was indeed one of the most beautiful snows I have ever experienced, the beauty came and went in a big hurry, and it seemed like I was always at the wrong place at the wrong time as far as photos go. So here's my story.

My plan was to drive down into Boxley and see if I could photograph some of the big bull elk in the driving snowstorm - just like my student-turned-pro Larry from Russellville had done last fall. Then I wanted to hike up into a neat canyon nearby where the creek bed was littered with couch-sized boulders as far as you could see - I envisioned a classic snow photo with a foot of white stuff stacked up on top of all those boulders.

The truck took off easy and made a quick trip to the far end of Cave Mountain - the snow was coming down hard, sticking to the trees and everything else - it was a quite beautiful sight as I drove along. I wanted to stop and photograph the incredible forest all along the way, but all those giant snowflakes tend to get in the way of photos of this sort. So I figured I would get those shots later in the day when it quit snowing.

I stopped and hiked down to that old cedar tree at the top of Hedges Pouroff - when I was there on Saturday there was not enough snow to do it justice (although I do know that Jay McDonald got a great photo of that very tree with snow on it Saturday morning - I was standing right next to him but his photo was a lot better than mine!). However, when I arrived on the scene today there was TOO MUCH snow on the poor little cedar tree! Be careful what you wish for! I milled around the top of that bluffline for several minutes and never did find a shot that I liked. When we hiked down to the tree a few days ago I was slipping and sliding and the footing was pretty bad. Today with the deep snow - up to and even a little bit more than a foot deep - my big boots sunk in and grabbed a hold quite well and I was able to almost float on down to the top of the bluff without a single slip of any kind. I guess I got a little careless, and at one point as I was trying to step around a little cedar branch that was covered with a ton of snow, my foot hit ice and slipped out from under me. No big deal, except for the fact that I was only about ten inches away from the edge of the 115-foot bluff. Oops. In just that instant I nearly lost my life. Barn, or rather boom, when I hit the ground far below and it would have been all over. Those prints on your wall with my signature would have been worth a few more bucks. Damn, that was a close one - as I was going down and over I reached out and grabbed onto the base of that cedar sapling and it saved my life. Oh yes, I forgot to mention - PLEASE don't tell my wife about this! I collected myself, made sure I had not peed in my pants, and crawled on away from the edge and stood up, gasping for breath because I think all of the air was out of me (not because I hit hard, but because of the sheer terror of the moment). Well, I've done a lot of stupid things in my life and that was one of them. I AM a lot more careful these days now that I have something wonderful to come home to, but all it takes is one mental error and that is it.

OK, I was OK, so I slowly moved AWAY from the top of that bluff and headed on up a nearby streambed - it was simply snowing way too hard anyway for me to get a good photo of the cedar tree. Plus, I needed to get away from that bluff.

I did find an interesting shot of the little creek and set up my umbrella and shot a few photos. The snow continued to come down hard and wet - everything had to be covered up all the time, which is not too easy to do when you have a big camera bag like mine and you need to open it all the way up in order to grab a new lens. Thank goodness for that special $4 umbrella from Wal Mart that attaches to the tripod (thanks Larry!).

Unnamed Creek above Hedges Pouroff

OK, I was alive and got one photo, so it was back to the truck and on down the road. That became somewhat of a problem - getting DOWN the road. As I creeped towards the big dropoff at the edge of Cave Mountain - where the road turns 90 degrees and heads down a 17% grade, I slowed and put the truck into low range 4WD. I hadn't gone five feet before I started to slide. Oops, that is not good. Right then and there I decided that photos of elk in the snow were just not worth risking tearing up the truck, or worse, especially considering my recent event at the bluff. So I decided right then to back up and turn around and go home. Only problem was that I could not back up - all four wheels were spinning! While the vehicles we drive up here are some of the best 4WDs you can get, they DO NOT make good tires to fit them for snow! OK, ok, I'll admit it - I drive a soccer mom truck and I have soccer mom tires on it, but I can't find any others, so deal with it. Anyway, it took me a little while, but finally I was able to back out of this situation. Only problem was that when I found a good place to turn around back up the hill, I got stuck crossways while trying to turn around! It took me another several minutes of maneuvering to get out of that one, but I was still going backwards up the Cave Mountain road with limited visibility! Finally found another spot to turn around and made it OK. Man, I was glad to be heading HOME!

The snow continued to come pounding down - wet and heavy.

I stopped on the way back and spent some time taking photos of this neat old barn and some snow-laden branches coming down in front of it. The temp was quite warm and while it was snowing hard (and also very foggy, which was strange), I was quite comfortable out there in the dense undergrowth where I had to stand in order to get the photo. I would have loved to see an old man pushing a plow or a horse out here in the fog in front of the barn, but heck, I was able to grab ahold of that little cedar sapling back on the bluff so I already had plenty of luck for one day.

Eddie Fowler's barn

On the way back to the cabin I decided to stop and make a quick trip down to Hawksbill Crag to see what I could find. It was still snowing hard, and my new plan was to return to the cabin and then hike down to the Buffalo River and Whitaker Creek and get some photos there. I figured that we lived in the most beautiful part of the state anyway, so why not just take pictures close to home?

The hike down to the Crag was one of the best hikes I have ever had in the woods. The snow was floating down all around me in giant flakes - and it was extremely still and quiet everywhere. I stopped and knew what to expect - this was one of those rare time when I could hear the snow hitting the ground. And all that snow was sticking to the branches and leaves and tree trunks like crazy, creating all sorts of patterns in the forest. As I hiked on into a stand of towering pine trees, the light in that deep and dark forest took on an entirely new look - there was just something about it that was really magical - a certain look and feel about it. I stopped and wandered off the trail and into the pine forest several times and tried to set up a photo that would capture this look and feel, but I never found anything. One of those times when I could only stand and stare and enjoy the great wonders of Momma Nature.

At one point on my way down towards the Crag I hit a really slippery stretch of the steep hillside (no real trail). It was one of those situations where if you try to stop you will end up face down in the snow for sure, so I made a quick decision to simply ride it on out and hope my steps would fall on secure ground. It was actually quite a thrill - no danger really, just if someone saw me hit the ground. But I rode it on out with no problem. Hiking in deep snow like this is kind of fun.

When I reached the Crag I stopped and shot some photos of a group of boulders I had been walking by for more than 20 years and always wanted to take their picture. Today was their day. Only problem was that darn snow - it seemed to be coming down even harder now, and the flakes were more like small snowballs than flakes. What was happening was the temp had risen up above freezing, and a bit of a wind had come up, and so for the next couple of hours all of that gorgeous snow that had stuck to the trees and branches and leaves was dropping off, along with more snow from above that was also coming down. Turns out most of it ended up right on top of my head, down the back of my neck, and into my open camera bag whenever I reached in for something. My camera almost never took a direct hit though - it spent most of the time safely under the umbrella.

My group of blocks

View from the Crag

A snowy Hawksbill Crag

There was a lot of fog hovering in and above the Whitaker Creek valley, which made for some interesting scenes, but also kept me from getting some other scenes as well. I spent about an hour wandering along the top of that bluff - being VERY careful this time - and took a few photos here and there, but nothing startling. On my way out I ran into a former photo student of mine (Taos and his lovely better half), and so I went back down to the Crag and had him pose for me while I shot a few more photos. And visa versa. While we were there we met the nice guy who along with his wife runs the Bible Camp down in Ponca (he is also a teacher in Harrison). I was glad to hear that not only where there not nearly as much snow down in Boxley Valley as we had up on the mountain, but also that the elk were not out much this morning - for once I had made a good decision to stay close by home!

By the time I got back to the cabin all of me and everything I touched was soaked to the bone, including all of my camera gear. I laid everything out in the cabin to dry out while I downloaded all the images from the morning's shoot. Once everything was back to working order I gathered it all up again and headed on down the trail towards the main Buffalo River. I had some trouble getting down through the big bluffline, and then the going got really rough. A lot of the snow had melted already, and the landscape was covered with pits and pot marks from the falling clumps of snow from overhead branches. I felt like there really wasn't any use in going on down to the river because the scene would be the same there, but also felt like I just HAD to go down and take a look anyway. I probably should have headed on down first thing in the morning, when all the snow was still new and puffy.

It was even worse that I had thought - boy, for such an incredible snowstorm just a few hours before, the scenes were really rather dull and uninteresting down below! Guess I'm just a little bit spoiled. I could tell that I was physically exhausted as well. But I decided to give it a shot and so crossed Whitaker Creek and headed on up the main Buffalo River valley to see if I could find anything to shoot.

While I never really found much in the way of great scenery, the longer I hiked the more I got light-headed and into a sort of drugged out state - and I knew exactly what the culprit was - WITCH HAZEL! There were little bushes flowering everywhere along the river bank, and they were giving off that incredible fragrance that I simply cannot resist. Good thing the sun was not out or I would not have been able to move at all (they give off a lot more fragrance when the sun is shining). As it was I hiked along in somewhat of a dream world, happy as a clam, not finding anything to take photos of, and not the least bit concerned about it. I finally realized that I was getting much weaker and had to turn around, which I did, and I found one final scene to shoot for the day. I am happy to report that I only made one face-plant during the trip down to the river - when a grape vine reached out and grabbed my legs and I went down in a flash.

Buffalo River - the snow was mostly gone by the time I arrived

One step at a time. That is how I trudged up the STEEP hillside that I had skipped up a hundred times before. Lots of heavy breathing, and many slow steps. I only wish that witch hazel bushes grew up on this hillside, they would get me up this monster! It took me about 45 minutes to climb what normally is an 18-minute hike. Hey, what can I say, I'll be 50 in May and over the hill, so to speak. Once as I stopped for a rest, a large and wet and very cold drop of melting snow hit me right in the middle of the top of my head - and it felt GREAT! So I stood there under the melting snow for about five minutes while drop after frigid drop landed on my bare head - quite refreshing!

OK, so there you have it. One incredible snowfall but at times it came down way too hard for me to be able to get any good photos of it. And by the time it stopped, the snow had self-destructed along the way. No matter - it will go down inside my brain as one of the best ever, with some wonderful memories, and the vision of the edge of that bluff, and me falling off it!

2/06/05 Seems like I've been on the road forever, but plan to keep my fanny perched right in my chair at the cabin today, either at the computer or in front of the TV. Nope, my bride is not a football widow, however I do like to watch an NFL game every now and then, and will watch the big one today - I just love commercials. Of course, I really to see my favorite Beatle at halftime...

We woke up to rain and chilly temps with wind to further drive the temp down. I hope it rains and rains and rains - we sure do need it.

Had a great program in Fayetteville the other night at the photo club meeting. Lots of terrific folks, and quite a few Journal readers. Not the best place in the world to give slide programs, but we made it work. I got home really late that night, then was up and on the road way before daylight for an 8am meeting back in Fayetteville the next morning. It was a long few days and I was tuckered. When I got home on Friday a lady had called to say that a friend up near Bella Vista was having eagle problems and wondered if I could perhaps go up and help him out. The problem was too many eagles in his yard! Actually it was the fact that the city of Centerton is planning to dump sewage from a new treatment plant they want to build into one of the best clear-running streams remaining in the Ozarks (and it runs right through his property). So he wanted some photos of the eagle crop that frequents the area to use to try to fight this isue. I was glad to help, and within a few minutes had several folks willing to force themselves out with cameras in hand to help out a good cause.

I got up very early Saturday, did a few cabin/office chores, then headed out the door about an hour before sunrise to meet Glenn in Boxley Valley. As I got near the end of Cave Mountain I could see some really nice cloud patterns in the eastern sky, and just a hint of pink creeping into them. I have always wanted to get a great sunrise shot of the reflections in the old mill pond at Boxley, but problem has always been that once I realize something nice is going to happen in the sky, it is too late to get there in time. But this day I was heading in the right direction, but not quite sure I would be in time. I put the pedel to the metal as they say, and actually drove like a bat out of hell across the end of and down Cave Mountain, then sped across Boxley Valley as the colors intensified. Then the color was all gone. Rats, I had missed it! But then the color began to materialize again, and my speed increased.

Within a couple of moments I was parked and setting up my camera - no wind at all, so the reflections were nice. I found a large rock to climb up on so I could get the most reflections in the water, then set up the tripod. The really intense color only lasted for perhaps two or three minutes, and in that time I shot about 100 photos, and also ran back to the truck a couple of times to get new lenses. It was one of those magical times when you are at the right place at the right time with the right equipment to witness and photograph a spectacular scene. Bang, bang, bang. I wanted to make SURE I got it right! Just as the color began to fade Glenn pulled up and parked. He, and other drivers who stopped to see what I was doing, reported quite an incredible sunrise going on up on top of Gather Mountain near Harrison.

I know this photo will not really do the scene justice - and there is really no enhancement of the colors here - but here is my shot of this already legendary sunrise in the Ozarks (I've seen photos taken of it by other photogs that were all over the Ozarks Saturday morning):

The peak of the color, Boxley Mill Pond

and as the color began to fade away

OK, got one great shot in the bag, now off to shoot some eagles (oops, I mean "photograph" some eagles)! We met up with several other photographers and met the land owner and toured around the farm where these eagles come to roost. All the while we were talking there were eagles flying overhead. We spent the entire day working this little valley - five photographers in one truck covering about five miles of stream and fields and valley. Turns out the conditions were not perfect for the eagles, and we did not see anywhere near as many as there have been at this place, but we had a great time, shot a lot of images of eagles and other wildlife - including three wonderful donkeys that liked to follow us around.

Here is a note from one of the photographers about the trip:

"Another thing that makes me smile about yesterday is the fact that we had probably $70,000 worth of camera gear in the back of a pick-up truck with several hundred thousand dollars of salary, passing lenses around like “fat boys” hollering “Eagle Eagle...10 o’clock!!!” Don’t get much better than that! Well, except Glenn firing off 32 blistering frames at 8.5 frames a second of a Jackass lumbering across the field...that makes me chuckle."

And finally, this one below taken by Glenn of me trying to explain something to my workshop folks -
Tim and his asses, photo © by Glenn Wheeler

2/8/05 The heavy fog stuck around yesterday long into the afternoon - couldn't see a thing for hours. I spent much of the day at the cabin trying to get caught up, while Pam was out blazing trail. She has been hitting the trail pretty hard of late trying to get the entire trail re-blazed by the time the big spring hiking season hits.

SPEAKING OF MY BRIDE, I am happy to report that she has HIT HER FUNDING GOAL for the 3-Day Cancer Hike in June! THANKS to every single one of you Journal readers who so generously contributed - you will be in her thoughts every step of the way (by the way, her training consists of more than 600 miles of hiking at a speed of 3.5 miles an hour - a tough pace to keep up ALL day for anyone!). If you would still like to contribute to this most-worthy cause, please consider giving to one of Pam's teammates - none other than Glenn's wife Stacey (here is her website). She is going through all of this training and fund-raising as well, and will be hiking the 60-mile event in June with Pam and the rest of their team members.

While down in Boxley Valley waiting to pick up Amber from the bus (and taking her right back into Jasper for b-ball practice), I got the chance to wander around along the banks of the Buffalo River for a while. The water was up a little bit and running nicely, singing a lively tune. Slow pools were emerald, while everything else was whitewater. The banks were lined with witch hazel trees in bloom - both yellow and red blooms - but there was NO scent at all. The ground was covered with tiny green plants of all sorts. I don't buy into any of that silly media-hyped groundhog stuff, but it seems to me like spring is on the way - at least it looked and felt like it yesterday! I hope we get another foot or two of snow this winter, along with frigid temps for more ice formations, but I'll be ready for things to bloom whenever they are ready too. By the way, I also saw a bunch of daffodils in bloom on top of Cave Mountain yesterday - goodness, this is still early February! Pretty soon I'll be out looking for the first official wildflower up here - a trout lily on the loop trail most likely.

The fog moved back in last night and remains in place this morning - can't see a thing again, and I hate to keep posting the same deck cam photo, but hey, that IS what it looks like so what the heck.

LATE EVENING UPDATE. This Journal is somewhat modeled after the one Doogie Howser, M.D. used to write at the end of each of his TV shows, so this is just my post at the end of the day - trying to keep up with Doogie!

I spent a couple of hours patrolling the eagle strip near Centerton this afternoon - a five-mile-long valley next to a beautiful stream that is flanked by pastures and forest. I've got some good individual eagle shots - both soaring and sitting - but what I really am after is one shot of a single tree with 45-50 eagles roosting in it. I've never been able to get one of those in the camera, although I have seen it many times.

I saw more than 100 bald eagles this afternoon, most of them in two general areas. So there was no shortage of birds, but the problem is that they are spread out within these two areas; their roosting trees are a long way off from the road; and they tend to get nervous when a photographer approaches in a vehicle, and jump up and fly off when you get out of the truck even if you are a half mile away. The lighting was terrible this afternoon as well, which added to my problem, and I ended up not even getting my camera out of the bag a single time. But I was able to sit there in the truck and count eagles - at one time there were 47 bald eagles in sight from my position! Goodness, when I began to get a little frustrated about not being able to get my photo, it didn't take much to remind myself that I had the great beauty and majesty of our nation's symbol all around me, and they were quite a sight to watch. So I spent a good bit of time watching them through a pair of binocs, still waiting for one of the trees to fill up with birds. Some of the eagles would sit and stare for hours on end in the same tree, same branch, without moving a feather. While others would jump up and fly around and do aerial acrobatics like crazy. Still others would swoop down and fly about three feet off of the pasture for a hundred yards and make a perfect landing next to a dead calf that several of them were munching on. I waited for another hundred birds to come in, but they never showed.

Once it began to get dark I gave up and headed home. It took me nearly three hours to get home with all of the traffic - man, it is getting CROWDED in northwest Arkansas! We need more eagles and less cars. Goodnight Doogie...

2/12/05 Last night I took some time off and went outside and just wandered around in the dark. Actually it was not completely dark, and in fact it was light enough that I didn't bother to bring along a flashlight. There was moonlight, but just barely a little bit of it. The setting moon was about as tiny as I had ever seen - just a sliver of silver, and even that was a bit hazy from thin clouds. The remainder of the body of the moon disk was visible as a ghostly shadow next to the glowing silver sliver. There were not shadows out in the forest, just even illumination from that dim moonlight and from about a zillion stars above.

It was quiet in the forest as well, and my slow footsteps made no sound. Such a grand contrast to the previous dozen hours, which were spent in the northwest Arkansas metroplex - I give thanks each and every day that I escaped that urban jungle when I did. Funny how when you are in town, everyone seems to have a scowl on their faces, are quite impolite at every turn, and just don't seem to be having any fun. Yet when you meet folks out on a trail, their entire demeanor has changed, and no matter what the weather, or the steepness of the hill, there is a smile in there somewhere, often plastered across their entire bodies. We all need the space that the wilderness give us, even if it is only a place to go recharge out souls and our spirits.

Spring seems even closer now, and while we really do need some RAIN - hope we get a lot in the next few days - I'm still hopeful that we'll get another good dumping of snow - a foot or two should do it nicely. Then I'll be ready for the bright blooms to follow.

And speaking of blooms, for those of you who might be interested, I have added a second digital photo workshop in April - on the 23rd (the original one filled up long ago). Let me know if you want to sign up for this new one as I suspect it will fill quickly as well.

Well before sunrise this morning my bride motioned to me to come look out the window. I was slaving away at the computer and she was in the drawing room having breakfast. Looked like the entire eastern horizon was on fire. I grabbed the camera and headed out the door. Some very nice colors indeed, but they only lasted a minute or two. Hope you enjoy the Deck Cam this morning, and I especially hope that you are headed out into the woods this weekend...

2/14/05 HAPPY BIG RED HEART DAY TO YOU! Have I got a great Valentine's Day dinner planned for my bride - candlelit dinner at a romantic little cafe tucked away at the base of the snow-capped mountains in Santa Fe, NM, then a moonlit stroll down Canyon Road to visit countless art galleries, and finally, a steaming dip in a hot springs just outside of town and more of that moonlight. The only thing I'll be missing is my bride - I'm in Santa Fe today and she is still at home running the business! Darn schedule! I'll probably stop at McDonalds on my way back to the hotel tonight and get a big mac. Seems that is the way life is without my dearest Pamela by my side - just another big mac.

We have snow in the mountains here, but nothing down in town. I'm attending some classes with an instructor that used to assist Ansel Adams in his workshops at Yosemite in the 1970's - I'll be learning how to do digital black and white fine art prints, something I've always wanted to do but never had the patience to get really good at it in the wet darkroom. Now with the digital darkroom many things are possible, and I can't wait.

It is cool here - in the 20's - with a bit of frost, but the sky is clear and that magical Santa Fe light is bouncing around already. I know, I know, how come I'm not out taking pictures? I probably won't be doing much shooting this week at all - we'll be in the computer lab all day most days - so there won't be any photo posts this week. I do plan to be back at Cloudland by the weekend so you can check in then and see what is up.

Speaking of Cloudland, my young bride reports some of the highest winds ever recorded at the cabin yesterday - in fact it picked up and blew away one of our small outbuildings! No major tree damage though, thank goodness. And I hear the SuperDog is causing some problems - seems he doesn't like the idea of being left all alone with three ladies (Pam, Amber, Lucy), and is making a pest of himself. If he only knew that was every mans dream!

Time for me to move on and get to class. I hope to get just a little bit of that Ansel Adams genius rubbing off on me this week...

2/16/05 We got to get out into the mountain air this morning and wander around a take a few photos. We visited an ancient and sacred village north of Santa Fe. We had early morning snow and rain showers, but it all let up in time for us to be outside. We were scheduled to visit a nearby scenic area (also sacred Native American site) called Tent Rocks, but the road into the place was too much of a mess for us to all make it in, so we went to the other site. It is kind of fun getting to be around a bunch of other photographers and NOT have to be working with them all the time - although I was sort of the unofficial Canon guru in the group so did ended up setting up cameras for folks. Our instructor, Carlin Tapp, is Native American, and has an incredible sense of the history of these places, not to mention he is one terrific teacher and photographer. We spent most of our morning in and around this little church in the village, and I wanted to post a few photos from there for you to see. We're back indoors for the rest of the week so I won't have any more photos to post. I will say that soon after I return to Arkansas I will be setting up a new Black & White Fine Art Print Gallery on the web site, and will offer some very special museum-quality prints for sale. Stay tuned.....

2/20/05 Back at home this morning although it is tough to tell for sure - we are fogged in and in a complete white-out so no view. In fact, the wind is blowing very hard, and from two or three different directions - it is like the wind gods are fighting with each other for control, and the fog and the trees are thrashing back and forth trying to get a foothold.

Yesterday was a very black day for me. It began around 2am when I got up and quickly packed and left the motel to head home - we had a lot hiker on the trail, with a search team in Johnson County out looking for him. He had made four cell phone calls into Roy's answering machine, and on the last one he was crying and shouting into the phone - he had obviously panicked and was in pretty bad shape mentally. So Roy and my lovely bride Pam got things rolling - good thing for them as the Johnson County Sheriff's department proved to be quite, hum, how should I say this withougt getting into trouble - not quite up to speed on this deal - they didn't have a clue of what or where the Ozark Highlands Trail was (only been a major recreational facility in their county for TWENTY years), and when the sheriff/deputy finally did show up at the trailhead and met Pam and Roy there, he headed off into the woods packing a big SHOTGUN - huh? What was he going to do, put the hiker out of his misery if they found him? By the middle of the night they had 50 search and rescue volunteers out looking for this lost hiker (THANKS to the wonderful SAR folks in the area!), and the hiker was located safe and unhurt at daylight. I'm not sure what the hiker was thinking - or perhaps he was not thinking at all - not only was he standing right on the trail when he made his last frantic phone call, but he knew EXACTLY where he was on the trail - at MILEPOST 73! And he was backpacking so had his tent and stuff with him. Of course, after his last frantic phone call stating his exact location, he MOVED elsewhere so could not be found when the search folks go to milepost #73!!! FIRST RULE when you get lost - HUG A TREE and STAY PUT!!!!! Anyway, this hiker probably should have been left to his own accord and no search mission mounted in the first place, but when you get such frantic phone calls I guess you have to do something.

OK, so there I was racing across New Mexico and then Texas in the middle of the night trying to get home to help out in this mission if I could - not to mention see my girls - and then a horrific and sobering event happened just a few feet away from me as I was crouching next to my truck at a gas station airing up one of my tires. I head the unmistakable and awful sound of a collision, and looked up to see two vehicles less than 100 feet from me - one of them had obviously ran into the other one at a very high speed, and both vehicles were still in motion - a pickup truck was rolling and rolling and rolling away, while the car that hit it was tumbling end-over-end. The cap of the pickup truck was caved in to a point where no human could have survived when it finally came to rest about 150 feet beyond impact. As the car continued to tumble I could see one body half-way out of one window that was obviously being crushed to death with each cycle - when the car finally came to rest it did so on top of the body. There were various items from inside and outside both vehicles scattered all over the place, and then dead silence. I know this scene was nothing compared to an airplane crash, for instance, but it was indeed the most horrific thing I had ever seen, and all of it within just a few feet right there in front of me. It literally knocked the breath right out of me and made me sick to my stomach all at once. No telling how many lives wiped out just that fast.

I was shaking when I got back onto the highway and continued to head for home - at a much slower pace. I kept re-running the entire incident through my mind over and over and over again, all day long, and into the night. My oldest brother was killed in a head-on collision when I was 15, and I have been in several wrecks, including a head-on - those sorts of things just don't go away.

And then to top everything off - and while this is not nearly as bad as the car accident - when I topped the hill and my favorite old barn of all time came into view as I was getting ready to drop down into Boxley Valley, I discovered that in the past two days the barn had given up on life and fallen over - something we all knew was going to happen and that we have been waiting for for years. Boom, right down onto the ground, and it is now gone forever. THANK GOODNESS I got the "rising moon shot" of this old barn just last month!

OK, now to change the tone and onto some positive things. My week spent with one of the gurus in fine art black and white printing in Santa Fe will have a tremendous impact on the rest of my photographic career. I have always wanted to produce true "art" photos - most art teachers, including our very own one in Jasper, refuse to recognize color photography as "art" - yet Ansel Adams proved that fine art black and white prints can be just that, ART!!! But in the past I have not had the time nor patience nor skill to produce true art prints. Now with the digital darkroom and new materials, tools, and techniques, and equipped with the skills that I learned from former Ansel Adams assistant Carlan Tapp, I now have faith that I CAN produce some true art that will be accepted by art teachers and other alike in the years to come. I will be spending a great deal of the next few weeks putting together a special FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PRINT GALLERY online, and you will be able to view and purchase these fine prints. Most of the available prints - which will be produced using some very special materials and techniques - will be images that I have already taken, now converted into the full range of "Zone System" prints. Plus I will now, FINALLY, be looking for and making new images specifically for these black and white prints. I am excited at all the possibilities - as always, stay tuned to this Journal and I will keep you posted when the first part of the gallery is ready.

One note about Carlan Tapp, our instructor and now friend. He is a Native American who has been at the forefront of fine art photography ever since he assisted Ansel Adams in Yosemite way back in the late 1970's. He is one of a rare breed of great photographers and artists that can also TEACH - he is very good at both. He is currently working on one personal project that has also affected me - he is up on a different level with all of this as he has discovered some ancient ruins of his ancestors in New Mexico, and has been working to document some of them before the national park service has a chance to destroy them. Funny, but it seems that while NPS is in the business of preserving things like this, Carlan has discovered that along the way they actually have a habit of destroying them as well. This personal project of his is quite amazing, and I brought home two prints of his as a result of being so moved by what he is doing - I almost never purchase prints, and I bought two of his. If any of you are remotely interested in all of this, here is his web page. It was an honor to spend this precious time with Carlan, and I hope to be able to meet up with him again in the future.

So today I am spending getting back up to speed with the chores here (thank GOODNESS for my bride, who spent 10-12 hours a day keeping the business going while I was gone). I am HAPPY to report that other than one hour watching my favorite show (Gilmore Girls), I did not watch a single minute of TV, listen to ANY news reports on the radio, or look at any newspaper or web pages for news while I was gone - my mind was completely free to concentrate on the duties at hand. I have a feeling that I did not miss much in my nine days without current news.

I hope to be able to get out at some point today and get in a little hiking, and then I will be off to get started with the black and white print gallery - Ansel, look out, here I come!

2/21/05 We were all jolted wide awake at about 2:30 this morning by a pretty strong storm that rolled through - they said winds up to 70mph, although we only got just up over 50mph. An incredible lightning storm came with it, heavy rain, and HAIL. In fact there was so much hail that this morning when I took Amber out to the bus, there were piles three inches deep along the sides of the cabin, and 1/2 inch deep out in the forest. It was very fine hail, almost like large grains of sand. The storm was short-lived and passed quickly, and soon all was calm and still outside, and the moon came out and lit up the wilderness - very strange.

Last night I spent a good bit of time soaking out in the hot tub and watched some of this storm approaching. All along the southern horizon and to the east I could see quite a light show. And for a time there were three very large thunderheads bearing down on us. They too were moving pretty fast, and I guess didn't do anything as it would be another four hours before the real storm hit. It was kind of nice watching it all develop.

Yesterday afternoon I got to get out and hike around a little bit. Goodness SPRING is arriving at Cloudland! As soon as I took the first step into the woods I knew it was time to go looking for a flower. Looking back to previous years we are still a week or two or three ahead of the first wildflowers, but what the heck, it smelled and looked and sounded and FELT like springtime. And son of a gun, right where he was supposed to be, I found the very first wildflower of the year here. In the very same location right at the edge of the trail as I have seen in previous years. As I got down on my belly in the soft leaves to take his photo I wondered if this was indeed the very same flower that comes up first each year - is that possible? While I have never marked the exact spot, I know this guy had to be within a few inches of previous ones, and perhaps it was in the exact same spot.

I got to looking around and wondering why this particular flower or spot is always the first to bloom? Was there something at that spot that was conducive to early blooming? Was the view from ground level better than that of a foot away. How about farther up on the hillside - I looked and looked and looked but could not see even a hint of another plant, much less an actual flower. LOTS of poison ivy though - some of it already a foot tall - it is going to be a grand year for poison ivy! But no other flowers. This guy was not actually open yet, but the full flower was there, and I expect him to be open today or tomorrow. So here it is, the very first wildflower this year at Cloudland - a dogtooth violet or trout lily:

The first wildflower of the year at Cloudland

As I made my way around the mountain I found some dogwood trees that were covered with buds, although the buds were still pretty tightly shut so I don't expect to see anything from them for at least another month or two - sometime in April would be about right. No other flowers or buds anywhere.

Dogwood buds against a warm afternoon sky

There is daylight creeping into the landscape now this morning, although it is now heavy cloud cover up there so I'm not sure when the sun is going to make an appearance. It is possible that the sun may sneak out under the clouds for a brilliant sunrise, and if so I will be there ready to take it all in. Or I may run out of gas and go back to bed for a little bit - it was tough for any of us to get back to sleep after being up for an hour in the middle of the night. But it IS Monday, my most favorite day of the week - YIPPIE!

and here is our lovely little flower when it opened up today

2/22/05 We had a burst of bright sunshine early this morning, then it got foggy. Kind of an odd day weather-wise, with fog hanging around all day long. Actually, it wasn't all fog, but rather smoke from a big controlled burn that the forest service was doing today (and will be doing a LOT of in the weeks to come). I got an e-mail notice TODAY at 11:57am that they were going to do a controlled burn TODAY. The fires had already been lit by the time they sent me the e-mail. The forest service is trying to let the public now when they will be burning this year, but making the announcement AFTER the torch and the forest have been lit is kind of silly.

While on my way back from Harrison this afternoon I took a small detour and hiked into a neat little scenic area not too far off of the highway (Hideout Hollow). The national park service in Harrison has notified us that they intend to close this little trail, so I thought I had better get out there and visit another time or two before they do whatever they are going to do with it. It was pretty warm out (and no sun because of the fire smoke), and a very pleasant little trail all the way to the head of the little canyon and waterfall there. I found a way to scramble down the bluffline (actually I had to crawl through about two inches of water and mud to get past a low-hanging bluff, then down the bluffline to the bottom of the waterfall. I wanted to photograph what was left of an old stone and mud house that someone had built underneath this big bluffline eons ago. Only a small part of the wall was left intact, along with the original foundation of the house. I have decided that I want to document as many of these locations as I can find in Arkansas - I know of three such buildings that were constructed underneath bluff overhangs (the other two being the Rock House on the Ozark Highlands Trail, and the one next to Slate Falls in the Ouachita Mountains). IF ANY OF YOU know of others in Arkansas, especially up here in the Ozarks, please let me know some info about them. They certainly won't last forever, and I would like to document them photographically before they erode away. I'm looking for actual structures that were built and either lived in or used for livestock - i.e. rock walls or firepits.

I spent about an hour looking around and taking photographs of this one ruin, then climbed up into a cave of sorts on the opposite wall and used a fish-eye lens to peek out into the world from the back of this little overhang. Kind of a neat canyon this Hideout Hollow is, but a little dangerous to get down into - NOT recommended!

the partial wall and the foundation under the bluff

the ramains of one wall (above), and a smaller overhang (below)

Instead of just climbing out and hiking back on the trail, I decided to explore some more, so I followed the big bluffline on out of the canyon and around the corner. I wanted to see if there were any other ways out of the canyon, and I found none. I guess I should take that back - there were a couple of places where if in dire need I could have climbed up and out, but I was not interested in risking limb and lenses just to prove I could do it. Besides, I wanted to see what the rest of the bluffline looked like.

There was some tall and gorgeous rock along this route, and a couple more overhangs, but nothing really serious down under. The bench below the bluffline was littered with giant, no HUGE blocks of sandstone rock, and lots and lots of sticker bushes - I'm calling them "sticker" bushes because I'm not really sure exactly what they are. I don't recall seeing this type of bush in year before until recently, and it seems like I'm seeing a lot more of them lately. I'll have to take a close-up shot of one and post it so my crack plant guy Don Kurz can tell me what they are.

It was a pretty good long ways on around that bluffline, and the going was slowed down considerably because of the sticker bushes and because of the bench being covered in long stretches with smaller, often moss-covered boulders. Sometimes they were mostly covered up with leaves, and I had to step carefully or I might fall into a hole.

Eventually the bluffline began to curve back to the right - and I walked right on past an easy way up and out. I knew the bluff had to make its way into a drainage that the hiking trail had passed on the way in, and I wanted to see what was back up in there. Sure enough, it was rather scenic, although the bluffline completely broke down by the time it got to the creek, so there wasn't any waterfall. But it was easy to simply follow the creek on up and out and back to the trail. Loop completed!

2/24/05 Kind of an odd day today all around. Started out very froggy and cold, with the temp right at freezing. While I was looking out the bathroom window while brushing my teeth I saw a blur go by - it was the Trail Cat, and she was sliding down one of the angled rooftops - all four paws had claws extended but doing no good on the ice-covered metal roof. You should have seen the look of terror in her eyes! She finally came to rest on the roof of the workshop, but then could not find a way to get back up the roof so she could climb down the side of the cabin. I eventually had to put up a ladder to get her down. I could have just waited for the ice to melt, but that wouldn't be much fun for her.

I have received a number of great leads from Journal readers about bluff shelters, and was able to go visit one of them today that is located at Lake Prairie Grove. Kind of an odd place, and not very welcoming - there were lot of no trespassing signs and threats of putting you in jail is you walked on this city property that was once open to fishing and hiking and all sorts of outdoor activities. I backtracked and drove into town and stopped by the police department and they assured me that it would be fine for me to go take a few pictures. I parked my rig at one of the locked gates and found my way onto the property and up into an incredible forest filled with GIANT moss-covered boulders! I was sort of shocked to see such a scenic area - just didn't think there was anything like that around Prairie Grove.

A few minutes later I was at the base of the big sandstone bluff where I had been told of not one but two really neat shelters that had been built in under the bluff. Right away I knew something was wrong. It was obvious I had found one of the sites, but there was no structure, in fact no partial wall or even a foundation left - ALL of the stones of this once great bluff shelter had been torn down and were tossed out in front of the bluff! Someone had been digging under the bluff, and in fact they were still at it - there were several digging and sifting tools along with buckets of sifted dirt ready for the next-smaller sifter. I couldn't tell for sure if they were looking for arrowheads or money - probably some of both. But they obviously were still at it, and it looked to me like an unofficial dig - certainly no city or university people would have torn down this historical structure just to dig under it! I was rather shocked, and quite disappointed. And it appeared that all of this damage had been done in just the past few months.

I quickly snapped a few photos then began to search for the second dwelling, but I never found anything. It was all sort of creepy being there, and just about the time I could feel it really creeping in, some dogs began to howl and snarl and run along the blufftop just up above. OK, time for me to exit this place, so I did! Really a sad, sad deal, and I hope someone stops whoever is doing this illegal digging (I am contacting the city, but don't know what else to do - heck, it may even be their own workers).

the bluff is distorted with a fisheye lens, but you can see the cave where the home used to be, and some of the "work" going on, with shelter rocks laid around in front of the bluff (the cave entrance is something like 15 feet tall, with a spring and running water in the back) - this was all enclosed until just a few months ago.

When I got home there was another e-mail from a Journal reader with talk of another neat bluff shelter. A couple of hours later she wrote back to say that it sounded like vandals had once again stuck, and that this shelter too had been broken down and was no longer standing. This is the very reason why I have decided to try to document some of these places - before stupid people get them all! My hunt continues, and if you know of any bluff shelters, please let me know - I'm not doing any sort of guidebook, only trying to get a visual record while they still exist.

This afternoon I went out for a quick hike to see how many wildflowers I could find - I've not seen a single one this week other than our little trout lily. The sun was low and shadows were long in the forest. It was chilly but felt good to be out walking. My little flower friend was right there next to the trail, about half closed up. I looked and looked and looked but could not see any of his friends at all - not a single other flower, while this one has been up and beaming all week. I just bet the ground is damp and primed and once we get some warm sunshine all his buddies will pop up and begin to sing. Don Kurz reminded me that a number of trees were beginning to bud out and flower down here now - although I have not seen any of the flowers other than from the witch hazel trees. I expect to be spotting a lot of things popping out here in the next few weeks. Come on springtime, but bring me a little snow first!

This evening right after the sun went down the dogs and I went out for a stroll in the cool evening air. Seemed like it remained cool, or actually COLD all day today, even though the sun was shining. Today was the full moon, and while it was supposed to rise right at sunset, it was late. We hiked up to Aspen's meadow to take in the sight, but there was no moon. It didn't actually show up until 20-30 minutes after we had returned to the cabin. We did find a snipe though (yup, we went snipe hunting!). Aspen jumped it from the edge of the meadow. The bird just got a few feet above my head and soared right on over me, then veered off to the right and made the full circle of the meadow before making another pass over my head. He looked pretty neat there all silhouetted against the colors of the western sky. Don't know where he finally settled down. Seems like I've seen a snipe or two out here every year, never any more, or less.

Remember the big wind and storm the other night? Well, it took a very large and heavy cardboard box that was inside a fence up in Aspen's meadow and carried it about 1/4 mile away! I found it and several other boxes out in the woods tonight while on my way home from the meadow. Man, that was on strong wind!

CORRECTION! I made a mistake when I noted that the park service was going to close the Hideout Hollow Trail. Several of you had asked about this since I mentioned it here the other day. I went back and looked at my notes (thank goodness for e-mail!) and discovered that the park service is saying they don't want to publicize the trail, not that they were going to close it - don't know where I got that idea. About two weeks after they told us they did not want this trail publicized, THEY installed a brand new trailhead sign there - hum, one hand didn't really know what the other hand was doing I guess. So for now the trail seems to be OK, thank goodness. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION!

LAST CALL FOR THE EAGLE AND MOON SHOT. Just wanted to let you know that you've only got a few more days to purchase the February Photo Of The Month (bald eagle and full moon) at the special price - that is only good until the end of the month, then the price for that particular photo will go up to the normal price. Don't have a clue what the March Photo Of The Month will be yet, but we'll put one up on Tuesday! THANKS TO ALL who have ordered these special prints - I hope you are enjoying them!

OK, the moon is up and big and bright now, so I guess I'll slip off into the hot tub and see how many rays I can catch and stars I can count.......

2/25/05 Aspen is going to be OK, but it was hit or miss for a while today. I had a long list of chores to do today at the cabin, and Pam was out with the dogs blazing an eleven-mile stretch of the OHT. These dogs absolutely LIVE to go out blazing with her. I was neck deep in chores and had four or five things going on the computer at the same time when the phone rang. On the other end was a very frantic young lady who had a dying dog on her hands. She was about a mile from her truck, and Aspen's chest was laid open wide. He had run into something in the woods (third time in his career), and it ripped him open good. I scrambled and collected some first aid stuff as best I could and flew out the door, put the pedal to the metal, and made it to her within 23 minutes flat (this is normally about a 50-minute trip). I'm sorry, but some things in life ARE worth it, and Aspen is one of them. (And by the way, it IS true that if you go fast enough, you can actually fly over the bumps!)

When I arrived on the scene Pam had managed to get Aspen completely out of the woods and up into her truck, but he was not in very good shape. Pam used a little bit of common sense/woods lore or something to help out. She took her bandanna, cut a couple of holes in it, then fitted it around Aspen's chest and tied it up with a spare bootlace to keep his insides from falling out. Way to go Pam! By the time I arrived it looked like he was indeed going to survive, if we could keep the bleeding down and get him to a vet soon. I moved into Pam's truck and we headed to Fayetteville, with the vet alerted to Aspen's condition. I must say that every single big truck we encountered realized our haste and got out of the way ASAP (flashers and headlights and horn going).

We made it into town and to the vets in record time and was met by Roy Senyard, who helped me cradle Aspen (and keep him from biting my head off) and get him into the office. They put 51 stitches into Aspen, and installed two drain tubes, which are at this very moment draining all over the cabin. We had a rough ride back to the cabin tonight, but Aspen is doing OK, despite remaining drugged up quite a bit. Our biggest problem for the next few days is going to be keeping him from pulling out those tubes. Yes, we do have one of those silly-looking cones to put around his neck, but it has already been rejected BIG TIME by sir Aspen! You should have seen the look on his face! One of us is going to have to be with him 24/7 for the next ten days until we get him back in and the tubes removed. As expected, he has been a great dog though all of this, and I have no idea how an animal in such a condition was able to hike a full mile out to the truck - most of it uphill.

Oh yes, the vet said that whatever Aspen ran into went all the way through - there was an exit hole - but that he must have backed off of it. It was probably a stick as the vet removed bit of bark and other material from inside him. Yuk.

One thing to note - whenever you are in a REALLY big hurry, the entire world seems to get into your way. A couple of examples. There is logging going on down the road from us, and has been for several months. Not once has there been logs or equipment in the road blocking the way. Guess what - as I came screaming around a corner there they sat, a big tree that had just been dropped across the road, and a big piece of logging equipment spanning the road. Help! And then in another location - I swear this is true - when I came up over a hill I spotted a critter in the middle of the road in front of me - actually two critters. There was a CAT crouched and ready to pounce onto a GOOSE! I could hardly believe my eyes, and neither one of them seemed to be thinking about me bearing down on them, so I had to come to a screeching halt. A cat pouncing on a goose, in the middle of the road in the Ozarks. Really? Yes dang it! As I got closer the goose went airborne and flew off, but the cat remained in the middle of the road for several seconds, then got out of the way for me to pass.

At the moment my truck is still over on the trail, and we don't know for sure how we are going to bet it back! Pam will probably return there in the morning to continue blazing, but I will need to be with Aspen all day, and I hate to load him back up into Pam's truck and then into mine for that rough ride. We'll figure something out. But if you see my truck by the side of the road, everything is OK, I just haven't retrieved it yet!

We are thinking that once he heals up and before we let him run loose out in the forest again, we'll need to purchase/make some sort of heavy canvas or other material sweater or vest - he seems to get his chest ripped open while he flys through the air, and we need something to cover that area to keep his skin intact!

OK, enough for now. I'm going to go sit with my pup.....

2/26/05 It was a long night, but both Aspen and I made it through alright - I hadn't spent the night sleeping in a dog bed since I was in college! Or was it high school? The drugs we are giving him seem to be working, and while he nearly took my head off this morning when I picked him up to go outside to drain his weasel, his short tail was wagging before long and that old sparkle returned to his eyes. His spirits seem to be high, especially considering what he has just been through. He is at the point where the main medication has worn off and he has to be doing something all the time - this included most of the night. My main job was to keep him from ripping out his tubes. Today I will follow him around all day and continue my job. But first, we have decided to go ahead and load him back up into the truck and go with Pam back to the trailhead and pickup my truck. Pam is going to continue with her blazing job so has to go there anyway. THANKS A MILLION for all of the offers of help that came in overnight - I can always count on Journal readers!

One item I forgot to mention about our rushed trip into town yesterday. While Aspen was in surgery we had several hours to kill - we NEVER have any actual extra time when we are in town, and normally never get our list of 20-30 items completed before having to leave, and it is always a rush. We were unprepared to go into town yesterday so didn't have any chores we could do. We ended up going to the Bed, Bath & Beyond store and Lowes. We spent a good bit of time picking out a new frying pan and a new hammer. And just to give you an insight into our lives together, the frying pan was for ME and the hammer was for PAM!

I'll make another progress report later today....Come on Aspen, let's go to the truck - please don't bite me...

2/27/05 I was up and out on the roof in the middle of the night putting plastic over the skylight in the drawing room - the actual glass leaks, and the plastic we've had covering it for the past few months finally gave up. The weather report said it would begin raining around 2am this morning, so there I was, standing out in the freezing cold in my underwear covering up the glass. Of course, we didn't get a drop of rain all night, or any this morning either - I should have stayed in bed! It was a nice refreshing stroll on the roof though, so no harm.

I spent nearly all day today at the computer, working on a large print order headed out to an office in Kansas, plus picking and working on the next photo of the month. I made up two different color versions of the photo that we picked, and I think finally have a version that I like. Sometimes these photos just jump out at me and scream "Photo Of The Month" and I hope you find that is the case with this next one as well. And also with this photo I am going to offer a black and white version of it - it will be a smaller print, but printed on very expensive museum-quality 100% cotton rag paper using a special technique, and mounted and matted on 100% rag mat board - EXTRA thick mat board - everything will be premium quality and archival to the max. I will only produce a very small limited quantity of these special black and white fine art prints, and certainly not everyone will want one, but for those that do, I believe they will come to know and enjoy this remarkable little image - I spent three or four hours producing the first one this afternoon, and it continues to grow on me. I will post the images on Tuesday with the first March Journal entry.

Aspen continues to progress, in fact he may be getting better too fast! Several times today I had to hold him back, and chased him down a couple of times out in the woods - just can't keep the SuperDog down in bed all day long! It is like nothing ever happened to him, even though you can easily see all those stitches and the two tubes hanging out of his chest! That will continue to be the biggest challenge for us - keeping him contained long enough for his insides to heal.

Last night he took over the bed and Pam ended up on the couch. The night before I was on the floor. No telling who will sleep where tonight!

One time this afternoon I went outside and sat on the front porch with Aspen. I know he wanted to jump up and run out into the rain that finally got here, but he know I was not in favor of it. So we just sat there, quietly, and listened to the soft raindrops on the tin roof. Such an exciting life we live at Cloudland!

Just before dark, after the girls returned home from Missouri and b-ball practice, I left Aspen in their care and headed out into the woods to breathe in a little fresh air and collect a few raindrops on my head. It was so lush out in the woods, with everything being so damp. It was a chilly rain, the temp about 40. I stumbled and snapped my ankle about 100 yards from the cabin, and spent the next mile just limping along. There were a lot of deer our in the meadows, some of them just feeding along and not paying me any mind, while others jumped up and ran off as soon as I appeared. The fawns from last year are about the same size as their moms now, so it is difficult to tell who is who. They all seem to be looking pretty healthy and fit and glad for another mild winter about to end. There are green shoots coming up in the meadows, and I know the deer appreciate it all. I passed by four little trout lilies, but they were curled up tight and now showing any of their colors. One day soon the sun will burst forth and the forest floor will be covered with wildflowers.

Time for me to put the computer to bed and for me to head up into the loft and see who is going to win the battle for my side of the bed - me or Aspen. Right now I think he is firmly planted there, but we'll see. I will arrive bearing treats and see just how easy he is to move!

I have just noticed that I am PAST my length limit on this Journal, but as long as there are no new photos to post down here I can continue to type. Hope nothing comes up that is really spectacular on the last day of the month!

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