A few low-hanging clouds in the wilderness this morning
5/1/02 The sound of a helicopter broke the silence of the early dawn and woke me up. No, not really - I had been wide awake for hours anyway. The sound kept getting closer and closer, and echoed through the wilderness below. The rotors would be our constant companion for yet another day of horror. Another day of holding our breaths. Another day of fading hopes. I, for one - perhaps the only one, held out little hope of ever meeting Haley Zega, ever seeing her alive. This little girl could not have survived in the wilderness this long. It would be a tragedy, life taken so young. It was one of the worst days of my life. Yet, before the day ended, the millions of prayers that were being said around the world hit their mark, a little girl would beat the odds and live and be found, her parents would be on top of the world, thousands of wonderful people who reached out their hands, indeed disrupted their own lives to help someone they did not know, would shout with joy, and I would find myself enjoying one of the happiest moments of my life. This all happened, of course, a year ago, and Haley was found alive and well on May 1st. I still don't quite understand why this is such a powerful story, but all of the above thoughts and many more kept me tossing and turning all night last night. I got up and ran outside this morning, and instead of seeing helicopters in the sky, there hung a gorgeous half-moon, big and bright and pure white and beaming down into the wilderness. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HALEY! And I would like to add my own special wish to each and every one of you who helped out in some way - the world is a better place because of you. Thanks...
It is still rather smoky at first light, although a large yellow ball is peeking into the scene over on the eastern horizon. It is windy too, and the trees, with their new load of lush leaves are being tossed about. The summer soundtrack of the wilderness began to play about 4am. I counted 15 or 20 different types of bird songs, several layers of them, from right next to the cabin to all the way out to across the valley and up on Beagle Point. All of them seem to just be singing because they were so glad to be alive - they are happy songs. I wonder how many of them are calling out to a mate, or bragging to their neighbor that they had indeed found their mate! The river far below is adding a bit of background music - that sound is so reassuring somehow, I guess that there is life and movement and we are all heading downstream to explore and experience new places and things. And one more sound that I just heard, that of a big commotion out on the back deck - both dogs took off at a dead run across the deck, chasing Trail Cat. The cat always wins, and I think all three get a kick out of it. The Fat Cat is fast asleep somewhere.
My own mate is up at the main dirt road with Amber, waiting for the bus to arrive. Pam is so funny - quite often I will write in the journal late at night after she has gone to bed, and when she gets up in the morning she races to the computer to see what I have written. At first I thought she was a big fan , but now I think she really just wants to make sure I don't write something really stupid that shouldn't be printed! She is a very good egg - the best ever. I don't know what I would do without her.
Glenn Wheeler brought his mom out for a visit late morning. The four of us sat out on the back deck and took in the sights. The wind blew pretty hard all the while, and the air was filled with pollen. The wind blew the pollen right on down my throat so much so that I had to retreat into the cabin. Pam said later that when she went out to go pickup Amber at the bus stop that she had to use her wipers to clear the windshield of pollen.
We had a discussion about polk "salat" recipes. There is a great deal of the young plants coming up around here, and we have simply been pulling them as we can get to them, trying to rid the place of as much of them as we can (they are a bear attractant in the fall). Glenn's mom shared her favorite recipe, which included boiling the leaves twice in fresh water, then sauteing in olive oil. If you have a favorite recipe that you would like to share, send it along.
After spending several very warm hours in town, I returned to the cabin just before dark. Pam and I were out on the back deck in the swing when both dogs jumped up and raced off into the woods. While I could barely see, I took off after them in the hopes of getting a glimpse of whatever it was that had them all stirred up. Lucy was out in the lead, growling and snarling and barking. And Aspen, he did something that I have never seen him do before - he stayed back, just a few feet in front of me, and seemed to be afraid to go much further. He kept turning around and coming back to me. While he was doing this, and also growling and snarling and barking, I just happened to look around and realized that I had gotten myself into a pretty sorry predicament. There I was, out in the middle of the forest in my slippers, surrounded by darkness - I could just barely see the trail at my feet - and all I had for protection was a half glass of bourbon and coke. I guess I could always throw the mixture in the beast's eyes if I was attacked. Ya, that would be a good waste of whiskey!
There for a few moments chills kept running down my spine, especially each time that Lucy would great up with a new round of growling. I don't know, it was just one of those times when you could actually FEEL something in the air, like a bear or a wildcat or Mr. Bigfoot would jump out at you at any moment. What little hair I have stood straight up on end. It was downright spooky.
Lucy did not seem to be advancing any further, and had calmed down somewhat, and especially since it was getting really dark in a hurry (and I had drunk all of my drink, so I had nothing left to defend myself with), I decided that I may as well go on back to the cabin. I tried to watch my back as I moved slowly in the direction of the glow in the distance, but I couldn't SEE anything so I just kept my fingers crossed that nothing was following.
There has been talk of late about our visitor being a cougar. I find it interesting that in all of my years in the wilds of Arkansas that I have never seen or even heard a cougar. Even though the Arkansas Game and Fish folks say that there are none of them around here, I have heard enough reliable accounts of sightings in the past few years to know they are here, certainly in very low numbers, but they are here. And I would think that this immediate area would be a great place for cougars. In fact we expect to find one or both of the cats missing any day now!
It is getting late, and it is very dark outside, and the wind is blowing all over the place and lightning shows are abundant. The radar shows heavy thunderstorms heading our direction, although just a little bit north. So far we have not received a drop of rain. I have so much to do over the next few days that it would be fine with me if the rains held off, as long as we get a foot next week!
5/2/02 Not a drop of rain all night, and while the sky flashed for many hours all around us, we never heard any thunder. This morning it is a near-white out, and we can't see a thing beyond the meadow. There is absolutely no wind. I take that back - there is a great deal of movement from the dozens of hungry hummers buzzing back and forth around the cabin looking for breakfast that they must be stirring something up! The air is filled with the pure, sweet sounds of birds playing everywhere, along with the background rush of the river far below in the fog somewhere. Just a delightful, tranquil setting. It won't be long now before those sounds will be covered up by the noise, uh, I mean the music, of the tons of summer bugs that drone on for months. Ahhh yes, the peace and quiet of the wilderness!
Today was a work day outside. Terry Tractor came out and we worked on Amber's fort all day. This is the building project that we started the week before the wedding last summer. We got the fort built just enough to be usable, then ran out of time. I seem to have that sort of work habit these days when it comes to things around the cabin - work like crazy until we can use it, then drop it and go work on something else. Amber has a brownie scout troop coming out next weekend for a "campout" so we really needed to get the fort completed - I do very well if I have deadlines.
It was a great day to be outdoors - the air was wet and the temps cool, which I love. Aspen and the Trail Cat helped us out a great deal, or at least they supervised everything. About half-way through the day the power went off and we had to switch to generator power. It is nice to be prepared for such a thing out here - thanks to the big ice storm last fall that left us without power for five days. We found out later in the day that a timber cutting crew that was in the middle of cutting 80 acres of trees up near the Hawksbill Crag Trailhead felled a tree right across the power line - oops!
The timber cutting is all private land, but many of you who hike to the Crag will see a little bit of the operation as it reaches on down to very near the trail. Timber harvesting is just a natural part of the cycle these days - we ALL use timber products every single day of our lives and all of that wood has to come from someplace. The lady who owns the land feels like she will begin to lose the larger trees if they are not cut now. That is certainly true of late, especially due to the red oak borer problem that has broken out in the Ozarks. This little bug will single-handedly change the makeup of the forests here, as much of the oak crop dies out (or is cut down before the bugs get to them). Those in the know say that the oaks will be replaced with maple trees. We have always had a lot of maples around here, and I rather like them, although we have been blessed with one of the most magnificent stands of oaks in the country, and it is great to have that diversity. So far, the red oak borer has not invaded the Cloudland area, but it is probably just a matter of time.
The power came back on again by the end of the day. The crew from Carroll County Electric Coop was fast to respond and got the juices flowing again quickly. I am often amazed at how good the service is way out here most of the time. Same thing is true of the local phone company - heck, we get service out here a LOT faster than we ever did in town, and we are 30 miles out!
No new visits by the "critter" last night. I am about to think that it is actually more than one critter coming around at different times - perhaps one is a bear and another a large wild cat. Glenn was telling us the other day about a rather large fellow from the Jasper area who put on a rented gorilla suit several years ago and tormented folks around a number of the recreation areas in the Buffalo River area. Apparently he would hide in the bushes and then run out across the road way out in front of an approaching vehicle. The people in the car would see "something" that looked like a bear running up on his hind legs, which was very large. Hum, Bigfoot certainly came to mind. It was all sort of funny I'm sure, but perhaps that was not the smartest thing to do - so many folks around here carry weapons and are likely to shoot at anything like that!
And speaking of large, furry creatures, Terry Tractor reports stumbling right onto a large momma bear and cub in the wilderness the other day. He did not see the cub at first, but knew that momma was not very happy. Then he spotted the cub about half-way up a nearby tree, crying out to its mom. Both mom and cub were "cinnamon" bears - actually had brown fur instead of black. The bear people tell us that about 30% of our Ozark bears will go through a cinnamon phase at some point. I've only seen one cinnamon bear around here - he was the really big, bad boy who caused a great deal of havoc out here several years ago. May he rest in peace.
5/3/02 It is cloudy with a bit of wind at first light this morning. Temp is a cool 50 degrees. Lots of birds out making music. It will be another "work on the fort" day for us, and we hope to get the log siding completed and the roof put on. I have even heard that curtains are in the future plans, and perhaps kitchen appliances. I have no problem with Amber's fort getting such luxury appointments. After all, Pam and I may have to move into it one of these days when Amber decided to kick us out of the cabin!
A couple of funny wildlife things happened today. The first one was when I was hiking through a large field near here. Some activity in a bush near the edge of the field got my attention. It was a bright blue indigo bunting. The bunting was jumping back and forth on this sumac bush, and making quite a fuss about something down on the ground. When I got a little closer I could see what he was so excited about. There was a raccoon on the ground, just sitting there staring up at the bird. I'm not really sure if the raccoon was trying to eat the bunting, or if the two of them were just having a friendly conversation. The bunting was certainly in no danger. As I tried to get a little bit closer the raccoon spotted me and took off in a dead run towards the tall timber. Well, let me rephrase that just a little. This guy was kind of fat, so it was more like a dead waddle. He climbed up into the first tree he reached, and went up about 15 feet. He looked really funny up there because his fur was all wet from being down in the wet brush.
The other thing was a fine example of how some wildlife survives. I had uncovered a blue-tailed skink lizard in the front yard, which got the attention of the Trail Cat. When she came over to see what it was, the skink immediately dropped its tail, as they will often do when something is about to get them. That blue tail started flopping and squirming all over the place and the Trail Cat pounced right on it. I looked close and noticed that at first the skink froze in position - so that the cat would notice the movement of the tail and not him - then he slowly crawled off into the leaves while the Trail Cat was busy with the tail piece. That skink just saved his own life. And the Trail Cat got a taste of fresh meat - her first as far as I could tell (this cat has flunked Mouse Eating 101 so far).
It was another good work day at the fort, and while the power stayed on all day today, we had to stop working for an hour or so as a thunderstorm passed by. It just happened to be lunchtime so no time lost. By the end of the day we had finished putting on the log siding and getting the roof up. Amber's fort is now mostly complete (I still have to add a handrail, and a few other little things which we will decide on as time goes on). The fort looks really neat, and matches the style of the cabin - a fort fit for a great kid, which we just happen to have!
5/4/02 It is a total white-out at first light today, and 49 degrees. I can't tell if there are low clouds or a rising fog bank, but the cabin is socked in. No rain, but everything is really wet from the moisture in the air. The volume outside is very LOUD this morning - so many birds are either happy to be alive, or really hungry! Or I guess since it is Saturday they may be looking for a date too. I was never one of those guys who had to have a date on Saturday night. Good thing because I spent most of my weekends alone anyway. I guess I was just more interested in being outdoors back then than pursuing ladies. Of course, all of that has changed now and I combine those interests and chase Pam around the wilderness as much as I can!
5/5-8/02 It has been a perfectly dreadful week, and this is the first time that I have had the stomach to sit and type. The wilderness has been glorious, I imagine, but I have been a wreck. I came down with a severe case of something during the night Saturday night and spent the next couple of days in bed. Then I got up and had to go to work and it got worse. Nothing really major I guess, just an allergy, but it has really hit me hard. And when I finally crawled into the doctor's office in town and got a $90 shot, I felt like at least there would be light at the end of the tunnel. But I'm still as bad as ever, and the shot didn't do a thing. Seems like it has been my year to be down and out. I guess that probably balances all of the best times of my life this year!
It has also been one of the busiest weeks of the spring here, and both Pam and I have had a lot of things to do and places to go. One good thing at least is that we have not had a drop of rain, or at least hardly any at all, in more than a week, so I have not been missing out on any great waterfalls chasing (that I could not have done anyway because of my condition).
The first time that I got out of bed after feeling like I was dying, I went for a walk up the hillside. It was just about dark, in fact it was already dusky dark when I left the cabin. It was warm, and windy, and I felt as good as I could feel after being nearly dead. I moved slowly beneath the waving trees, not really going anyplace other than where my feet were taking me. I only had slippers on, so I wasn't going far. Then I got to looking at the disappearing colors in the forest. First, the ground turned nearly black, and I could no longer make out individual things. Then the tree trunks began to merge into the darkness. I followed the last tiny bits of dark green color on up into the sky with my eyes, and slowly, one by one each branch disappeared into dark. Finally, all that was left was a few dark grey areas above where there were not branches, only sky. And it was cloudy with no stars. Then, as I began to bring my eyes back down towards the ground again, some color began to return - it was very dark color, but it was there for certain. Not really green, but rather just muted shades of grey. My eyes were, of course, finally getting acclimated to the darkness. I could not look down at my feet and see shapes and forms. It was time to wander on back to the cabin and crawl in bed for yet another sleepless night.
Tuesday night Pam and Amber and I were supposed to attend the first of several gatherings to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Buffalo National River Park. This grand dinner was held at the new Buffalo Outdoor Center Lodge on Firetower Road overlooking Ponca. There were a number of notables there, including our neighbor Bill McNamara (the great painter that lives nearby our cabin), Joe David Rice - Tourism director for the state of Arkansas (a parttime neighbor), and Harold and Margaret Hedges - used to be neighbors until rednecks burned their beautiful cabin down. It was a great event with lots of wonderful food and drink and music. I mostly stood over in the corner and tried to cough up my lungs. Very attractive. Oh yea, the room was full of media types too - television stations and newspapers from all over the region had come in for the event.
It was really great to see the Hedges. They are the grand marshals of the fight to save the Buffalo River these days. Neil Compton is gone. Ken Smith seems to have disappeared. And then there were the Hedges, who fought as much as anyone. The highlight of the evening for me was when I got up and announced that the new #3 tallest waterfall in the state that we had measured several weeks ago would be officially named HEDGES POUROFF in their honor. Their own homestead that was burned down looks up on this great waterfall. Harold told me that he has seen as many as SEVEN waterfalls running there side by side in high water!
This morning we all gathered together again at first light at Steel Creek for the official ceremony marking the 30th anniversary. I was the first one there and spent some time wading downstream in the waters that were at first cool, and then warm by the time I had finished. Then the TV cameras rolled and Joe David Rice presented a plaque to the Superintendent of the national park. The media folks all piled into canoes and the group disappeared around the first bend, on their way to Kyles Landing. I elected to remain in dry dock.
The last part of the festivities included a big BBQ at Kyles when the floaters arrived. I drove home and made it here just in time to kill over on the couch, where I remained for the rest of the day. Even though I have spent most of my week in pain from head to toe, perhaps the worst part of it all is not being able to get out into the woods and enjoy what is the last really good part of springtime here. Sometimes you can have TOO many windows!
Sometime during the week Roy came out and helped me put up Aspen's Lodge, the 20' tipi that now stands tall in Aspen's meadow. We were not able to get it completely secured, but I think it will hold up for another storm or two before I can get it officially tied down. We have had a TON of noisy storms blow through this week, but all of them dry. We've probably had less than ten minutes of rain all week. Right now tonight it is really busting loose outside, but still no real rain.
A friend from Texas that was up this way last week sent me a photo of a little timber rattlesnake that he found out on the main dirt road near here. Looks like this snake has been well fed!
By the way, I have TRIED to keep up with my e-mails this week, but there have been days when I did not even turn on the computer, nor had the strength to answer all of the ones I did download, so forgive my tardiness if I have not answered yours. We have an extremely busy next few days coming up, so if I am able to sit at the computer and type I may not find the time. I will try to post a more jolly update when I can.
5/9/02 We had one heck of a ride during the night! Thunder and lightning and crashes and booms, and no power. The sky was lit up almost constantly, but once again we really didn't get any rain at all until just before daylight. Then the clouds finally did release some wet stuff and we got a lovely rain of nearly an inch. It was more of a soaking rain than a hard one, and I know the forest appreciated it. It is just now getting daylight, and I can see the Buffalo River far below. It is still nice and green and doesn't appear to have come up much at all. It was not the sort of rain that produces magnificent waterfalls or wild whitewater in the rivers, but it will feed the rivers and keep them from getting any lower, and perhaps even add a few inches to the flow over the next few days. I head many moans of "booked solid for the weekend and no water to float!" from canoe outfitters yesterday - this rain should help them out a great deal - even a couple inches higher river levels makes a big difference.
The power company was up and at work in the middle of the night, and our power was back on again before daylight. I have been here at the computer since then, working on my pile of e-mails, which I am happy to report I have almost gotten to the bottom of, finally! I've also been hacking and spitting up more of my lungs, which has given me the chance to go outside every few minutes to dispose of the contents. And how marvelous it IS outside this morning! It is crisp and cool (in the low 50's) and the air has been washed clean. And I am able for the first time all week to take in that delicious air deep into those battered and shredded lungs of mine. I can feel the very life coming back to me with each deep breath I take. The rains have stopped, and the cloud factory is in full swing down in the valley. The hills are much darker now then even a week ago - the bright fluorescent spring greens are marching towards the darker and more monotone greens of summer. And all of those little newborn clouds really stand out against the darker greens as they move slowly upwards towards the sky.
Fox meadow just down below the cabin has grown up a great deal this week, although I have not been down to take a close look in a while. It appears that some of the flowers are three and four feet tall! And there are many new colors and shapes that I can see from up here - I'm going to make it one of my goals today to get down into the meadow and see if I can take a few snapshots of the new flowers to post on the journal. "Oh no, Ernst is going to post MORE flower pictures?" Sorry guys. At least you can be relieved that waterfall chasing season is about over for this year. I still do have several priority waterfalls that I have yet to photograph, but it is going to take another frog-strangler type of rain to get them up to where I need them, and me being able to find the time to go get them. I will probably leave them for volume two of the book, which it looks more and more likely I am going to need to do all the time.
In about ten minutes the sky turned from one of clouds to pure blue. It cleared off in a hurry and turned into one spectacular sunny spring day, and remained that way until nearly dark. Pam and I spent most of the day cleaning up inside and outside of the cabin. We have a ton of visitors coming in. I also spent much of the day outside, bent over the railing hacking up what was left of my lungs. Things were looking up though, and I was able to breathe for the first time in a long while.
I also spent a lot of time at the computer, trying to catch up. At one point a hummer whizzed right past my head. That is not all that unusual out here these days, but this guy was INSIDE the cabin! It took me a moment to realize that he was not just asking for food, but for a way out! Unlike the other birds that get caught inside the cabin, this one never did run into the windows, but rather patiently waited for me to open a few doors, and then he made his escape.
We ventured down into the meadow in the afternoon and found a lush garden of Eden with some flowers growing more than four feet tall. There were perhaps six or eight additional species blooming, but the bright sunshine and constant wind kept me from getting many good photos. It was clear that the color of the meadow is going to change shortly from mostly green and blue to bright yellow and orange. Also, the first of several special flowers that originally came from Pam's grandmother's home place up north (that her dad planted around the gazebo last year and elsewhere) bloomed. Those plants, along with my mom's ashes that are now feeding the wildflowers in the meadow, will keep both of our families' heritages alive and well for many generations to come.
Pam got to sample her first STRAWBERRY of the season! These were not wild ones, but rather ones we planted in the meadow last spring. They will form the base of a little garden that we will develop in the meadow. It will take a while to get one built up as we have to bring in dirt and create elevated beds, a little bit at a time. It was not easy for Pam to get to the strawberry - she was greeted by the FATTEST lizard I have ever seen, and he appeared to be staking out his territory and standing his ground and did not want for her to eat the strawberry! I eventually convinced him it would be in his best interest to allow her to pass, and all was well. Man, he was on FAT dude! Pam informed me later that he might have been a SHE, and expecting. That would be great - Aspen just loves to play with lizards!
Long about dark I continued another family tradition - burning of the trash. That used to be my job way back when we lived on the outskirts of Fayetteville and didn't have any trash collection. Now most of our stuff is recycled, but some of it still have to be burned. The sun had gone down and clouds gathered in the western sky - very odd looking clouds too. I guess this time of the year produces all sorts of strange cloud formations. The air was completely still, although I found evidence of the storm that passed through during the night - the tipi and Roy and I had just spent so much time putting up the other day, had been picked up by the strong winds and tossed across the other side of the meadow. That was my fault - I never did get back up to secure it with the 32 stakes like I was supposed to! I would not have made a very good Native American I'm afraid.
It was a wonderful hour or two all alone up in the meadow tonight, sitting down and laying back and enjoying the nighttime sky. I got up and wandered around a little bit too, and started to count the number of daisies in bloom - I stopped at 100. Sort of a strange thing to be doing I guess - stumbling around in the dark counting wildflowers - but it seemed appropriate at the time. Pam absolutely loves daisies, but so far we have not been able to get them to grow in Fox meadow.
5/10/02 An entire night of being able to breathe! And I actually got a few hours of sleep, which has eluded me most of the week. I was up refreshed and ready to go at first light, and sitting in the newly-repaired hot tub (it has been on the blink for a while now). Once again we were all covered up with cloud formations, but most of them were high in the sky and not scraping down in the ridgetops.
There was this one very distinct black line of clouds that appeared on the southern horizon. The closer it got, the BLACKER it got. It was very menacing looking, especially when it produced incredible displays of lightning bolts that spread out below it across the wilderness. Each time the jolt of electricity was turned on the black would glow red and orange. Just about the time this thing was over Beagle Point I noticed that it had an unusual "hook" pattern to it, and that the leading edge began to rotate in the opposite direction. Oops, that sounds like a tornado! I started to make motions of getting out of the water in a hurry. But the cloud was only toying with me, and the rotation stopped and the black band of fire moved on past. It was quite a show while it lasted.
We've all got a full schedule in the next day or two. I have to be in town all day today - to judge an art contest at our U.S. Congressman's office (the winner will be hung in the Capitol in Washington), to deliver my mom's remaining ashes to the National Cemetery where she will be reunited with my dad, and then to get all of the other errands completed that I have been putting off all week. I have to get back out to the cabin in time to get the fire going for a weenie roast that Amber is having tonight - her brownie troop will be "camping" out at the cabin tonight.
Speaking of Amber, she has an all-day "mini-olympics" at school today in the park in Jasper. Pam will be there with our new video camera to record the historic events. After her brownies all leave tomorrow, Amber will be in a Little Miss pageant at school in the afternoon. We would not normally like for her to be involved in such a thing, but her classmates voted her to represent them, so we wanted for her to participate.
This will also be a big weekend around here because the Zega and Hale families will arrive late tonight and be here all weekend to celebrate one year of Haley being "home" from the wilderness. They will all be staying up at Bob's and the Faddis cabins, although we will have a big pot luck dinner here at the cabin on Saturday night. We hope to have a visit from Pam's parents tomorrow too. Those are a few of the things that we have scheduled right now - new ones always come up, which will make for busy times at Cloudland, as always!
I am doing a great deal better today (although still about to die any moment), and want to THANK the many of you for the wonderful cards and notes that you have sent. Always nice to know that there are still a few readers out there!
My day spent in town was quite miserable - is it really possible to spend more time SITTING at stoplights burning gas than you do actually MOVING? Seems like it has gotten to that point. I did have a nice time at the art judging contest at Congressman John Boozeman's office - some incredible works of art there by high school students. I was honored to have been a part of it all.
Then I was finally able to put my mom to rest next to dad in the National Cemetery. She always loved this time of the year - because of the flowers of course. Being cremated is the only way to go as far as I am concerned. That way you are able to spread yourself around (mom is now in at least a half-dozen places).
When I returned to the cabin I put it into high gear - I had to construct a firering and seating area out near the fort for the brownie troop. I managed to get a respectable set up created and a large fire going in just less than two hours - right on time for the troop's arrival! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and the like and had a delightful time sitting around the campfire. Amber's fort got a good workout as well, and everything seemed to work just fine.
Long about dark I went on up to see if any of the other guests had arrived yet - they are staying at Bob Chester's two cabins this weekend. No one was there as yet, but I got to spend some quality alone time just wandering around in the meadows up there in the twilight, conversing with a whippoorwill or two. Then Jay and Joyce Hale arrived (Haley's grandparents). I stood around with them in the meadow and drank the first beer that I have had all year. I'm not a big drinker, but do enjoy a bottle of brew like this one with good friends in a wonderful atmosphere.
When I arrived back at the cabin I found that the downstairs had been turned into one solid bed, with female bodies as far as the eye could see (well, actually I didn't see any of them - I was afraid to go down there with all of those ladies!).
5/11/01 The cabin was engulfed with heavy fog and wind at first light today, and it was very WET outside. When I opened my eyes I saw many pairs of eyes staring back at me - the bed was completely encircled by brownies! The only other male in the cabin was no help - Aspen was buried deep under the cover with Pam.
After breakfast the troop geared up and took off for a hike. It was still very foggy, but the wind was beginning to break it up a little bit.
As I was just sitting here typing this, Amber appeared, soaked to the bone. She had a hand filled with wildflowers that she had picked especially for her mom on Mother's Day. She handed them to me and said "It's not good enough for mommy, but it will have to do for now!" She is such a delight, and will never know just how PERFECT those flowers were are.
Uh, oh, I hear rumblings on the decks outside - just be the troop coming back, I had better RUN!
I think the brownie troop had a great visit to Cloudland, and while they were not actually to "camp" outside at this age, Pam saw to it that they did spend a lot of time outdoors, including a pretty good hike around the loop trail. The girls were all smiles and giggles and wet feet.
Just before the troop loaded up to head back to town, a pickup arrived filled to the brim with Haley Zega and her family, including her grandparents Jay and Joyce Hale and Clay Bass, three of the folks she went on her little hike with last spring. I led them down to the ladder trail and send them along their way. Jay wanted to lead them on a hike at the bottom of the big bluffline, all the way past Hawksbill Crag and to Haley Falls. This is rugged terrain with no trail, but it is easy to follow along since you simply hike along the bottom of the bluff.
I hurried back up to the cabin, said goodbye to the troop, then loaded a fanny pack and headed for Haley's Falls myself, only I would take the easy route, along the top of the bluff and the trail.
There were quite a few folks on the trail at the Crag and at the waterfall. It was a great spring day to be out. The wind was blowing and it was cloudy, but the temps were warm and comfortable.
Before I had reached the waterfall I broke off of the main trail and found my way on down through a break in the bluffline, and eased my way along a ledge about half way up the bluff. I love these little oasis spots that hang out there in the middle of nowhere - not on top of the bluff, not on the bottom either. This particular one was about five feet wide, with multi-colored rock layers all around. At the far end the ledge sort of petered out and dropped off all the way down to the rocky ground. There was a batch of cacti guarding this end of the ledge. It is always surprising to see this plant growing around here, especially half way up this tall bluff. This particular batch was about four feet in diameter, and had a lot of new growth on it, but no flowers. I may try to come back in a few weeks and see if I can get a photo of the blooms.
Towards the back of the ledge there was a mini-overhang of sorts, and the floor of this little protected area was covered with wall-to-wall poop, a common sight under these ledges. I guess since this little ledge is also protected by the big ledge, which is in turn protected by all of the towering trees out in front of it, I doubt there is much water that ever hits under here. So the poop remains very dry and piles up over a long period of time. I've never really figured out what sort of critter made this poop, but it must be a pack rat or something - much too large to be mice, and deer certainly wouldn't go out of their way to come up here just to go to the bathroom (although this stuff is about the same size and shape of deer scat). No, it has to be a critter that lives up here on this bluff. I guess I have some sort of kindship with this critter since I enjoy hanging out in such places too.
I heard noises from below, and soon Haley's group made their way underneath my position. I called down to them, then made my way on out to the end of the ledge and down to the forest floor to join their hike.
A few minutes later we all were standing at the base of the lower part of Haley Zega Falls. There wasn't much water running over it, but enough to signify it as a waterfall. This is the very first time that Haley had actually stood under the falls that bear her name. On the day she got lost last year she had only made it to the very top of the upper falls for a quick look. She had wanted to go down to the bottom of the falls and get a closer look, but they had run out of time and had to turn around and go back to the trailhead. This is what prompted Haley to sit down in the first place - she was not a happy camper about missing her opportunity to see her first waterfall up close. That, of course, eventually led to her taking the wrong trail on her way back, which started the tree day saga.
One thing that I was especially interested in today was being with Haley and Joyce and Clay, and getting their first-hand account of those last important few moments before Haley got lost. FINALLY we would be able to put the pieces of the puzzle that Joyce and I had written about in the Haley book together on the ground and test the theory that we came up with.
"Ok, right here is where we first left Haley" Jay said pointing down to the small rock ledge that would later become the focal point in the search. "Then we hiked to this point right here and stopped and waited for her, just out of sight. When we saw that she had indeed gotten up and was following us, we moved on ahead a little bit further."
"Here is where Clay and I stopped for the final time to wait for Haley. We never did see her again" said Joyce. Joyce was standing right next to a prominent rock that happened to be covered with lush poison ivy today. This spot was only about 50 feet away from a fork in the trail back where Haley was coming from on that day. We went back to that intersection and sure enough, it was JUST out of sight of where Joyce and Clay had stopped and waited - they would not have seen Haley coming up the trail before she took the wrong turn at the intersection. Haley was trying to catch up with her grandparents and simply took the wrong turn, quickly going right on around the group and just out of sight. The rest is history. This is the account that both Joyce and I wrote about in the book, but it was great to finally be standing at the exact spots with those actually involved to confirm everything.
The time was getting late and I had to get back to the cabin, so I left the group behind and sped on down the trail. Amber didn't have much time to recover from her brownie troop "campout" - she had a big event in town at school to be a part of, and was getting all dressed up in a nice purple dress. I scraped off the dirt and sweat and got into a pair of clean jeans. The cabin was filled with the aroma of a fresh-baking peach cobbler that Pam's mom Judy was working on in the kitchen. Rush, rush, rush.
When we returned to the cabin after the big event in town we found more great aromas in the cabin. The Zegas and Hales were gearing up for a big dinner celebration in honor of Haley being back with them for an entire year. By the time the evening had ended we all had feasted on quite a bit of incredible food. I don't think either Amber or Haley cared too much about all of that, but they had a great time playing out in the fort!
5/12/02 All of our adult "campers" were up early and off to new adventures by first light. Pam and Amber and I were left behind to enjoy a relaxing day without a single deadline to meet. We spent most of it outside, planting flowers and fixing up the yard. I spent the rest of the time killed over on the couch, catching up on my naps and trying to shake this terrible business that remains deep in my chest and up in my head.
Speaking of my illness, I found it amusing on Friday when I heard a news report that said the special antibiotic that the doctor had given me for the acute bronchitis was basically worthless "no better than a low level dose of vitamin C." Great. And the $90 injection that I had given proved to be just as worthless - my symptoms had gotten worse during the week with no help from the drugs. I really don't know what else to do other than to simply wait it out and do the best that I can (which means avoiding people - I am not any fun to be around at all!).
All in all it was a terrific day and we were able to get a lot done yet still come down and rest up some from the hectic week just passed. And at some point during the weekend my odometer rolled over for another year. I am 47 now, and have just been through the most wonderful year of my life. I have so much to be thankful for, and so much MORE to look forward to in the coming years and decades. I have never been one who dreaded getting older, in fact look forward to each and every year as they come along. I'm already ready for 50, 60, 70! Actually that is not quite true - I want to experience each single day of the years leading up to those milestones (I just hope they have invented a cure for what ails me by then!).
By late evening tonight they skies had filled with dark and menacing clouds, which began to flash and rumble with yet another approaching storm. We have had so many of these storms blow through this past couple of weeks, but haven't received much rain from them. This particular front hit with a vengeance, and brought with it heavy rains. I stood out on the back deck and let the strong winds lash against my face, and could hear the wilderness sighing with relief and saying "bring on the rain!" We have this one leak inside the cabin that happens when the wind blows heavy rains in from the particular direction that the storm was coming from tonight, so before I shut the cabin down for the night and went to bed I set up a little umbrella over one of the computers here - a funny-looking but quite effective method of protecting this expensive equipment!
5/13/02 We got a nice rain during the night - just over one inch. And the temp dropped quite a bit - it was 40 something at first light this morning. Boy the crispness in the air feels wonderful! The river far below is actually rather quiet this morning, and only came up a few inches and is running clear. I think much of the rain overnight was soaked up by the nearly-parched forest. It is hard to think of the forest being parched right now, but it has been getting dry these past couple of weeks, especially when you think that all of those trees and bushes are soaking up zillions of gallons of water a day out there just to stay alive. I don't know how they do it all summer, and guess it takes a pretty good root system to reach deep down into the earth for that moisture.
By mid morning the sky had cleared and we had one terrific bright blue sunshine sort of a day. But the temps actually dropped a degree or two, so it was rather chilly. I spent most of my day inside at the computer, and running back and forth between the office and cabin - it was TAX DAY at Cloudland! Since we had such a great wet winter and early spring, I was never able to make any of the appointments that I had with my tax guy in time to get our taxes done on time. So we had to file extensions. When I got up out of bed this morning I said TODAY is the day. Besides my own business and personal taxes to do, I have to incorporate Pam's into them now, as well as my mom's - both from last year and her final one. Thank goodness for CPA's that can make sense of it all!
Pam realized full well that all of those numbers bouncing around inside my empty head were wearing me out, so she grabbed me in the middle of the afternoon and we went out for a hike.
What a beautiful SPRING day it was! Not only was the air washed clean from the rains and cold front that moved in, but it was filled with the heavy aroma of wild roses. My goodness these things are taking over! I have seen more brilliant blooms on them perhaps, but never anything like the fragrance that filled the air today - it was simply wonderful, even in my reduced state of nose production. All of the early wild roses that I have seen are white, although I bet a lot of pink ones pop out soon.
The meadows and lanes are filled with daisies, beaming white up into the blue sky, and thrashing around like crazy in the wind. I continue to be drawn to these white wonders and am always brought to my knees to get down and take a closer look. Funny how such a striking flower has little if any scent. No matter - I will always give them my attention!
While I was deep in the middle of a long string of numbers later in the afternoon, Amber burst into the cabin - she had just hiked all the way from the main dirt road after riding the bus home from school (she persuaded Pam that they should hike home instead of drive). She reached out and handed me a handful of daisies - "These are for you daddy!" How could one guy be so lucky?
It is late at night now and I just put all of the taxes to rest - ready now to turn it all over to the CPA. The cabin is quiet except for the hum of the computers, and the occasional yawn from Aspen. Pam is upstairs buried in a book - taking a much-earned break from the hectic schedule we have been following. I'm going to shut down the machines now, take a glass of wine with me down into the hot tub, and let the bubbles and the starlight from above ease me into the night.
5/14/02 Just one quick entry for today, and that has to do with first light. It was simply marvelous as the very first rays of bright sunshine lit up the tip tops of the tall wilderness ridges all around. The valley below was covered with a layer of clouds, packed tight and ready to be set loose by those warming sun rays. Few things in life are as wonderful to experience as an Ozark sunrise.
5/15/02 Today began with bright blue skies and lots of sunshine - that lulled me into thinking I could work outside all day and not get rained on. Wrong. I had this single little project in mind - to build an elevated floor for the new bathroom down in the exercise room (something that has been on my to do list for nearly five years). All I had to do was cut a few boards and nail them up. No big deal. Only problem was that the area outside this new bathroom was filled was junk, or should I say tools, and I really needed to get all of that out of the way so that I could work. OK, that was no big deal - I already had lots of rubbermaid tubs to put them all in. Only problem there was where to put all of the tubs once they were filled up. I had that one all worked out too - they would all go out in the shed that we built last spring. Great. Of course, I needed to build some large shelves along one side of the shed to hold all of the tubs. No problem - I was in town yesterday and bought plenty of lumber to do just that. The big problem there was that like the exercise room, the shed was filled to the brim with junk, I mean tools. So before I could build the shelves to hold the rubber tubs that I had to fill up and move out of the way so that I could work in new bathroom in the exercise room, I would have to clear out the shed. No problem there either - I had TONS of empty deck space that would hold all of those items until I got the shelves built!
So I went merrily on my way to empty out the shed. Before long I had an incredible amount of stuff strewed out all over the place - how in the world did all of that stuff FIT into that one little storage shed?
Just about the time I got the first of three large shelves built, I heard thunder. Son of a gun - the blue skies had been replaced with black clouds and RAIN!!! I know, I know, I've been screaming, BEGGING for rain for many months now (and I still wish it would pour a foot or two here - we have not had much rain in the past three weeks and the rivers are getting very low, and waterfalls are mostly just trickles). But today I needed no rain, and down it came.
So that is sort of how my day went. Thank goodness Pam was around to help out - we spent a lot of time moving stuff in out of the rain, and then back out again as the little showers passed on by. By the end of the day we had three very nice shelves put up in the work shed, and SOME of the stuff stored back inside. I never did get to those buckets of tools down in the exercise room, much less got the new bathroom floor built.
Once today Pam came running up asking if I had seen the cats. Nope. They were no where to be found. Pam had been watching several buzzards and they seemed very interested in something down in Fox meadow, and kept dive bombing in very close. I told her not to worry - they would only eat dead flesh and not live kittys. We later found the cats under the front porch - I had laid out a new bed from them under there and they were testing it out.
As the day drew on into evening I took off on a little hike, hoping some fresh air would help clear my head and lungs, which by all accounts are actually getting worse instead of better. In fact my lungs are so torn up right now from the hacking that there are sharp pains even when I am not coughing. I'm on my fourth prescription now and still no effects at all from the medication.
The evening sky was rather odd looking, and included quite a few black clouds with patterns that I had never seen before. They were moving very slow and it did not feel like rain, so I did not mind them hanging around up there above me. But I did keep an eye on them just in case, and was fully ready to, to, well, I guess I was ready to get wet if it decided to rain!
I wondered on through the Faddis meadow and down to Bob's cabin (to see if he had any nails that I was about to run out of). Man everything is so LUSH out here right now - everywhere you look is green, Green, GREEN! We took the lane on through the orchid to the East meadow. Both dogs kept busy with something out there in the bush - they barked and whined and chased after whatever it was all the while I was hiking - I never did see anything come bounding out. For once I actually beat the dogs out into the big open East meadow. That gave me a chance to scan the meadow closely for any critters. I used to see lots of things on my walks around this place before I got Aspen, but not so much now. It is somewhat of a trade-off for sure, and one that I do gladly. I can always leave the dogs at home. Na.
Just about the time I exited the East meadow I noticed that the sky over my shoulder was beginning to turn pink and orange and red - the sun had already gone down, and was not lighting up those strange cloud formations. I did not have my camera with me so didn't bother to stop and wait around to see what was going to happen up there. Besides, I was having too good a time just strolling around the place.
Then I stepped into another world. It was a very dark, eerie, and then bright and colorful place. The woods there are mostly tall maple trees, with no underbrush at all - making for a really open scene down the hillside through the forest. The ground was covered with a solid carpet of mayapple plants. Then nothing up above them until way up in the treetops, where the upper crown of the trees sealed off the sky. All at once the area was flooded with this incredible GLOW from the clouds above that were being lit by those brilliant red and orange sun rays. That color spilled down into the dark forest and bounced off the mayapples, lighting up the tree trunks and then the undersides of the maple leaves. Strange. Beautiful. Quite dramatic. The dogs were no where to be seen or heard. In fact the wind wasn't blowing much either. But it was blowing just enough to get several of the maples swaying and making noises. The maples were talking to me, or at least to one another. One would grown. Another screech. Then several more on down the hillside joined in. It was a symphony the likes of which I had never heard. I walked on through the bizarre light and odd sounds and followed my footsteps through this dreamland. It was a remarkable feeling indeed.
When I arrived back at the cabin I was not ready to go inside just yet, so I headed on down to Fox meadow and look around at the new wildflowers. There are several new species up in just the past couple of days, and one with large, yellow blooms is beginning to dominate the lush landscape. Then there are five or six different types of blue flowers here and there, plus many white blooms, and lots of red ones too. And along the outer edges are those really tall purple flowers. The main treat for me tonight though was finding a handful of ripe strawberries. Pam and her parents had planted them last spring and these were the first batch that we had seen. I dared not sample one, but did pick several and carefully took them back on up to the cabin, where I gracefully laid them out on the table for Pam. Yippie! No where is that shortcake recipe?
It is late at night now, so I am signing off so that I can get to bed - I need to build an elevated floor for the new bathroom tomorrow...
5/17/02 I was blasted awake around 2am. A powerful thunderstorm had moved in, and was pounding the cabin with heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning. We were right up there in the middle of it all - there was NO time lag between the flash and boom - the lightning bolts were hitting all around us. It took the storm nearly and hour to pass. Took me longer than that to get back to sleep. I could just HEAR all of those waterfalls happening outside, calling out to me to come see them! But I had decided a while ago that enough was enough, and the list of waterfalls for the new guidebook was officially closed. In fact, I will probably limit it to 100 waterfalls in this first volume, and I've got about 130 logged in and photographed, so I will have to choose carefully.
One thing that I did not have was a cover photo for the guidebook. Today seemed like the day for that. We had more than an inch of rain during the night, and first light brought more rain with still more approaching. Most of that first inch of wet stuff would be soaked up by the landscape, but the rest of it would be surface flow, waking up many of the waterfalls that had been sleeping these past few weeks.
I've always had a specific spot in mind for the cover, but needed Pam in the scene wearing something red to catch viewers attention. We had been to this waterfall before all prepared to shoot the cover (I have to use a "real" film camera and heavy tripod instead of the little point and shoot digital that I've been using for the interior shots), but found the water actually running too much, which created a muddy pool at the bottom. Muddy waters aren't a problem with the black and white photos that will be inside the guidebook (you simply can't see the color of the water), but it would not look good on cover in color. The plan was that I would go out and see what the waterfall level/color was and then give Pam a call if conditions were correct - we both had a lot of chores to do today in different places, so we were trying to make the most of our time.
All of the creek and rivers were running VERY muddy as I drove towards the waterfall area. I was rather skeptical, but what the heck, I was out anyway, and I never miss an opportunity to see a neat waterfall. Things looked really bleak as I drove across the stream that feeds this waterfall - nothing but hot chocolate. I was elated when I reached the waterfall itself and found the water there to be not muddy at all, in fact it was very nice, with some green color to it. I hiked back out and drove back up the mountain until I could get a good signal on the cell phone, then alerted Pam. She was all set to go and in less than an hour we were standing together at the base of Triple Falls.
This is one of the easiest waterfalls to get to - only requires an easy, level hike of a couple hundreds yards from a road to reach. It is one of those waterfalls that many have seen photos of, but few knew how to find. There will be a bit of controversy about this falls once the guidebook comes out. You see, the real name of it is Twin Falls, but it often runs as a triple, and it is certainly the most scenic then. And there are many other "twin" falls in Arkansas. So I decided that I had answered the question of "how come it is called "Twin" when there are actually three falls?" So the official name in the guidebook will be "Triple Falls." So there.
Just about the time I got the camera all set up and Pam climbed up into position, it began to rain. It was a light rain at first and I had no problem keeping the camera dry while I shot pictures. Poor Pam - the spot where she was standing was really slick underfoot, and she had to hang on for dear life. Not to mention that she was being blasted with spray from the thundering falls just a couple of feet from her face. She is a real trooper, which is one of the million reasons why I got her to the altar (uh, I mean gazebo, um I mean the picnic table at Lake Leatherwood where we got married) as fast as I could.
Before it started to rain harder, I had shot 72 pictures, and had what I needed. While I won't know for sure how the "real" film images will look (I'll get them back from the lab next week), the digital photos that I shot as samples look pretty good and I think will make a fine cover for the guidebook.
Later in the evening when I returned to the cabin we sat down at the computer and made the mock-up of the book cover using the digital photos. There are so many details that you have to worry about when designing a book, especially the cover. For one thing, you have to get the title of the book just right. And you won't believe how many different things you have to take into consideration when coming up with that title. I always do quite a bit of research about all of this for each book, and in the end make a final decision based on that research, plus my own personal beliefs and experiences. For example, we could not find a single waterfall guidebook that lists the location first in the title - most of them begin with "waterfall." All of my guidebooks begin with the location, which I think makes it easier for folks to locate, especially when that location is "Arkansas" which in this case comes a lot sooner on the list than "waterfall." I also have noticed that when I talk about doing a book on Arkansas waterfalls that most folks assume it will be a picture book and not a guidebook. I want to make it very clear in the title that it is indeed a guidebook and not a big, expensive coffee table picture book. So for now anyway the working title of the book will be what is pictured below. All of this is subject to change, of course, until the day it gets burned onto a CD and sent off to the printer (later in the summer). You cannot see it here, but part of the photo will wrap around the spine of the book - this will allow the title to be easily seen from a distance since it will be white letters against a dark background. To me that is important when looking for a book on your bookshelf - to see that title pop out at you. Just a minor point that took me and hour or two of study and several glasses of wine to figure out.
5/18/02 It was a really quiet night, with clearing skies and no wind. A bit chilly just before down though - 41 degrees. I have been working at the computer for a couple of hours now, and just looked up to see the trunk of a pine tree in Fox meadow beginning to glow red. I stepped out on the deck into a symphony of music - the rivers far below are making music, and the air up here is filled with the songs of a hundred happy birds. Wow, what a splendid time of the day to be alive! I think I'll go for a swim.
5/19/02 I was not aware that it was getting lighter, although I was hoping for some sign of first light as I was tired of tossing and turning all night in my sleeping bag and ready to get up and get going. As I lay there staring up into nothingness, I suddenly realized that there were birds singing - first a couple, then several, and within minutes the air was filled with bird songs. THAT meant that dawn was not far away - the birds were waking up!
Just about that time a warm tongue brushed across my cheek. Aspen was up too, and wanted to get outside the tent to go pee. Pam and I were camped out with her family and other friends, and we were going to go on a hike or two later in the day. But I did not want to miss this golden opportunity to photograph the sunrise from high atop this mountain that we were camped on. Most people don't understand why I get up so early to go out and do what I do, but the guy camped next to us did, and I would have an accomplis this morning.
"Glenn, let's go!" Within a couple of minutes Glenn Wheeler and I were driving out to the far end of the mountain, where we parked and made our way out to this group of rocks at the top edge of a tall cliff area. It was still dusky-dark, but we could see our way easily. There was not a cloud in the sky. The eastern horizon began to glow pink and orange - sunrise was on the way.
Glenn found a good spot to plant his tripod right away, but I had to scramble around a bit to find my spot. There were many fractured standstone boulders in this area, and I wanted to find a spot for a unique look at the rising sun. I looked around and saw some of the stone glowing orange - oops, the sun was UP! I had to move fast. I could hear Glenn's motor drive above me working as I climbed down into this large crevice, and then there it was - a nice view looking out from inside one of the cracks in the rocks. I dug out my camera and began to fire away. In order for me to get the sun UNDER this particular rock formation, I was forced to lay completely down flat on the rock, and was not able to use my tripod like I almost always do.
About half way through the first roll of film I realized that I needed a filter that I had left back at home. Luckily, Glenn had the very same filter and was not using it at the time, so I begged him for it, then returned to my spot to finish off the roll, then shoot another, and another. I have gotten so used to seeing what the photos look like immediately after shooting them while using a digital camera, I felt sort of naked this morning shooting with my "real" film camera. But I really missed that digital image, so I jumped up and sprinted back to the truck to get my little point and shoot digital that I had left there. By the time I returned to my spot the sun had moved quite a bit but the scene was still basically the same, so I laid back down on the boulder where I had been shooting and took a few pictures with the digital camera.
OK, got that shot, how about another! The sun was moving quickly and so did I, bounding across several boulders and then hopping down into another crevice or two. I found a second location that I liked, but the sun was not in the correct position, but it would move there shortly. So I set up the tripod and got everything ready. In the several minutes that passed I climbed up onto a nearby boulder and shot another neat scene, but this time just with the digital camera, and just for fun - sometimes those are the best pictures - ones taken just for FUN!
Then the sun moved into the correct position and I returned to the camera and shot another couple rolls of film - one with Glenn's filter and one without. Wow, it was a stunning location and a perfect morning for a sunrise shot. Oh yea, it was a wee bit on the chilly side - 41 degrees, which is kind of low for late May in Arkansas. But with all of my running around I actually worked up a sweat.
I am hoping that one of the images I shot at this location will end up in my new book ARKANSAS WILDERNESS. This picture book will contain 100 or so of my most favorite images from the last 27 years of work, all Arkansas, of course. I have been wanting to do this book for some time now, but didn't really know for sure if it was a GO until just two days ago. I made the decision then to put the book together and publish it THIS year. In order for me to get it printed and on the market in time for holiday sales later this year, I would have to get the book FINISHED and shipped off to the printer by early JUNE! That means that I will put this book together from start to finish in about three weeks. NO problem - I seem to work best that way, and actually love jumping in with both feet and working nearly non-stop until I am finished. And few things in life please me more than putting together a picture book, so it will be a great time. I will use many of my old favorites that have been published before, but also many that have never seen the light of day, including new images that I have shot over the past couple of years, including one from this morning (if any of them turned out). This new picture book will be less expensive that my others - the quality inside will be the same as always, but it will have a soft cover and ship without a mailing box, which will reduce the cost quite a bit. While I am working on putting this book together I will still be working on the waterfall guidebook details, plus getting Pam all set up to work on our new dayhiking guidebook for kids (we'll be hiking dozens of new trails this summer to put into the guidebook), and will also be putting together the 2003 Arkansas Wilderness calendar. It will be a fun beginning to summer!
When Glenn and I returned to camp we found a blazing fire, hot chocolate, and BREAKFAST on the stove - it sure is great to have such a wonderful mother in law! Later we all loaded up and headed to the trailhead for the first of two hikes that Pam and Amber were leading for the OHTA Otters today. It was a spectacular day in the woods - the temp got up to near 70 - and everyone had a great time.
My allergy/bronchitis still refuses to go away, but I have better nights and days now so I think I am on the mend. We figured out that a long stay in the sauna w/heavy eucalyptus oil in the water seems to help out. So tonight after I had shut the computer down I took a nice soak in our sauna, standing up most of the time so that I could capture the most hot, moist California air deep into my lungs. Since I had already taken a shower beforehand, I hated to go waste that much water once again, but I certainly couldn't go to bed covered with sweat, or go sit in the hot tub that way. Luckily, the "no chance for rain until at least Thursday" proved to be wrong once again, and a nice shower was happening just outside. So I stepped out onto the lower deck, literally dripping with sweat, and stood there and let the chilly rainfall wash my body clean. It was an exhilarating experience to say the least! The hot vapors did good, and I actually got a few hours of quiet sleep.
5/20/02 It was raining lightly at first light today, although my slumber was so nice that I simply rolled over and went back to sleep. I finally got up an hour later and made a quick trip down into the meadow to see what new flowers were blooming. The rain had stopped by then, but everything was soaked, as I was in just a few steps. We have a lot of tall grass in the meadow, but the flowers blooming are beginning to overtake and tower above much of it. I found several new blooms to photograph. AND, our first daisies! Pam will be very happy about that. On my way back up to the cabin I veered over to the strawberry patch and had a little snack.
Looks like clouds and perhaps a bit more rain today, with the temp in the low 50's. There are many new clouds being born down in the valley, and slowly rising up to meet their siblings before being blow on to other parts of the world. There is an abundance of music in the air this morning - hundreds of bird chatter mixing with the hushed roar of the two river below. All seems well and at peace in the wilderness.
5/21/02 Today was a day for critters. It was sunny and breezy and beautiful. Trail Cat got us started in the right direction when she caught and promptly devoured a chipmunk. While she is not really supposed to mess with the wildlife (only mice), that was a giant step in the right direction for her. The only reason we got the cats in the first place was to catch mice which in turn would help keep the rattlesnakes away. Up until today Trail Cat has had a very poor record with mice, and even though I have been teaching her with live mice I have caught in the office, she has always managed to set them free again instead of eating them. But today she did OK.
Pam called me down to the lower deck to see a little gray tree frog that was perched on the railing. This guy was actually pretty large as tree frogs go - nearly three inches long. Trail Cat didn't want to have any part of it, and in fact nearly stepped on the little guy several times before she ever saw him. When the cat finally did disturb the frog, it took one large leap and nearly wound up in Pam's lap.
I spent most of my day working down in the basement on that darn bathroom floor that remains unfinished. But I did get to take a couple of breaks, which I spent out on the upper back deck with binocs in hand. Just before my first break ended a bright blue and orange bluebird landed in the tree right in front of me. He was looking the cabin over good, then flew on down into the meadow and landed on the front porch of the martin house. I leaned down next to the railing to steady the binocs, which were zoomed in close. Much to my great delight the little bird marched right on into the first hole in the birdhouse. He was in there for several seconds before coming back out again and going into the next hole down the line. He did this to nearly every hole on the top row, each time being inside for 5-10 seconds. I guess he as checking out the joint, seeing how each was furnished, what color the curtains were, what the view was like, etc. Then he flew on over to the opposite end of the meadow and checked out the two bluebird houses there (a third got blown up by a lightning strike). We did not have any bluebirds nest here last summer, and I hope he will bring the Mrs. back and set up housekeeping.
This is not actually a critter story, but I wanted to show you a pic of a horsemint that has just bloomed up in the Faddis meadow. Pam and I and the Trail Cat took a stroll up there, and down to Bob's cabin (and then Pam out to the mailbox). That darn Trail Cat followed me the entire way. And while she did manage to keep up with us most of the way, she did begin to complain just a bit on the way back. - I guess that was getting to be a bit of a hike for one with such short legs! Later in the day I moved both cats up to the office and tractor shed area where there has been fresh mouse activity. I set them up in the shed with a nice bed and a bowl of food in hopes they will hang around up there for awhile and take care of the mice.
A couple of hours after dark I hiked up to the office to get something. The moon was more than half full and shining brightly - so brightly in fact that the contrast in the forest was rather high, which created many black shadows that danced and swayed in the breeze. Aspen and Lucy were tearing about and making all sorts of noise. One time I heard this loud crashing coming down the hillside towards me, with Lucy barking and growling up a storm. Good grief, she was chasing a bear right to me I thought. A chill ran down my spine and my heart skipped a beat, then Aspen jumped out of the darkness and onto the road, with Lucy nipping at his heals. During the rest of my hike up to and back down from the office in the moonlight, I saw a bear darting at me in every one of those shadows. And one old stump that I passed by was certainly a bear crouching and ready to pounce. I had to actually walk right up to it and kick the darn thing to reassure myself that it was indeed a stump.
The wind continues to thrash the trees about tonight. Doesn't feel like any moisture in the wind though, just a big blow. The temp has come up - its been rather nippy the past several nights so the warmth feels good. No summer bugs singing yet. And we have noticed that the hummers have been keeping away from the feeders for some reason - perhaps too cold? My time spent in the sauna has been working, and I am getting better and stronger each day. There is a possibility that I will indeed survive At least until that black stump turns in to a bear and eats me...
5/28.02 BOOM! CRACK! RUMMMMBBBBLLLLLEEEEE......A large and vocal thunderstorm passed overhead just before first light today - a fitting alarm clock after several days of storms. This thunderstorm was different though - for the very first time in a long, long time, I was able to roll over and simply enjoy the thunder and the heavy rain that followed. I was not concerned about waterfalls, nor of it ruining my construction plans. I just got to snuggle with that warm body next to me and enjoy. Oh yea, I got to snuggle with Pam too! (Aspen tends to take over the bed in the middle of the night these days.)
I spent all of Memorial Day weekend down in the basement working on the new room. In fact I didn't even leave the cabin a single time, except to take some food to the kitties up in the tractor shed. I always love holidays, and often spend them working on projects that require a great deal of effort to complete. The phone doesn't ring, and I don't have to mess with business duties because everyone is closed. But I get a lot of work done. I had planned on putting together the new picture book this holiday weekend, but that darn new room in the basement kept calling to me, so we decided to put in a marathon work session and see if we could get it finished. Then I could attack the picture book and calendar with a clear mind.
So bright and early Saturday morning Pam and I went into action. Pam spent most of the day, indeed most of the weekend, out on the back deck hauling aspen boards from the trailer in the front yard to her cutting station on the deck, measuring and cutting the boards, then bringing them inside to me where I was attaching them to the walls and ceiling of the new room. Poor Pam - some holiday for her! But she was a trooper and a great deal of help.
In the middle of the afternoon on that first day, I hear her yell "Rain. RAIN!!!" I ran out onto the back deck and saw quite an impressive sight. We could see a WALL of rain up the Whitaker Creek drainage, and it was moving toward us at a rapid pace. While we do have a lot of covered deck here, it is all open to the south and west and anything that is blowing will get under the roofline. We could only enjoy that marvelous sight for a few moments, then had to spring into action and get power tools and stack of lumber moved and under cover.
I was around the side of the cabin moving a table saw when it hit - and good grief did it HIT! Normally there are a few sprinkles, then light rain, and then the downpour. But there was not advance rain with this dude - it hit with full force with come of the heaviest rain that I had ever seen! I mean so hard that you could hardly see ten feet. A definite frog-strangler for sure. And right after it began there was a tremendous SLAP , along with a bright flash. Obviously a bolt of lightning had hit near the cabin. I rushed around to see what I could see, and found Pam on that end of the deck. She was stunned, and I don't mean just because of the heavy rain and lightning bolt. While she did not appear to have actually been shocked by the bolt, something did get to her because she was, well stunned, and could hardly speak. And she was shaking. She finally came out of it when her husband asked a really dumb question - "Did you see that lightning bolt?" Duh. She seemed to be OK, thank goodness.
Pam would get to experience another heavy downpour and lightning storm the next day. She played tour guide for some family and friends from Wisconsin, and took them on a hike into Lost Valley. About half way up the trail the sky opened up and it began to pour, once again very heavy. She was the only member of her crew that had a rain jacket, although in rain this heavy it really doesn't matter what you are wearing - you ARE going to get wet! (By the way, I am glad that an outdoor store FINALLY admitted to this very thing - all of that expensive Gore-tex and other stuff that claims to "breathe" and keep you dry really doesn't work at all, and it never has. Yet the manufactures and retailers continue to preach that it does. Anyone who has ever worn a Gore-Tex or similar coat in the rain can attest to the fact that it does not work as advertised. Anyway, the most recent edition of the PACK RAT newsletter admits this fact.)
Anyway, part of Pam's group wanted to go on with her even though it continued to pour, and they all ended up having a terrific hike, despite the fact that they were all soaking wet the entire time. I know that the thought of being out in the pouring rain, especially without a raincoat, is not too appealing. But I tell ya, once you get over the initial shock of it all, it really is quite wonderful to be out there in the full force of nature. This only works, of course, if the temps are warm and so is the rain. Cold temps and/or rain can be a killer, even if you have a Gore-tex jacket on!
One other note about Pam. She got to see her very first bobcat the other day. It ran in front of her truck at about the same location where she saw the bear last summer. This is the area where they are logging, and this big cat's bedroom was probably being disturbed by the chain saws and skidder activity. I could tell this sighting was quite an eye-opener for Pam (as it is for everyone, including myself, and I've seen perhaps 100 of them in my lifetime - each one a very special event!). I am beginning to have a bit of a problem with Pam and her wildlife sightings though - she is seeing MORE wildlife than I AM!
We had thunderstorms roll through off and on all weekend - that is what is supposed to happen on Memorial Day weekend. Each time we would scramble to move equipment and cover stuff up. I guess the worst part of all that was the fact that each thunderstorm provided wonderful views in the valleys below after they passed - tons of clouds were born and moved all over the place.
We did get to take one opportunity to sit out on the back deck and just enjoy the day on Sunday morning while company was here. It had rained a little bit before they arrived, and there were clouds moving about. But there were also soaring birds all over the place - sometime five or ten at the same time, and they really put on quite a show. There were large red-tailed hawks screaming and darting here and there, and even the buzzards were quite acrobatic. Some of them would ride the air currents up high, then dive bomb right in front of us, losing perhaps 1,000 in altitude before swooping up to ride another air current. They guys had to be just playing!
I know that many of you have been concerned about the cats. After I caught a mouse in the office last week, I moved the cats up to the tractor shed to see if they could do anything about the mice. I was VERY proud of the Trail Cat when I released the mouse that I had caught (in a live trap) - she pounced right on it and then gobbled the mouse right up! That chipmunk training sure did pay off. The cats seem to like it just fine up there, although each morning the Trail Cat is waiting for me at the front door of the cabin. I grab a cup of cat food and hike up to the tractor shed to feed them, with the Trail Cat following along right behind me. Last night the Trail Cat was outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night, but by the time the big thunderstorm had passed by she was no where to be found. When I went up to the tractor shed to feed the Fat Cat, she was there with him - I guess the thunderstorm sent her back up there where she could be with family if the really big lightning bolt stuck.
I got to enjoy my little hike up to feed the cats this morning. The forest was washed clean and smelled great. Everything was lush, lush, LUSH! There is one spot along the trail where the Virginia creeper literally carpets the forest floor as far as you can see in all directions. Only the trail is bare. And then all of a sudden the creeper stops - there is a very distinct line on the forest floor where it is solid creeper, and then nothing but leaves. Looking around I realized this morning that this is where the forest changes from an oak/hickory forest to a maple forest. The maple forest is more park-like in its appearance. Anyway, there was fog moving through the trees, a few raindrops just making it down from the very tops of the trees, and birds singing at the top of their lungs. I read an article the other day about how the cicadas are emerging right now and creating a lot of noise. This was an article about Arkansas. I'm not sure what state the author was in but we've not had a single cicada out here yet this year. Or it could be that all of the birds are singing so loud that we just can't hear them!
Back to the basement. We had about 25 things on the to-do list for the weekend, and I think we got through about 1/3 of them. We did get most of the Aspen put up and all of the cabinets installed in the main room, and got the shower drain and faucets hooked up in the bathroom (I was working on that one until very late last night), plus a number of other chores. Still a great deal to be done, and I will attack the list as soon as I post this update. I probably won't get it all done before I go work on the picture book and calendar (my new deadline for both is June 14th), but at least we got a lot of the new room work done, and I will be able to concentrate a little better (that is, after a couple more days of intensive labor down in the basement!). Much of what I have left to do is plumbing work - running drains and water lines and hooking up the sink and toilet. The toilet is one of those that has a holding tank, then flushes UP into the sewer line - this room is below ground level and the sewage line is up above. Plus there is a lot of electrical work to be done, including installing a light/fan fixture and running the duct work outside. Once we get everything completed, then we will have to paint the floors (tile the bathroom floor), and spray all of those aspen walls. I figure it all should take about another week of intensive work - which means two or three weeks for me!
It has started to rain once again, and Pam has left me to spend the day in Missouri to pick up Amber. It has been great having her here to work with, and as much as I needed her I did insist that she spend some time NOT working and doing something just for her. That meant planting flowers, reading, and one of her new hobbies that I am really encouraging her to do - sketching. This is something she has just started in the last couple of weeks, and she is teaching herself how. That is something I would love to do myself, but right now I simply don't have the discipline nor the time to do. I am hoping that Pam will get so good that I won't have to ever learn!
Anyway, so it is just the pups and me here today, with the lovely rain outside. Hum, there is SO much work to do downstairs. I'm not really sure what to do this morning - go back to work, or take a nap in this lovely rain shower? Under normal conditions you probably already know the answer to that. But today I will be a good boy and put my tool belt on and get to work!
Oh yea, a couple of last things before I sign off. First and foremost, THANK YOU VETS SO VERY MUCH for putting your life on the line to defend our country and our way of life. I know that to most folks the memorial day holiday is just for outdoor fun, but the real meaning is to honor those who gave their lives so that we could be free. We all owe you, well, everything. And secondly, I am doing much better - my lungs are beginning to heal up. I am on my 7th prescription medication right now. The first 6 did absolutely nothing, and I'm not sure if this 7th one is actually working, or I am just getting better naturally anyway. No matter - it is a big relief to be getting back to normal.
Later in the day we had a bit of excitement, or should I say, anxiety. Aspen and Lucy took off on their own while I was out waiting for the mailman. They were not at the cabin when I returned. Normally I don't worry too much about them. But an hour or two later I did make a swing out to the Faddis cabin and down to Bob's cabin, where I found Bob, Benny, Mildred, and Danny Woods. Bob was serving up a big lunch (it was about 3pm), complete with peach cobbler and "Ola Cola." Bob had seen the dogs at the Faddis cabin an hour before, going crazy over a squirrel. I thought it strange that I did not see the dogs there, but also that I could not find any of their prints in the fresh mud along the road. Thinking the dogs were OK and just off on some adventure, I went back to the cabin.
Another hour or two passed, and eventually Lucy showed up at the cabin - she was soaked from head to tow, and looked very strange. It was very odd for her to come back without Aspen. Hum, something was amiss. I left Lucy at the cabin and drove on out to the main road, then along it for a mile or two each direction. On my way back I found Lucy at the main trailhead - two miles from the cabin. She has been known to run out there and back before, so I wasn't too concerned about that, but surely she would have picked up Aspen somewhere along the way, but he was no where in sight. Once again I returned to the cabin, more concerned than ever, but not really sure what to do about it. Aspen has always been the sort of dog that shadows you most of the time, although once outside he does tend to tear off hell bent for leather, intent on catching up with a squirrel, bear, or the wind.
As I was coming in the front door the phone rang - it was Pam, and she was calling to have me come out to the main dirt road with the chain saw and cut out a big tree that had just fallen across it near Cave Mtn. Church. I did not want to face her, and especially AMBER with only one dog. After I cut the tree out I made a comment to another neighbor that had also been stopped by the tree to be on the lookout for Aspen. Amber overhead this and was not a happy camper. She was not a happy camper at all, and yelled and screamed for her best buddy all the way home.
It was nearly dark when we got back to the cabin, and still no Aspen. He had been gone a very long time. I thought that he might have jumped off of the bluff and could not find his way back up again (I checked down there and found no tracks), or had been snake-bit and was too hurt to come home. No telling.
As darkness fell upon our normally-happy home a grim veil came with it. Pam and I knew that the worst was a very real possibility, and was certainly going to happen sometime. But Amber was not having any of that. I could not bear to feel my daughter's pain any longer, so I grabbed a flashlight and a radio and headed out the door. I wanted to hike the trail between the cabin and the Faddis meadow - the only place where Aspen had been spotted. It was getting late, and darker with each step. I took Lucy's eyes, ears and nose with me. We hadn't gone 200 yards and here came good old Aspen running along the trail towards us. I must tell ya that there was moisture in my eyes as I yelled at the top of my lungs "I've got him!!!"
He seemed to be just fine, with no apparent injuries, and was probably simply out chasing whatever all afternoon, heading for home as darkness arrived. Needless to say the little devil got a great deal of attention upon his arrival. Whew, that was a close one!
5/29/02 We got heavy rains much of the night - a total of 5 inches in the past two days. There was still light rain and heavy cloud cover at first light. I decided that the rain gods were toying with me - sending down so much rain while I was basically out of the waterfall chasing business for now. But what the heck - I LOVE waterfalls as much as anyone, so I packed up the family (INCLUDING Aspen) and headed out. The rivers were running muddy and loud, although not all that high - the Buffalo was not even over the low water bridge at Ponca. We found some nice waterfalls, but they weren't running nearly as much as I had hoped. I had planned to photograph a couple of them - just to get better images for the book - but neither had much water in them at all - I was stunned! I guess all of the lush vegetation out there sucks up gazillions of gallons of water an hour, and so most of what falls is sucked up and never gets to run off. No matter, we had a couple of nice hikes anyway.
One waterfall area that we went to contained a double falls (24 and 22 feet) that spilled over the top of one of the deepest overhangs in the Ozarks. It was a marvelous place, and a very unusual overhang. It was 76 feet deep and perhaps 150 or more feet long. About half of it had a LEVEL floor - a very large level area indeed. I'm sure it was used extensively by bluff-dwelling Indians, and perhaps to hide a still!
We had to bushwhack down to this waterfall/overhang area - there is no trail. The forest had taken on its monotone but lush green color everywhere. I don't recall seeing a single wildflower blooming in the entire forest, other than this one primrose that we found on the way back. It really stood out with that bright yellow in the middle of a sea of green.
When we got home Pam and Amber went to work in the front yard - planting flowers and unloading a batch of moss and lichen covered rocks that I had picked up around the place. Ever since I built this cabin I have always wanted SOMETHING next to the front steps. Pam is answering my prayer and putting in a raised flower bed there. She is experimenting with different things, and using Cinnamon ferns as a backdrop up against the natural rock wall at the back.
I went back to work downstairs in the basement. Normally a project like this one will take me twice as long as I figured. This one is taking three or four times as long, and there is no end in sight! But it is kind of fun doing most of the work myself. I get to play plumber one hour, then turn around and spend the next hour being an electrician, then I'll get to hang some cabinets, and do a bit of carpentry work. Its all in a day's work out here - you get to do it all (I'm not good at any of it, but do get by).
5/30/02 Today was another work day - inside for me, and outside for Pam. I spent nearly three hours putting in a pedestal sink in the new bathroom (I had to run all of the drain lines and install the facette). I worked and worked and worked and kept hitting a dead end on one particular drain issue. I tried to do other chores and let the problem stew a while, but that didn't work. Finally, with my head throbbing and about to split wide open, I crawled into one of the leather couches and tried to take a nap (Pam was reading a good book up in the loft, and Amber was playing on the computer). As soon as I laid down in my quiet and comfortable retreat, a vision of how to solve the drain problem came to me, so I jumped up and ran downstairs to complete the project - which I did after another hour of work. So much for my nap!
Later in the day, as the evening began to turn into night, Pam and I wandered off into the woods for a hike around the loop. The first bit of forest that we hiked through was very dark and quiet - almost eerie feeling. Yet way on down through the maple trees as far as we could see, there was a single tree trunk lit up by the setting sun - just that one bit of yellow light beaming out into the dark forest. It was a happy sign, and was calling to us to come explore deeper into the forest. And we did.
I was surprised to find that many of the thousands of mayapple plants were turning yellow. We had a wonderful flower season this spring with them - some of the biggest and brightest that I had ever seen - but very few of those flowers turned into apples, and most of them were puny. Pam remarked that we probably actually had too much rain for them.
When we reached the East meadow the sunshine nearly blinded us - our eyes had grown used to the dim conditions of the deep woods. This meadow was filled with wildflowers as far as we could see. One particular patch of foxglove caught my eye, and I moved in close with the camera. Deep inside each blossom there was a team of ants working on the sweet nectar. What a great day to be an ant!
Many of the stalks of flowers and other plants in the meadow had what I used to call "snake spit" on them. When I was a kid, every time we saw this stuff we used to think that a snake and passed in front of us, and spit on the plants to make his path. Since I used to love to hunt for and play with snakes when I was a kid, I used to get real excited whenever I saw some snake spit!
I got down on all fours when we reached the wild strawberry patch - good grief, there were HUNDREDS of ripe strawberries all over the place! I was down using my elbows in the dirt as braces for a long macro exposure on one clump of strawberries. When I got finished taking the picture below I looked around and noticed that I was laying in strawberries, smashing a dozen of them! There were little red jewels all around me! Of course, I had to take a few minutes to sample some of them, then took my bride a handful (she told me later that while I did present her with a hand filled with ripe wild strawberries, she only got one or two of them before I swallowed the rest!).
The orchard was nearly solid daisies, Pam's favorite flower. All of them are there quite naturally.
The lane that connects the orchard and the Faddis meadow was lined with daisies and wild roses, and the fragrance in the air was delightful. What a wonderful life I have here at Cloudland - getting to be a part of all this great wilderness, and have the perfect mate to share it all with!
It is getting late now and I must sign off and post this update. I just stepped outside and was surprised to find a sky filled with stars - something we haven't seen in quite a while around here.
Oh yea, I have to pass on a moment from just about this time last night. After my long day of searching for Aspen and working in the basement, and after a couple glasses of fine bourbon and coke, I slipped out of my clothes and into my robe, and headed for the hot tub. Something else I have been working on several hours a day this week is a new web page - or actually a STOREFRONT for all of the products that I sell. Anyway, I had been staring into the computer screen for a very long time before heading out into the darkness. And DARK it was! I could not see a single thing, which is often the case around here - I am very good at making my way in the dark. But tonight I brushed up against something in between the door and the hot tub, and it sent a chill down my spine. It was tall, and soft, and didn't give way much. I immediately backed off and took an alternate route to the hot tub. I didn't realize until this morning exactly what it was - nothing more than a pile of junk and trash that had been accumulating from our building project! That will teach me to wander around in the dark...
5/31/02 It was still nearly dark when I slipped into the hot tub for my morning soak. Don't know how long I had been in there but at some point I began to realize that something weird was going on all around me. It was a near total whiteout - cloud/fog banks were everywhere. And then it all turned yellow - I was sitting in a yellow haze. The color grew more intense, and then began to fade. It was the sun rising that added the color to the normally-white cloud/fog banks.
The long I sat in the tub the more the scene out in front of me changed. At first it was nothing but white, but as time went on I could begin to make out the outlines of Beagle Point, and then the next ridge, and then more of Beagle Point. It was like the mountains were rising out of the mist, when actually it was the other way around. That early sunlight was burning this stuff off in a hurry. Before I climbed out of the steaming bubbles and dried off, the wilderness was all green once again, with only a few stray clouds moving around down in the valley. What a beautiful sunrise at Cloudland!
I had to make a quick trip into town today to take part in a brief and informal ceremony to honor the high school student (Katie Hubbard from Siloam Springs) that had won the art contest at Congressman John Boozeman's office that I helped judge a while ago. Her painting had already arrived that the US Capitol and would be on display there for the next year. I got to meet the Congressman this time. I am not easily impressed by politicians, but this guy seemed to be quite different than most of the others I have known. Most of these guys will only give you a few hectic and very structured minutes of their time, if you can get in to see them at all, but he was most generous and gracious after the ceremony and we had a nice long conversation, only ending when I had to excuse myself to tend to other business. I have no idea what his politics are, but I would vote for him in a second. One case in point is that he elected not to have his local office in the Federal Building as is normally the case (too much security and a feeling of being watched all the time - which you are - "You can't even park there anymore!" - the regular parking spaces in front of the Federal Building were blocked off after 9/11). Instead his office is in a civil war era building that has been restored. No guards. No video cameras (that I could see). When you go to his office to conduct business you are greeted by friendly people in a very comfortable atmosphere. And they always have GREAT cookies! Of course, he is a brand new Congressman, and perhaps some of this will wear off as Washington politics takes it toll, but I sure hope not.
The rest of my day was spent down in the basement at the cabin, continuing with my chore of trying to get this new guest bathroom in order. Pam and Amber took a break from their outdoor planting chores to help. So very nice to yell out "87 and a quarter inches please" and have an aspen board (the wood not the dog) exactly that length handed to me a few seconds later. By 10pm it was time to call it a day. We are making great progress, and I think that we just might get this project done this year!
Before I sign off for this month I must make note of a milestone for me. It was FOUR YEARS AGO (May 16, 1998) that I began writing this journal! It first began as a simple place for me to make notes of my thoughts for the day in a notebook here at the cabin, with space for visitors to sign in a register. It quickly expanded into a year-long project that I was going to publish as a book. Then I decided to post it online, and I immediately found new friends all over the country, some even across the borders and in other parts of the globe. When I tried to wrap up the project at the end of that first year, I was bombarded with e-mails pleading for more - I had no idea so many folks were reading out there! And so I began a second year. And a third. And a fourth. And now I will begin a fifth year tomorrow. I must say that at times writing this journal has been quite a chore, but it also has given me a great deal of pleasure and the perfect place to practice my writing (and often an EXCUSE to get outdoors and hike just so that I will have something to write about). It has always been a dream of mine to become a writer, and one of these days I just might become one when (if) I grow up. This journal would mean nothing, of course, if not for you faithful readers out there in cyberspace. I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank you for being so patient and wading through my prose that at times turns into rantings and certainly a great deal of rambling. So many of you write to express how great it is to be able to experience a little part of the wilderness and of the Ozarks - for some the only chance that you get in your daily lives. I do hope that you are able to get something out of these writings, if only a little bit of late-night reading that puts you fast to sleep. So THANKS FOR READING! And I hope you will read on....
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