CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - June 2005

Cloudland Cabin Deck Cam, 6/30/05, 7:51am, hot and hazy, almost hit 90 here yesterday!

CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL, updated 6/28/05 My wife the COVER GIRL!

6/01/05 It is a couple hours before first light this morning as I write this, warm and still outside - feels like something is about to happen, but I don't think we are going to get any of the storms or rain that has been on the radar screen nearby most of the night. I've been up for an hour or so working on the new Print of the Month. Pam and I spent a good bit of time late last night picking it out, trying to find an image that would go with "June" and yet not be a macro/wildflower photo. This one really jumped out at us, and it does have that summer feel to it.

While we were working with the image we also included it in the growing list of candidates as the cover for the new picture book about Arkansas that I have been working on. I am happy to report that I have selected all 115+ of the images for the book, and have done all of the layout and design work - YIPPIE! I still have to WRITE the entire book, then go back and get the original of each photo and process them - that all will take another week or two before the book is ready to be sent to the printer.

As always, there are several photos that we think will make good covers for this book, but don't know which one to pick. SO we are going to let you vote on which one you think would make the best cover. I have set up an online gallery where you can go and look through the different covers - all use the same design, which I think is a very striking one and should look great on the coffee table or the shelf. We are looking for the right photo that will get your attention from across the room and cause you to walk on over and pick up the book. And while we certainly want something that says "Arkansas" to you, we also want a photo that will sell the book and look good on your coffee table or shelf. So there you go, have a look, and you can vote and make comments and send your vote to me right there within the online gallery - there is a button to select that will automatically bring up your e-mail program addressed to me, then you just send your vote/comments on along. I'll keep tabs over the next few days and HOPEFULLY we can make a decision by the end of the week, and will let you know. (Voting closed - we have a winner!)

It is about 4:30am now, and I think I'll sneak back up into the loft and see if I can catch another 30 winks before getting this month under way for real!

6/2/05 It is very noisy outside early this morning - the music of our fine feathered friends is filling the air! Especially those Indigo buntings - they seem to be everywhere here this year, and such a beautiful song too. One reason everyone is so happy is the fact that we got a few drops of rain yesterday, but just a few, not even though to measure - we'll take all we can get though. There is a bit of fog drifting through the forest this morning as well, and it is cooler out than it has been in several days. Very still in the treetops as well.

The sun peeking through the fog and trees

I've had a couple of Cloudland moments here lately. The first was the other day when I spent an entire hour in the front porch swing with my two lovely ladies. We all sat there watching a single Indigo bunting working the trees, flowers, and mint right out in front of us. He would disappear into a patch of mint on the ground, then fly up into a nearby tree and work along each part of the lower branches, then hop down into a flower bed and mess around a little while, then fly back up into another tree and continue his foraging for food. All the while he was singing - we could easily see his beak moving. And always, at least almost always, someone would answer him in a tree not too far away.

And yesterday evening, just before sunset, I took off for a short hike around the loop trail. There was one point where I could see a hundred yards or more down a tunnel in the forest that gently rose up the hillside. My part of the forest was dark and shaded, but way out there at the end of the tunnel sun beams lit up all the trees from one side. On the opposite side of the trees there was light too - it was coming from a bunch of giant thunderheads that were also lit up by that setting sun - I could just barely see them through the thick forest canopy. They were bouncing a little warm light into the forest and lighting up the opposite side of the trees. And then the rumbling began - someone up there was striking a heavy bass drum and reverberated throughout the entire wilderness. And then a FLASH of light from lightning - and this really lit up the dark side of the trees! And then all of a sudden, right out of no where, a coal black figure appeared at the end of the tunnel on up the hill, right in the middle of the trail, turned and looked me dead in the eye. My distance perception must have been off just a little in the midst of all this great goings on, as I just knew it was a bear the instant I sat it, but it turned out to be Lucy - she looks a lot like a small bear sometimes! Anyway, it was just an incredible moment out there in the woods.

Later on my lovely bride and I spent some time outside dancing around and trying to make it rain. She finally gave up and suggested that I go take a shower to see if that would induce rainfall (she had already watered the flowers and garden and that didn't help). So I did as told, and by the time I had finished and was drying off, a few sprinkles began - YIPPIE! If you are ever at Cloudland for the night, I HIGHLY recommend the outdoor shower!!!

As I noted, we only got a few drops of rain though and then it was gone - I'm not much of a rain dancer...

THANKS A TON to all of you who have taken the time to review the choices and vote for a book cover. It has been most helpful indeed. Funny how these things go sometimes. We still don't know for sure yet which one we will pick, but I'll give you an update. First off, one image that I thought would be the runaway winner never did receive even a SINGLE vote in the early balloting (the first 50 votes), so I removed it from the group (the eagle). Boy was I wrong. The early voting put the Cypress Sunrise WAY ahead of all the rest and we thought the choice would be easy. Then the fall leaves photo came screaming up from behind. Then all of a sudden the Cedar Falls photo was getting all the votes. And quietly rolling right along is the Falling Water Creek scene (this was our original pick for the cover). We are keeping track of the male-female count for all of this. I discovered a long time ago that about 70% of the sales of my books are by females. It has been VERY interesting who is voting for what - like, for instance, at one point, every single vote for the Cypress Sunrise was male with not a single female voting for it. While on the other side, all of the votes for the creek reflection shot were female and not a single male vote! The Cedar Falls shot has been voted on equally by both. In the end we will have to make a choice based on one image that is very popular with both sides, shows off Arkansas well, and we think will attract readers. ALL of your votes and comments are helping out and we certainly appreciate you making the effort!

6/3/05 We've got a winnter! Thanks so much for all of your votes, and especially your comments. It was great to see a steady stream of votes come in these past couple of days, and very interesting who voted for what, and who did not vote for what - we kept track of the voting by gender. For a while, some images were only voted on by either male or female - females purchase about 70% of our books so we were especially interested in how they voted. Sometimes an image would get five or ten votes in a row, then nothing for hours. One image never got a single vote, and was removed from the survey after the first 50 votes. For most of the voting, there were three ahead of the pack, three way behind all the rest, and one image right in the middle of the voting. By the end of the voting, the tree remained at the back, but the one in the middle surged ahead and won - and it got more votes than the others from both male and female. We've not had any voting in the past few hours, and I had to make a decision, so the voting has closed. I'll post the winner later. THANKS!

6/6/05 Warm and humid this morning, with a bright sun rising into a blue sky. We got 1/2 inch of MUCH NEEDED rain over the weekend, and the wilderness is smiling a bit wider now. Of course, that was all sucked up within a few moments of it hitting the ground, so none of it was free to run off. I say 1/2 inc of RAIN, but it could have been "other" moisture. You see, we have this pee wee bird that has taken up residence in the carport, and she has been spending a lot of time perched on top of our rain gauge (which is a tall tube about ten inches in diameter - anything that falls into that tube is funneled into a small hole in the bottom and into the measuring device, which then resisters on the display inside the cabin - the outside of this gauge is turning white these days). I have a feeling that some pee wee pee/poop has been added to the mix!

Speaking of residents, the newest permanent residents of Newton County, Arkansas (as of Friday evening) are none other than Pam's parents! They sold their house in Nixa, Missouri, and moved to Arkansas over the weekend. They have been building a house along Hwy. 74 up near Mt. Sherman (between Jasper and Ponca). One important key with this specific location for the grandparents - their house is now on Amber's bus route! It will be great having them in the neighborhood (40 minutes drive instead of 2 1/2 hour drive), and I know Newton County will be a better place for them living here now.

In the move we got their piano, and so now the sound of lovely music will be heard from time to time drifting out of the basement and out into the wilderness - both of the ladies who live here will be playing (Pam has not played in a good long while, and Amber is just getting started, but I expect some great sounds to come out!).

Speaking of Amber, she is off to her second camp for the summer, at the Ozark Natural Science Center. They do a tremendous job there with the kids, and I often wish that I could do myself! This year will include a long trip into a wild cave, and an overnight backpack trip - we're headed up into the Wyoming mountains later this summer with Amber and her backpack so it will be a great test run for her!

I've continued to work long days and night, and in fact have worked and worked and worked each day until my eyes can no longer focus on the computer screen - that is when I know it is time to quit! Ray Scott was here all day yesterday and delivered another case of much-needed Starbucks coffee drinks - I wonder if those are legal in Newton County? He has become my Starbucks bootlegger for sure. Ray's book is nearly complete now - and goodness it is going to be a terrific little book. (It will be available at the same time my new book is - sometime this fall.)

I have most of the image work completed on my book, and soon will be starting the writing part of it. Today I will place all of the images in the book file, then will get started writing the captions. My book will be mostly photos (more than 110 of them), with some expanded text about many of the scenes - mostly how the photos were taken, some of the adventures along the way, etc. And, of course, all of my photos are from Arkansas, all brand new in the past three years and never been published in a book before. Ray's book is more of an inspirational book designed for quiet reading and reflection - it is a small, intimate book, filled with colorful images from around the United States, including Arkansas. We'll use a new-style (to us) cover on both books - hardback, with the jacket glued on. I'll keep you posted, and will have online galleries of both books available later in the month.

Speaking of online galleries, here is the photo that won the cover vote, or at least the scene that won - while searching through my shots from that day I came across this shot of the scene that is much better than the original one I had posted. It is a six-second exposure, and I love the movement of the leaves on the surface of the water, and how they interact with the reflection. I hope you do too! It is possible that we will have to pick a different shot for the cover in the end - that will depend on how well this one looks after we go through the proofing process - but for now this is the image we will use. (we are still getting a few votes trickling in, even though both of the links I had posted on the web have been removed)

Cedar Falls, Petit Jean State Park

My bride is getting closer and closer to her big 60-mile walk for cancer in Kansas City later this month. She is doing 18 miles at 3.5 miles per hour today, and is already out the door for her first "lap" this morning - she does a three-mile lap out to the mailbox and back, so six of those today (this route works out great for me - I often give her packages to carry out to the mail box to save me a trip!). This event is one of the most organized things I have ever seen, and certainly one of the most worthwhile events in the world these days. We all are SO PROUD of Pam for making this six-month commitment, and for putting so much of herself into it. It is people like her that really make a difference in this world (and those of you who contributed to her efforts too!). She has run off and left me in the dust!

6/10/05 A whip-poor-will woke me around 5 this morning - I had overslept and this bird wanted to let me know it was time to get up and start typing! I've only got a few minutes before work begins, so will try to make a quick report here. It is breezy and cool outside this morning, and the landscape is lush from a little bit of rain yesterday - yippie!

And I got to experience that rain to the fullest. I was up at the office when the sky opened up and it began to pour. No jacket, or even a hat. I should have known something was up when I arrived at the office and found it blocked by a five-foot long king snake - he was stretched out right across the entire doorway! He wanted to come in, but I convinced him to stay outside, and he had moved on elsewhere by the time the rains began. That rain soaked me to the bone in about 20 seconds - it was a really HARD rain, but it felt great! No need for me to hurry since I was so soaked, so I simply enjoyed a slow walk on back down to the cabin - kind of like a walking shower, only without soap.

The famous Don Kurz stopped by for a visit later in the afternoon. He brought us a new supply of two guidebooks of us, then autographed a large stack of Illinois Wildflowers for us. I gave him a quick lesson on slide scanning, and he was gracious enough to go through both of the book projects I'm in the middle of at the moment to double-check flower and tree names. (One the items he needed to verify was whether to use the work "brier" or "briar" - turns out they are interchangeable, as it seems many words/spellings in the world are, but it was good to hear it from an expert.)

Speaking of trees, most folks don't realize that Don is as much a tree expert as he is for wildflowers. When we went out for a hike later it was a non-stop educational tour, with a running narrative about flowers and trees - of course, I was asking questions the entire time - I really don't know all that much about such things, and it was terrific to have the authority along so I took full advantage. One thing I have always been unsure of is the difference between sugar and red maples - both are native around here. Within minutes Don had found both species and showed me how to tell them apart - pretty easy really, if you know what to look for.

AND I was delighted when we came across a wildflower that Don had never seen before in the Ozarks! Those times must be rare in the life of someone like him who already knows so much and seen it all. These were small and not too showy flowers, but they were white and really stood out in the dim light of the deep forest. As we got to looking around, there were actually quite a few woodland wildflowers in bloom.

Later we stood out on the edge of the bluff and gazed out into the wilderness and talked about how different species of trees have lighter or darker green leaves - the entire forest was GREEN, but with different shades. I hope this photo will show you what I'm talking about - it looks almost like early spring to me, yet these are the summer colors of the trees.

Don outlasted me and was sitting out on the back deck in the dark when I shut down the computer late last night. And he was up already this morning when my whip-poor-will alarm went off, enjoying the coolness of the early morning. He is off now, on the way back to his home in Missouri to try to figure out exactly what that flower is. (As he was leaving he said this was the first time he had heard a whip-poor-will in more than two years - some Chuck-wills-widows had moved in around his place up north and pushed them out. He much prefers the whip-poor-wills.)

Sometime in the middle of the night yesterday I woke up and realized that I did not have just two projects to finish up by Monday, but actually FIVE of them! While being so deeply involved with both book projects right now, often working on one for several hours then the other, then the first one again, the fact that I had to put together our 2006 calendar, plus a NEW POSTER, as well as our new color price list. It is going to be a very long weekend, which will include about 12-13 hours on Saturday for a photo workshop I am teaching, and a trip into Springdale for our hiking club meeting on Sunday. I'm not sure I am going to be able to make the deadline, but I'm going to try!

Speaking of the calendar, Pam and I sat down at the computer yesterday morning and selected the 13 images for it, which will include several of the other book cover candidates that you folks voted on. That shot of Falling Water Creek will be on the cover of the calendar, and the cypress tree sunrise, maples leaves, Cedar Falls, and the other waterfall will all be inside. It is going to be one fine calendar for sure!

OK, ok, I have to get on with it and get to work. You won't hear from me again until next week, and then probably just another short post as I will be pretty strung out trying to get everything completed. AND on Friday of next week I will begin posting reports from Pam's THREE DAY WALK FOR CANCER! We'll be in Kansas City and trying to get a few photos of her team as they make their way 60 miles through the city, over into Kansas, and then back again. Amber and I have been designated as the official "popcycle" station, and will have a full cooler of them to give out to Pam's team to help them cool down during the 20-mile plus walk each day.

Oops, I almost forgot about our visitor yesterday. Amber arrived back from wilderness camp, and while she was telling all of us about her adventures in the woods a large owl landed in a nearby tree. We got out the binocs and saw it was a giant great-horned owl, and had these incredible and rather evil-looking eyes! Normally we are thrilled to see such wildlife around here, but this guy was not here for small talk, he was fucused on DINNER! It was amazing to watch him watching our Koi fish in the pond out front. We sent Don out to discuss the situation with him, and the owl eventually left. That is only the second great-horned owl I have seen at the cabin - the first one was eating one of our prized fish...

6/13/05 Can't believe it is Monday already - I love Mondays, however I wish there were several of them this week and I need today to be about 72 hours long. Yesterday morning I got up, had breakfast, worked about half a day, then had lunch - when I looked at the clock I realized it was only 7:45am! Only a couple more days of this and we will get a break.

This morning as I was sitting in the hot tub in the dim pre-dawn light, there was quite a filibuster going on. An indigo bunting was singing his lungs out, trying to reach every single nook and cranny in the wilderness it sounded like. I could not actually see him, but was able to determine he was sitting in the very top of the tallest pine tree down in Mom's meadow. It had just rained (yippie!), and everything was wet and lush, with new clouds being born down in the canyons and moving around. Water dripped off the limbs and made a soft rain sound. Most of the time there were no other bird songs. But every now and then someone would pipe up as to challenge this bunting - a whip-poor-will at first. This guy normally will rule the early morning airwaves, but the bunting just continued his monologues - the poor-will got whipped! There were other birds, but they didn't last but a few seconds. And even a pack of coyotes got into the act, but the bunting kept them at bay. His lovely song drifted out over the wilderness and covered it like a heavy blanket. It is a mesmerizing song for sure, and I lay back in the steaming bubbles and almost want sound asleep. Then a big old bullfrog from our pond out in front hit a deep bass note and blasted me awake again. Lots of tree frogs up early this morning too, giving thanks for what must have been a delightful rain shower during the night.

We had a photo workshop class here all day on Saturday. I gave them frequent breaks, and we all stepped outside into a world of magical scenery. There were a number of thunder-boomers that rolled through, leaving behind canyons filled with clouds being born. Some of the clouds rose up in a hurry and raced right on past the photographers, who were snapping pick as fast as they could from the back deck. It was a textbook day at Cloudland, but we had to spend most of it in class INSIDE. We had a wonderful group of photographers for this one (as we always do!), Including folks from Missouri, Texas and Arkansas.

A lot of folks have been asking me what the heck I am going to do when we finish up these projects this week - certainly we will just sit around and nap all week long? Yes, that is indeed what I plan to do, well, for at least the first five minutes, then it will be back to work as usual. Besides having a great deal of catch-up work to do, I will block off some time in the near future to begin work on my next book project. I am going to TRY to do something I've been wanting to do for 20 years, although really only seriously for the past couple of years - that is to put my photo workshop into a book. At first it will be just for workshop students, but eventually I hope to publish a real version of it for sale to the public. That will be a lot of fun, but also many long hours at the computer!

Pam's walk for cancer is only four days away now. She has made up a list of all the ladies that she is walking in memory of, and also those in honor of. I will print up the list via iron-on transfer material and she'll put them on the shirts we will wear during the event. The Dallas version of this event has been going on for the past three days, and they have had horridly hot weather - many of the walkers were unable to complete the 60 miles due to heat exhaustion. We're hoping the temps in Kansas City are not quite as brutal! If so, my bucket of popcycles will be even more popular!

OK, it is time for me to get on with my work day - this is D-Day here, and I MUST get about 90% of the final projects completed. Things are looking pretty good - we are FINISHED with Ray's book, ALMOST finished with my book, have the calendar COMPLETE, and will be working on a new full-size color poster (it will have four photos on it - one from each season in Arkansas), plus a new color price list. Amber is home from nature camp, and has the first of two basketball camps this week - the ladies will leave for Jasper early each morning. It is going to be one high-powered week here for sure.

I just stuck my head out the door and Mr. Bunting is still singing...

a little gray tree frog on the cabin

a cloud formation from a couple of days ago

the classic summer view from the back deck

6/16/05 It was raining a little bit at first light this morning - what a wonderful thing to listen to as you wake up! We sure do need it, and it looks like it may continue for a little while. We're off to Kansas City today for Pam's big event. I continue to be amazed at how well organized and what a really big deal this even is, and how many lives it has already changed just in our little circle. So many of you have been involved with Pam in one way or another with this, and there is no way she could ever express the amount of her gratitude to you, but I will say it once again, THANKS A MILLION for all that you have done to help! She will be walking in memory of several who lost their battle with this terrible disease, in honor of others who have survived it, and for every one of you. I hope you will take a moment out of your next three days to stop and nod to the millions of folks who are trying to find a cure for breast cancer.

Yesterday was quite a spectacular day here in the wilderness. A cold front moved through during the night, and took with it everything that was in the air - it was SO CLEAR yesterday, and the sky was really BLUE and the overall view of the landscape so GREEN. Of course, it could have also been that yesterday was my first day of freedom in a good long while, and so I got to spent some of it outside - yippie! I got all of the book/calendar/poster projects put to bed the night before, and shipped off to the printers. When you work on something like this almost non-stop for a long while, it is a great relief to see it finally come to an end - but also a great worry (what MORE could I have done to make the projects better?). One thing you might find funny. After the editors made their first pass through my new picture book text, they remarked that my writing lacked the "romance" that it used to have. Of course - I already have the love of my life right next to me, so I don't need to write that way any longer! Apparently not. And it was true that I spent a good bit of my text talking about how I took the photos and not so much what they meant to me. So in one marathon session on Monday, I sat down at the computer and wrote for a solid nine hours without taking a break. This was pretty intense writing. And I dare say the book now has a lot more "romance" and heart and soul in it than it had the day before. My previous three picture books contained no writing at all really, and the last two had some short stories about a few of the photos here and there. There is some text to go along with just about ever single one of the 113 new images in this book, so for those of you who have been requesting more text from me, you will have it! For those of you who don't want to read that stuff, all you have to do is look at the pictures - they are non-stop from cover to cover. Sometime next week I will post a complete online gallery of the book and the calendar, and I'll keep you updated as to when the book will be available - which will probably be in October.

I got to play on the tractor yesterday. Had to haul gravel down to the cabin to surround the garden - the weeds were beginning to take over and I wanted to make a barrier. That little garden is producing yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, and onions already. Amazing what you can do with just a small bit of land (four by twelve feet in our raised bed). We had grilled fresh veggies for dinner last night.

I got to play with Amber in the pool, and for the first time in a good long while, the water in the pool was actually warm enough so that I did not mind going in! I used to love swimming no matter what the water temp was, but now that I am over the hill I prefer warmer water. We had a visitor during our swim, a tree frog that simply would not go away. He insisted in swimming with us, which was probably not a good idea. I caught him in a net several times and tossed him out of the pool, once taking him quite a ways off, only to have him return again within a few minutes. One time he jumped and landed right on my shoulder! Is that good luck? I took his picture, and Pam has adopted him - or at least his likeness - as her mascot for the cancer walk (everyone is worried about blisters, and this little fellow looks like he has some giant ones - of course, they are actually little suction cups that allow him to cling to trees).

HOP TO IT PAM!

Pam has been busy packing, and packing, and packing. Not so much packing a lot of stuff, but making sure she has the correct stuff, and nothing more. Once we drop her off at her hotel tonight, we will only get to see her a couple of times a day during the event, and then not again until after the closing ceremony on Sunday evening. After tonight all of the 1200 walkers will be sleeping in tents, and family members are not encouraged to mingle with them (in fact not even allowed other than at a couple of special "cheering stations" during the day). They just finished the Dallas walk last weekend, and more than 400 walkers did not finish due to heat-related and other problems. But they were still winners in everyone's book! CLICK HERE for the Bosom Buddies update page.

Once we get back next week I plan to OUT into the woods some each day, and will try to make a few reports to you as to the well being of the wilderness. I may or may not post updates to the Journal while we are in Kansas City, but I will TRY to make updates to the special 3-Day Cancer walk for Pam's team - they are the "Bosom Buddies" team, and I will make posts on Friday and Saturday nights to that page, plus on Monday after we get home.

6/17/05 It has been a hot day in Kansas City today. The girls got off to an amazing, and quite emotional start this morning and walked about 20 miles through the streets of Kansas City and points west. There was a pretty good crowd at the opening ceremony at the Kansas City Zoo at 6am today. I suspect that in the middle of all the television cameras, helicopters, music, dance, and the rising sun in the background, there were probably a couple thousand pairs of teary eyes - it was a tremendous beginning and a wonderful way to send off all these incredible folks on their 60-mile journey. You can go to the special update page for Pam's Bosom Buddies team and see a few photos from the event so far. After the opening ceremonies, we were only allowed to see the girls at one point along the route - at the 18.4 mile point. In the meantime, we spent the day at the zoo. It was hot, and my feet hurt from what seemed like miles of walking around, but, of course, it was nothing like what the girls were going through! The girls are camping out tonight (and all three nights), and we will get to see them twice tomorrow along the route. Amber and I will pass out popcycles once again, and I will take a few more shots of the group.

"WHERE DID THOSE GIRLS GO?"
I set up the tripod and took this self-portrait today while at the zoo!

UPDATED 06/19/05 PAM MADE IT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY - exhausted, every square inch of her body in pain, but with very high spirits tonight - we just rolled in back home about 11:30pm. THANK YOU for caring and supporting her!

THIS IS MY HERO!!!!!

Pam at the end of her 660-mile journey for breast cancer - at the Liberty Memorial - the end of the trail!
(you can see the pain on her face - it really hurt, but worth it every step of the way!)

6/20/05 We are moving kind of slow this morning and have a ton of work to do, but I will post some notes later today.

Just as the big red ball in the east began to appear this morning, a bunting sitting in the top of a pine tree nearby began a wonderful lullaby - it was to Pam, to let her know what a wonderful job she had done. (And also that it was TIME TO GET UP AND GET TO WORK!) We got home pretty late last night from Kansas City, and were worn out through and through. It was a great trip for all of us. I am happy to report that my bride did in fact get up and out of bed this morning and was able to hobble down the steps without too much trouble.

Speaking of hobbling, I will only pass on a couple of stories from the weekend here, but will have an expanded version on the Bosom Buddies update page (the closing ceremony). There were SO MANY moving moments this past weekend it would take weeks to write about them all, but I wanted to share one special moment that sort of characterized the entire event. A couple of times a day friends and family of the walkers gathered at a certain "cheering station" - which was nothing more than a designated address - it was completely unofficial, and there was nothing at each spot, other than friends and family. As each walker, or group of walkers, came past, everyone would applaud for a moment or two, and this is when the walkers would ALWAYS turn and thank US for being there. One of the walkers was a lady who had recently had a stroke - much of her right side was paralyzed, including her right arm - but she was able to hobble along at a slow pace. She was walking alone, in the blazing heat. It was rather moving just to see her walking at all, much less trying to do the entire 60 miles. At one cheering station, the group was spread out for a couple of hundred feet, and when this lady first came into view far up the road, the ENTIRE group began to applaud, and continued to applaud the entire time she was passing in front of the group - like several minutes. She hobbled on by, thanking everyone for their support. Everyone was balling like crazy at this amazing woman and what she was attempting to do. It was just incredible. Kind of like the whole event was. How in the world can anyone one of us complain about our trivial lives when this lady was doing this in order to help someone else? By the way, she finished the entire 60 miles!

As a result of "camping out" for three days and nights, one of the many things you just don't think too much about is flushing the toilet - everyone used porta potties, and they way you were supposed to be flushing liquid through your system, the walkers generally peed at least once an hour, all day long, and into the night. Anyway, as we were driving home and stopped for dinner, Pam wanted to make sure that Amber went in the bathroom with her just to remind her to FLUSH THE TOILET! (since she had gotten so used to not flushing in the porta pottie) There was a great deal of humor in the weekend as well as all the pain.

By the way, the Kansas City walkers raised over 2.4 million dollars to help fight breast cancer. Way to go girls!!!

I thought my bride would have been exhausted both physically and mentally after this ordeal and would crash and sleep all the way home last night (five-hour drive), but even after all that she was pumped and kept up a non-stop conversation all the way home. So many wonderful and moving stories to tell about. And really, none of us can relate unless we have been through it. All I can say is that this is a life-changing event for many people, and one that helps mankind. What more could you ask of anyone? Once again, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU Journal readers, family, and friends that helped support Pam in all of this - you deserve a pat on the back.

While we were away the Wildman and his lovely lady, Mary, stayed at the cabin and watched over all of our pets. Yesterday, as they were coming back from a hike into the wilderness, Aspen did not show up back at the cabin with them. Seems that he had jumped over the bluff and was stuck below. The Wildman called on my cell phone to tell me of that, and that they had found Aspen, but that they could not carry Aspen up the ladder, so he was stranded at the bottom of the bluff (just like he had been a couple of years before when we were in Colorado). So I told Carl just to take Aspen his bed and some water and I would go get him once we got home. About ten minutes later Carl called again to tell me that somehow Aspen had climbed up the ladder and over the bluff on his own!!! And that he had returned to the cabin. He really is the SUPERDOG!

It is back to work as usual at the cabin today - we've got book orders to fill, prints to make, tons of e-mails and phone calls to answer, and lots of other stuff too. But with two pretty major events behind us now (Pam's walk and the book projects), we will be able to relax a little bit and enjoy more of the day and not be in quite so much of a rush. The air has that light blue haze to it today, and while the temps were very cool early this morning, I have a feeling it is going to be a rather warm one today. At least Pam won't have to melt her shoes on the blistering pavement all day!

6/21/05 The other night after we got home from Kansas City, I took a shower outside - it was after midnight, and a nearly-full moon lit up the entire wilderness, and the trees that are all around the shower. The moon was way on up there, and it was just kind of weird and wonderful at the same time being out there in the moonlight and dog tired taking a shower. I love this outdoor shower, and can't hardly stand to take one indoors any more. I hope we have a mild winter!

My bride has been recovering quite well, and in fact went up to the office with me yesterday morning to help process book orders. The main part of her that hurts are her feet, and more specifically, her toes. Otherwise she is in pretty darn good shape after such an ordeal. That is mostly due to the fact that she spent so much time training for this walk, in fact walked more than 600 miles over the past six months. And by the way, THANKS a million for all of the wonderful e-mails you have been sending her - she indeed has been flooded with them, and they all mean a great deal. She spent the day in town today with Amber doing chores, and I spent much of today doing laundry and a few cabin chores. We pretty much can swap out our chores for just about all of the cabin and business stuff (I don't mind doing laundry, she can do nearly all of the business stuff), and as always, we continue to be a great team. And even though Amber is getting into her early teens, she does not act like it most of the time!

Once again this morning an Indigo bunting sat high in the pine tree and cheered the rising of the sun. It was very hazy this morning and I heard that the sun rose up as a giant red ball - I was tucked away in the bed and didn't get to witness, although did get to hear the bunting singing. A little later on my bride and I did a little soaking in the hot tub as the sun rose up above the line of trees next to the cabin. There was a scarlet tanager in one of the trees, plus several buntings, and a while herd of BRILLIANT colored goldfinches down in mom's meadow. It is one colorful summer we are in the middle of - or actually, just starting TODAY, the very first day of summer.

While the girls were in town and the washer was spinning I snuck off down to the river to try to work off a little bit of weeks of sitting on my fanny at the computer. The dogs went with me and stuck pretty close - especially Aspen. Still can't believe he climbed up the ladder the other day! The forest is mostly in its dull summer green dress all over now, with only a few wildflowers here and there to break up the monotone. It was overcast above, so the light in the forest was very soft. There were no spider webs across the trail, but I suspect as the summer wears on they will begin to appear, peaking in September when I will be forced to wear a headnet on my trips to the river.

When we arrived at the bottom Aspen and Lucy took to the cool waters of Whitaker Creek. And in rare form, Lucy simply waded out into the middle of a pool and just stood there, chest deep in the water, and looked around - she almost never goes swimming, and prefers instead to run around along the bank exploring. Aspen, of course, was trying to visit every single square inch of the water, looking for frogs, spiders, little fish, and whatever else he could find that moved. I sat down on a rock and counted my blessings. It has been a very good year, and we have a lot more wonderful things to go before it is over.

On the way back up the hill the dogs disappeared a time or two, but didn't stray too far. I found some tiny "cow cumber" fruit that had dropped off of a giant cucumber magnolia tree that towers over the landscape. Kind of small fruit, and dropping early. I noticed some hickory trees doing the same thing yesterday - the nuts were really small, even though it is early yet.

While another load was washing, I put together an online gallery for the new 2006 Arkansas Wild & Free calendar - you can't order the calendars yet (they will arrive early fall), but you can order prints of these images, all of which are new and never been published before (except in the Cloudland Journal). Sometime later this week I will post an online gallery of the new Arkansas Portfolio II picture book, and those will be available as prints as well. For now, you can go have a look at the new calendar...

NEW PHOTO GALLERY - 2006 Arkansas Wild & Free Calendar - CLICK HERE
Color Prints are available now, calendars will be available early fall.

I also made up a list of about two dozen big projects I want to get done this summer - including a couple of major ones. I will be working on three new book projects of mine too (more info on those later), and will be updating a couple of the hiking trail guidebooks. We'll be making big trips to Colorado for the peak of the wildflower season, and up into the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming for a family backpacking trip. AND this Saturday I will be giving three programs at the International Butterfly Festival in Paris - actually it will be at Mt. Magazine State Park. Two of the programs will be basic photo and photoshop classes, with the normal slide program program in the evening. If any of you are at the festival, but sure to say hi.

Pam and I just took a stroll through the Cloudland gardens - vegetable and flower. Not too many veggies yet (although we did have some WONDERFUL fresh green beans from our little garden last night - some of the BEST we've ever eaten!), but lots of different flowers growing all over the place in the front of the cabin. Pam has been planting them now for several years, and some are taking hold. Quite a change from the pre-Pam days when you had to fight through ten-foot-tall weeds just to get to the front door. I have been a loner most of my life, but welcomed these girls with open arms - and you know what a great influence they have been on me!

The sun is beginning to dip low in the western sky, bringing this longest day of the year to a close. Soon the nearly-full moon will appear in the east - it will be huge tonight, although tomorrow is really the official full moon. I hope to grab my bride and take a walk down into Mom's meadow to watch the sight. It is very still outside now, with no breeze at all. The temp is not too hot, nor the sun too bright. The laundry is all done. All is well at Cloudland. I think I'll go have another shower, then go grab my bride...

Speaking of my bride, Pam wanted to thank every single one of you who supported her and sent in e-mails this week - like me, sometimes she has difficulty putting feelings into words on paper/keyborad, but I think she pretty much hit the nail on the head with her words back to all of you - what a wonderful thing this 3-Day event was! (And just to get you prepared, I believe she is ready to sign up again next year!)

To all my friends, family and especially my Cloudland journal family, thank you with every ounce of my heart for the incredible support you have shown me. Not only for the donations that allowed me to take this amazing journey but for the outpouring of emails in encouragement and congratulations. Every single one of your emails will be forever engrained in my heart. You all are my family and I thank you for that.

The 3-Day event was a hundred times harder than I thought it would be and A MILLION times more rewarding. I thought that this journey would be about raising money for breast cancer research and it turned out to be so much more. It was about...

Hope-hope for a cure, hope that I could make it the entire 60 miles, hope that the porta-potties were just around the corner

Believing-believing in myself and those around me, that we COULD make a difference...and believing that camp really was just ahead somewhere.....

Courage-courage to take another step, courage to ask for one more donation, and to watch those that were currently going through chemo they were the true faces of courage....

Family-we were 1200 hundred strangers that as of 6:30 am Friday morning, June 17th became a family that above all else took care of each other.....

And Kindness-we became a world of our own for 3 incredible days where there was nothing but kindness. Kindness for EVERYONE regardless of looks, size, one boob or two, walking or not. I quickly learned that if only the real world lived as the 3-Day world what an amazing life we would all lead.

These are just a few of things that the 3-Day was really about. If you have ever thought you might want to “make a difference” I highly recommend walking a 3-Day, not only will you change the lives of others but your life will be forever changed.

Thank you again for being with me on my walk. You were there in my heart every step of the way.

Love, Pam, Kansas City walker 2005, Bosom Buddies

"I'm going to need a new pair of shoes!"

06/22/05 It is a fullmoon day, but I never got to see it set this morning since there was so much haze and thin clouds around the horizon. Hoping to see it rise this evening, although I may have to venture out to another location since the trees block part of the view here. Another splendid day in the wilderness, and I got to take a hike down to the river and hang out for a while.

These days the trail is covered a great deal with ground vegetation, and so I have to be a lot more careful about where I put my feet to keep from slipping on a loose rock in the trail. That means I don't get to see too much scenery on the way down, but that is OK - there is plenty to go around elsewhere, especially down on the river. The water level is pretty low, although Whitaker Creek is still running into the Buffalo (instead of going underground), but at a snail's pace. The main river bottom is wide and flat with not too much water running across it, and much of the gravels covered with water willow flowers, which are blooming nicely. I have never seen such widespread flowers as today - they are really spreading tiny bits of color across the valley floor. We have some of these growing in our little stream out in the front of the cabin, and they like to spread out.

water willows covering the river bottom

Aspen ran ahead and jumped right on into the old skinny-dippin hole, sending ripples from shore to shore. Moments before there was a nearly perfect mirror of the green (from the trees) and blue (from the sky) and white (from the puffy clouds in the sky) landscape all across the swimming hole. The water was clear, and there were dozens of fish swimming around, including a couple of smallmouth bass - neither was Spot, our old buddy from the past. Lots of minnors, and little sunfish.

I waded on out into the water and watched as sparkles of sunshine danced on the water surface, and shafts of sunbeams went deep into the water, illuminating fish as they swam by. Then I jumped in and sent my own ripples towards the shore. I did not bring along a face mask, so didn't spend any time exploring around - just wanted to get in for a quick dip to cool off. The first few inches of the top of the water were almost warm, but it got rather chilly pretty quick on down. I did not swim to the bottom of any deep parts of the hole, but I bet it would have been like a refrigerator down there!

Aspen in the skinny-dipping hole

After messing around in the water a little bit I climbed up onto the large boulder that sits in between this swimming hole and the wide flats just upstream. Lucy took up a post on another boulder nearby, and stood there surveying the landscape while Aspen continued to chase minnows or whatever in the big pool.

The river was running about two inches deep around my boulder, and everything was covered with a carpet of those water willows. The sun was streaking down and shimmering in a couple of spots where the water was bare. It was warm, but not hot, and for once there were hardly any bugs bugging me at all. I had brought my little camera with me, but soon ran out of battery juice, so I was forced to sit there on that rock and enjoy my stay instead of out working with the camera (I saw several great shots I wish I could have made though!).

and Lucy on guard

Some of the flowers were growing right little rapids in the middle of the river, and the plants were in constant motion, in fact they were quivering to the beat of the water. Moving away from the center of the rapids, the flowers slowed down until several feet away the flowers were completely still. Sunshine cast across this scene in several spots, the rest were shaded. It was a very soothing, serine, scene. I sat there, not really doing ANYTHING, for more than an hour. Or at least it seemed like an hour - could have two, or ten minutes; really doesn't matter. But I realized it was the first time in a while that I was able to just sit down anywhere and do absolutely nothing for a good long while. I guess we need to do these sorts of things from time to time. I will strive to repeat as often as necessary this summer!

This was the color of the moon as it rose LATE into the night sky tonight
(it was actually fully full last night, but after midnight, so it has lost some of its fullness tonight, even though today is the official "full moon" night)

6/23/05 It is late tonight, and we just got finished giving Pam a group back rub - Amber did most of it, while I filled in a little, and then Aspen completed the job by walking on her back! Pam went out for a hike today to try out the old feet, and realized after several miles that perhaps she needed to rest them a little while longer.

The moon did not rise last evening until very late - after 10pm here. The sky and wilderness were dark. I took a shot from the back deck of the almost haloween-color of the giant moon as it rose (as you can see above).

VERY hazy today, almost blue-smoke sort of haze that hung in the air and sunk into the deep valleys. I headed down into the deepest valley late this afternoon for a fitness hike to the river and back. The dogs went with Pam, so I was alone. The forest soaked up most of the sunshine and it was almost cool along the trail - I didn't break a sweat until I was on my way back up. I kept up a good pace and made it all the way to the top without stopping. In fact when I got to the ladder (since the dogs were not with me) I kept moving and started right on up the ladder, only to be halted near the top - there was a big SNAKE draped over the top wrung, and he was looking face-to-face right at me - YIKES! I was kind of startled, but I'm sure the snake was too. He was a hog-nose/puff adder, and his neck was all spread out like a cobra. I guess he was simply making his way along the top of the bluff and the ladder was in his way so he crawled right on over it. I helped him along a little bit, then we both were on our way. It is a good year for this species - we've already seen five or six of them here this summer.

A few minutes after I reached the cabin and did my 50 sit-ups, a large splash could be heard - this was the signal to Amber that it was time to go SWIMMING! She had a rare day off with nothing to do but chill out and get ready for a big week of basketball camp next week, plus a trip up to Missouri this weekend. She is one busy beaver this summer.

My bride fixed a large pot roast for dinner, complete with lots of veggies, and it slowed all three of us down this evening - the cabin smelled great all day while it was cooking.

One of our main chores this week was to get the new picture book online, and that chore is now complete. There are 112 colorful photos (oops, that includes 13 special black and whites) available for you to look through. They are in the same order as they will appear in the new book. That book will be here this fall, but you can order prints of any of the images now. I consider this recent collection of Arkansas images the best work that I have ever done, and I look forward to being able to showcase them all in book form. I had to figure out how to change some of the HTML code in a Photoshop Web Gallery template in order to get this new online gallery set up the way I wanted it - writing that code can be some scary stuff if you don't know how! But I managed to figure it all out. So there you go - the fruits of my labor over the past two years, and a look at the new cover!

NEW PHOTO GALLERY - ARKANSAS PORTFOLIO II picture book - CLICK HERE
Color Prints are available now, books will be available early fall.

I just stepped outside for a few minutes this evening - it is really dark out there, and still and QUIET. There don't seem to be any night critters stirring. Seems like the tree frogs around here have been sounding off early in the day and go to bed early. And today we had a large pack of rather vocal coyotes nearby that were howling at the top of their lungs - at 4pm this afternoon! They are supposed to be up and howling at the moon, not at the sun.

It is getting pretty dry around here and we need some rain. The forest is taking a great deal of moisture out of the land. We need a good storm to roll through to quench the thirst, and to sweep away the blues (in the air that is - we are quite happy around here!)...

Oh, by the way, Pam found out this week that someone mis-calculated the length of the 60-mile walk in Kansas City - the total was actually 67 miles! Not much when you are buzzing down the highway, but just think about doing an extra SEVEN MILES in that heat when you are already at the end of your rope! No one seems to be complaining - the walkers are taking it all in stride, so to speak...

6/26/05 Going to be another hot today here, might get up into the upper 80's, but we can handle it - I think the skinny-dipping hole is calling. Went down twice on Friday, and worked up a good sweat both times. This heap big pile of junk food that has gathered on my body over the past few months needs to be melted away, and I don't know of a better way to do it.

Kind of ironic yesterday - while my bride took a much-needed-and-well-deserved break from the world for a few hours (after taking Amber up to Missouri in the morning), and sat down to read The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, I was living a case of The Brotherhood Of The NON-Traveling Pants. It was quite dark at 4am when I drove off into the night, heading for a sunrise on the Cherokee Prairie down near Charleston. I had packed a total of four sets of clothing for the day - including a pair of long pants for my adventure out into the prairie (the other sets were to change into in between the three programs I was to give at the Butterfly Festival - I get pitted out quickly in the heat of summer!). When I arrived at the prairie just after sunrise, and reached into the truck to grab that pair of long pants, I realized that I had left them on TOP of the truck! Hum, they didn't quite make the ride, and I imagined our driveway littered with my "formal" Cloudland t-shirts, shorts, and the non-traveling pants. (now we know who really wears the pants in the Cloudland family)

I actually missed the sunrise by about ten minutes - it rose just as I was screaming through Charleston. But I got to the prairie in time to take a few quick images of the sunrise - it was quite spectacular and at the same time most relaxing - all the haze in the air made the sun nothing but a red and then yellow ball of diffused light. We don't get to see those sorts of sunrises up here in the mountains as the sun does not appear to us until it has climbed up into the sky and lost most of that romantic haze.

Never been to this prairie before, but wanted to take a look at it for possible inclusion in the Arkansas Nature Lovers Guidebook that I continue to work on. Another prairie, Baker Prairie in beautiful downtown Harrison, has not been too colorful this summer as I had hoped, and so I was worrying about the other prairies on my list being the same. When I pulled up next to this vacant plot of land out in the middle of farmland in the dim light of early morning, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find about 500 acres of yellow coneflowers in bloom - a sight I have never seen before - it was really even more spectacular then the sunrise - YIPPIE! In fact for the first few minutes I had trouble trying to decide what to shoot first - the sunrise that was fading quickly, or the incredible wildflower display spread out before me. I decided to incorporate both - which is a very tough thing to do, but what the heck.

I spent the next hour running around like crazy taking pictures, and also visiting another prairie nearby (not nearly as spectacular as the first one). I shot several hundred photos with both my normal and infrared camera. This one will indeed go into the new guidebook! And it is SO EASY to get to - I cannot believe I have never been to this location before. Wish I would have visited last week because I would have included a photo in the new picture book - oh well, there will always be another one! SORRY for all of the photos!

Yellow coneflowers at Cherokee Prairie Natural Area

The WIND was blowing a lot!

Infrared

Another really neat thing about this prairie - which is an Arkansas "natural area" and is owned by the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission - is the fact that the entire 500 acres is dotted with Indian mounds - are these what they built up to erect their lodges on? The wildflowers didn't grow up on the mounds, but they were covered with lots of different types of vegetation. Really a unique place that I suspect is rather drab and dull most of the year, but then explodes with color in the summer.

If I only had remembered my pants. (my legs were kind of scratched up and itched the entire day)

Even before I arrived at the prairie the temp had risen above 80 degrees - it was going to be a warm one! And already pitted out after the photo shoot at dawn, I headed for Paris to purchase a t-shirt - no way I could make it through the day with my old Pack Rat one. And I got lucky a second time for the day - found a special Butterfly Festival t-shirt for $8 - what a deal! I bought a couple of them to get me through the day. My shorts and muddy socks would have to do.

After doing a radio interview and TV spot, I went into the AV room to set up for my first program - it was supposed to be about "basic nature photography" - but the folks who began to show up 45 minutes early were mostly packing some serious photo gear, so I knew I was in trouble. I had expected a crowd of perhaps a dozen people, and 30 minutes before the show the room was nearly full. They said there were about 100 people showed up, and I did my best to cover some of the basics, but also answer questions the folks with all the camera gear had as well.

That is kind of how the entire day went - lots of people everywhere, and my jaws were in motion nearly all the time. I gave three programs, but probably had 75-80 individual conversations outside of them everywhere I went, including in the toilet. It was great to see so many folks at the festival, AND meet more Journal readers! (my throat is quite sore this morning, and my voice almost gone, but it was a terrific visit with everyone)

Sorry to get of subject (or is there one in the first place?), but I just have to report to you what is happening at the cabin right now. First off, my lovely bride came in from outside wanting some help with our resident tree frog that seems to prefer the pool to the trees. We don't really want him in the pool, but don't want to make frog legs out of him either. So we relocated him on over to the water garden where he can be with his other buddies - and much more interesting water. If he returns to the pool I think I take him with me on my next hike. And speaking of the water garden, it seems that one of Darla-The-Deer's offspring has been eating breakfast here this weekend - Pam discovered that several of her prized hosta plants that have been blooming were eaten yesterday. We figured it was a deer (which the dogs normally keep chased off into the woods - must have been sleeping yesterday!), and that fact was confirmed this morning when we saw a beautiful yearling doe slipping through the woods just in front of the cabin in search of more hosta. Probably time for some bloodmeal around the plants!

Oh yes, and the other thing that is going on has to do with a helium-filled balloon. While at one of the cheering stations in Kansas City last weekend, a lady who had a hand full of giant pink balloons handed the entire bundle to Amber when the lady had to leave the station. We stuffed the balloons into the truck as best we could and went onto the next station. Amber managed to give away all of the balloons but one, which she wanted to keep. When we got home I released it into the cabin, and it has been living up at the highest point in the peak of the cabin all week, 23 feet above the living room floor. A couple of days ago it lost its lift, and settled onto the cabin floor. We did not know what to do with it, and didn't want to pop it, so we just sort of let it roam around wherever it wanted to go. This morning it has come to rest right next to an air-conditioning vent in the library/office - it has found a spot where the air is blowing on it just enough to give it some lift, then it settles on back down again for a second or two only to be lifted up by the air once again. It has been there for hours now, just bouncing up and down gently and seems quite happy. I will keep an eye on it throughout the day and report back later. (And I will forgo talking about he baby dinosoars that Amber is growing on the dining table - really, these are living critters that she hatched from these TINY eggs that came inside a packet - and now they are swimming around in water!)

Like the spirit of the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk, this balloon will live on...

6/28/05 First off, a balloon report - it is STILL in the exact same spot! The vents blow 24 hours a day here, and the pink fellow has just bumped on along all day and all night. Kind of funny because once it ran out of steam the other day and hit the floor, it had to cross the living room, then get all the way across the library/office, where it came to rest next to the vent at the entrance to the drawing room. No telling how much longer it will last before getting completely deflated, but I'm rooting for it!

It is after dark tonight and we had to come inside because the "quiet" of the wilderness was getting so LOUD we could hardly carry on a conversation - those darn tree frogs, cicadas, coyotes, and whip-poor-wills were making quite a racket.

MY WIFE IS A COVER GIRL!!! In case you did not see it, Pam was on the cover of the Harrison Daily Times on Sunday - a story about her and Stacey walking in the 3-Day event. They had two photos of the girls on the front cover! It was a good article. The girls worked really hard for six months and deserve a great deal of recognition, but that is not why they did it. Stories continue to come out from the Kansas City and just-completed Twin Cities walk in Minnesota that leave you in tears. This is really powerful stuff, and I'm extremely proud of my lady for giving so much of herself to be a part of it all.

Today was another hazy day, due in part no doubt to the fact that the forest service CONTINUES TO BURN DOWN THE FOREST!!! I was stunned when I got a notice from them saying they were doing a controlled burn yesterday - this is the time of the year when wildfires happen, and here they are setting them on purpose. "If you see smoke rising above the trees in the national forests, it may be from a prescribed fire. A prescribed fire is one that is ignited by highly trained fire personnel under specified fuel and weather conditions to achieve specific resource objectives." They have very strict rules about when they can set the forest on fire, and in the middle of a summer drought with temps up in the 90's does not fall within those rules. I'm afraid the forest service has gone off the deep end and is out of control, just like some of their fires. For a while the forest service seemed to be making sense, but now their cut and burn and anti-recreation policies have taken them a giant step backward. I hope something happens to turn them around.

Pam worked outside early and late in the day today while I spent most of the day glued to the computer screen. As it began to get dark I put on my boots and headed out into the woods to the river for a quick jaunt with the dogs. Once I got down below the big bluffline it got darker and darker with each step I took - the sun had already disappeared below the western horizon, and the deep forest hadn't seen any sunshine in a while. Down, down, down we went, into a forest that was mostly quiet and still, just waiting for total darkness so it could go to sleep.

As I got near the bottom of the hill I began to see life ahead - the forest was lit up down there somewhere, a ribbon of light that stretched out there in the forest both left and right. It got brighter as I continued on down the slope, and it finally dawned on me that it was the stream that was lit up, reflecting what little light there was in the sky above, and sending it out into the edges of the deep, dark forest. There was a great deal of life in this light zone, including tons of bugs - and bats chasing them - plus different birds I had not heard here in a while; and in the stream itself there were dozens and dozens of crawdeads in the shallow pools that would scatter and hide in the rocks as soon as Aspen stepped in. The minnows didn't care about him too much - they knew he would never be able to catch them! Lucy just stood there in chest-deep water and looked around, cooling off, knowing she had a big hill to climb on the way back. But Aspen was in constant motion, splashing from pool to pool. I sat on my rock and looked around at the crawdeads and the bats.

When I got up and turned to head back the woods were really dark, but it didn't take long for my eyes to get adjusted to the dim light and easily see my way on up the trail. As soon as I left the stream the forest was silent, save for a distant bird call now and then. The dogs ran on up ahead as they often do. I love this hike UP the hill, in fact that is the main reason I take these hikes - it is the best exercise I can think of in a short time. It takes me about 20 minutes to get down the hill to the river from the cabin, and about 18 minutes to climb back up - I have to go slower on the way down because of the loose rock in the trail and under the leaves.

About half way up the hill, as I was approaching the first of the really steep benches, I looked up and just saw the tail end of both dogs disappear up and over the top of the bench. A few moments later I heard a noise off to my left - something was running through the forest, crashing through the thick brush. It was SO thick over there I could not see a thing, but certainly it was just one of the dogs that had doubled-back and chased a squirrel or something. But there were some pretty large crashes, and it just didn't sound like one of my dogs. Perhaps the dogs spooked a heard of deer. Or maybe it was one of the throngs of coyotes we have been hearing lately. I stopped in my tracks just a moment to listen and see if I could see anything. The forest was dead still, except for the crashing coming at me, and the sound of my heavy breathing.

And then I saw a flash of movement - when I squinted to see more clearly all I saw was BLACK! It was not Lucy. It was a bear. And he was charging right at ME! Well, actually not at me, but in my general direction - the bear was running along the bench that I was standing on, and I was right in his path. What the heck was I going to do - he wasn't much more than 75 feet from me. I really didn't have to make a decision because just about that time the bear stopped dead in his tracks - he had scented or sensed me - he came to an abrupt halt, then stood up on his hind legs - just like bears are supposed to do when they are trying to get a good look around. Needless to say the pounding in my chest and my heavy breathing took on a while new pace! But then I did not want to breathe because I knew it would be so loud the bear would hear me. My heart pounded, POUNDED, and sweat poured all over me. I held my breath. The bear sniffed the air and looked all around, paying particular attention to my direction. Bears cannot see too well, but they sure can smell and hear. Just about the time I could not hold it any longer and let out a huge gasp of air, the bear hit the ground with a "HUFF" all his own. And he turned and in about two seconds disappeared down over the lower edge of the bench we were on. And that was that. Whew! I guess he could have run me over - I was standing right in his way. But bears seldom do that. As I stood there breathing even more heavily than before, I wondered why the heck he was in so much of a hurry - was there something chasing him? I strained in the dim light to see anything behind him, but I would have heard it long before I could have seen, and there was no sound.

The dogs, of course, were up on the bench above, but by this time had come back to see where I was and I spotted them standing there looking down at me - they probably never saw the bear. While the bear was standing there looking around I tried to judge how large he was - you always look for the size of the ears in relation to the size of the hear - small ears means a big bear, large ears a little bear. I could not get a good luck at the ears at all, but I did not have a feeling of them being either size, so I guess this must have been just an average bear, probably out for his evening fitness run.

WILDFLOWER ALERT: I'm on the lookout for spectacular fields of wildflowers, especially those in public areas like Natural Area prairies or state parks that are open to the public. If you have seen any lately (like the beautiful display at Cherokee Prairie above), please let me know - I would like to get a few photos.