CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - August 2008

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Cloudland Deck Cam, August 18th, 6:32am - cool, calm, and coloful

Amber's first day of HIGH SCHOOL!

August 2008 Print of the Month

Updated August 18th - we have WATER!

08/03/08 I was up early this morning to make another run into St. Paul to get a load of water. That was about 5am. It is now 10am and I have only made it about 100 feet. The trailer developed some major issues that I have been working on for the past five hours and have given up for the day without resolve. I guess when it rains it pours! I reference that because during my recent trip down south I had not one or two or three or four but FIVE flat tires! I fixed them all and kept going, then had another one. Fixed it too. I've currently got two slow leaks that I may or may not fix before trashing my entire set of tires and getting new ones later in the week (they only have 20,000 miles on them - I'm hard on tires!). And while I do appreciate all the suggestions - please note that there is only one tire made that will fit my current vehicle, so I don't have any choice but to use the same tire. Oh well, at least these days I'm into plugging the holes instead of having to change the tire and run into town every time it happens!

We had a wonderful trip up to Springfield, MO on Friday to attend Pam's 20th high school reunion (only one flat too!). The event was held at the Springfield Cardinals minor league ball park as the Cardinals played the Tulsa Drillers. When we got into the stadium and took a seat and I started to watch the ball players warm up it suddenly hit me - the last time I set foot in a baseball park was the night I walked off the pitcher's mound after just winning not only the regional tournament, but also completing an undefeated season for me as a baseball pitcher. I was not a powerful pitcher or had any special talents that made me such a good pitcher - it was the simple fact that I was LEFT HANDED, and back then there simply were not left handed pitchers and so batters were scared to death to sand in the batters box and swing! It was pretty easy for me to throw the baseball right to the catcher - very few folks could hit my left-handed pitches! I loved playing baseball, from peewee on up (we played the real game in peewee - not hitting the ball on top of a stick like they do now). I pitched and played first base (was on the 1967 All Star Team as a first baseman), and also played some outfield with my brother, Terry when he was on our team.

That same night I walked off the mound all those years ago was also one month after my oldest brother, Tom, had been killed in a car accident. I took myself off of the mound for the last inning of the game and ran out into center field for the final out - that is where Tom played during his career. Three days after he died we received a latter from him that he had mailed just minutes before his accident. One of the things he said in that letter was for me not to play for the same coach that he had played for - turns out that was the only chance I would have to move up to the next level - to play for the coach that had treated him so badly - so I heeded my dead brother's advice and ended my baseball career.

While my girls were over socializing with Pam's former classmates during the game on Friday, all the memories from my years out on the field, and those of both of my brothers, came flooding back to me. It turned out to be a great baseball game - the Cardinals won - and the fireworks display that followed the gamer was perhaps the best display I have ever seen - while we were standing almost directly underneath it! We don't get to see fireworks displays out here so that was a special treat.

I was up at 4-something on Friday morning too, and headed up to a lookout point along the Talimena Scenic Drive just outside of Mena. I was in Mena to judge a major photographic competition at the local art gallery there, and figured I might as well get up a little early to see if I could find a sunrise to shoot. While waiting for the sun to appear I fixed a flat tire - seems to happen these days just about every time I stop anywhere! At first there was no sun - just the blue landscape spread out before me with many low ridges extending to one tall ridge at the horizon, and a highway cutting through it all. Above the horizon there was a pink/red glow. Then all of a sudden, the SUN appeared as it burned through the haze - yippie! It turned out to be a pretty nice sunrise - there was plenty of haze in the air, which makes for better sunrises. That photo is now the August Print of the Month.

August seems to be acting just like it should - every hour has been beastly hot with high humidity and no wind at all. The nights have been quite LOUD with bugs and frogs and birds and just about anything that lives out there screaming and making all kinds of noise. The sound is almost deafening - so much for the quiet solitude of the wilderness, ha!

08/04/08 It was getting dusky-dark as I approached the cabin - I had been up in Aspen's meadow finally getting that load of water draining into our holding tank that I set out to get 36 hours before. There were no lights on in the cabin, even though both girls were there - strange. It was still light enough for me to see easily and I was glad to be coming home.

As I got close to the cabin I heard a noise - a noise that could come from no other. It was a bear, and he was making quite a bit of noise. Bears make a kind of noise that only they can make (hum, perhaps an elephant would make the same noise too if out here in the woods!), yet I could not actually see the bear so was not 100% of what or where. I got closer, crept up behind our trash bin, thinking he might have been tearing it apart, but he was not there, not had he been. He was out in the woods, just below the break of the hill where it goes from the light of open forest down into deep, dark woods. I crept closer.

And then there he was - about 75 feet away, tearing the heck out of a large downed tree trunk that was rotting on the ground. Bears love to tear such things apart - certainly for the grubs, ants, and other bugs they find inside and underneath that they suck up like popcorn; but I also think they simply take great pleasure in ripping apart what once was such a large and beautiful and SOLID object such as a towering oak tree. What they will do is rip apart some of the wood, then bury their nose down in the remains, sniffing and sucking up whatever tasty morsels they can find. But this bear was also quite alert, and he either heard or saw or scented me - all at once he jerked his head up from the rotten log, took a good whiff of the air, then turned around and charged down the steep hillside, away from me and out of sight - he was gone in a flash.

I did not get a really good look at him since this all happened so quickly, and also due to the fact that it was getting dim on his side of the forest. That one fleeting look was not enough for me - I wanted to see more. I wanted to live in the bears world for a moment or two. What else was he getting into, and how did he move so gracefully through the forest? I wanted to go after him deeper into the dark forest. And so I did.

I knew that he probably would head along the lower bench - perhaps back to Benny & Mildred's cabin where he had eaten all of their corn just a few days ago. So I started hiking the trail along the edge of the bench just above that - built where it was so that we could hike along and look down into the open forest below - perhaps to see a bear! I took my time and tried to be as quiet as I could, but I also wanted to make time since I knew the bear had a head start. I would walk a moment or two, then stop and listen, and watch - ALWAYS watching - kind of looking around trees and rocks like I talked about learning how to do the other day. Straining in the dim light to see ANY sign of movement - staring into the forest to see a patch of BLACK.

I was not walking beside him, but I was out there in the same air as he, walking on the same leaves, brushing up against the same saplings and poison ivy vines, stepping over the same rocks - only sometimes he would stop and turn those rock over, looking for goodies below! (I used to do that as a child - I could entertain myself for hours on a warm summer day just roaming around in the woods near my home and turning over rocks just to see what was under there - I guess I've always had a little bit of bear in me.) I kept going, looking, listening, straining to see. All the while hoping we would not come face to face! (Some big tough wilderness guy I am!)

At some point I realized that it probably would be a good idea to turn around and head back towards the cabin - dusky dark was behind me now and nighttime was creeping in. I first realized this when I looked up and saw way out there through the trees a tiny silver of a crescent moon hanging low in the west - the sun had long disappeared and the moon and stars were coming out, and I had no flashlight.

The bear was actually the least of my worries as I began to slowly make my way back to the cabin - SNAKES were what I though about the most. I could not see where I was stepping, and it was one of those HOT, sultry nights in the woods when snakes love to come out and play. I moved carefully, but also had to maintain somewhat of a pace since it got darker with each step that I took. There were no lights on inside the cabin - those normally act as a welcome beacon to guide me back home. But not tonight - Pam was down in the basement watching TV and Amber was locked up tight in her room.

It was really LOUD outside with all the frogs and night bugs and birds and no telling what else might be lurking. Well, actually I knew there was indeed a bear lucking close by somewhere - I could not only hear him sometimes, but I would really FEEL him. I realized I had a spine since there were shivers doing up and down it with each step! I moved carefully, feeling the soft earth as I put my foot down. And then everything went SILENT - I mean there was not a sound anywhere, except for the beating of my heart, and that pace was picking up.

And then all at once an EXPLOSION! The bear had indeed been there all the time, just playing with me I'm sure. He must have been no more than 50 feet to my right, but I could not see him since it was so dark. And I must have gotten close enough and he had had enough of this game - the explosion was him jumping up and turning around and running away down the hill - bears are often very noisy when they do this as they crash into everything in their way - and in a thick forest there was a lot to get into his way! My heart stopped for several beats I'm sure.

Just then the soft orange glow of a lamp light broke through the darkness, and I knew I was back home again, safe and sound. Mr. Bear - I will come back again and play some with you - but after the snakes go to bed for the winter, OK?

08/05/08 After a brisk three-mail hike along the dusty road in the sultry August heat to get the mail I shed my clothes and jumped into Amber's little pool to cool off. As I lay back in the warm waters I could see the butterflies of the night beginning to come out and play in the air above me. I LOVE bats - each can eat several thousands skitters and other little biting bugs each day! These guys were stretching their wings and getting a feel for the night air, which had not begun to cool down yet. What fun they must have up there doing acrobatics! The sky above them was still mostly blue, but I could see hues of pink and gold, more so down near the horizon. That silver sliver of crescent moon hung higher in the sky than last night at this time, over in the southwest. Night bugs and frogs started to sing, and all seemed well with the world.

It was a brutally-hot day to begin drilling our new water well, but the guys got after it early this morning and by mid-afternoon had a hole about 300 feet deep. We are hoping to get down to about 800 feet by the end of the day tomorrow or Thursday. Getting that deep is just a matter of time and money, but the risky part will be when they pull the rotary air drill out and put in the casing (that lines the well wall all the way down to the pump) - I'll be holding my breath the entire time they are going that. The reason is that due to the structure of the rock layers around here they are not made of solid rock, but rather some layers of limestone, sandstone, and also shale - it is the shale that causes problems. What can happen is once the drill is removed the bore hole that goes through the shale layers can collapse, and if that happens before the casing is in place, it messes it all up and we have a big and expensive problem. All I can do is stand back and keep my toes crossed! And just FYI, the water level out here is below 500 feet - that means they have to drill at least that deep before they hit any water at all. The deeper you go below that, the more storage of water you can have in the bore hole.

I took the dogs out to get the mail a little while ago - the sum total of ALL critters we saw along the way was two - one dead cicada in the middle of the road and one deer. I guess everyone else was holed up in a cooler part of the forest. Speaking of deer, my lovely bride told me that once today while she was up watching the well drillers a giant buck with velvet antlers came sneaking out of the brush and just stood there watching them. Another big buck joined him, and then a third. The very first thing one of the well drillers asked me when I paid a visit to the drill site later was "Do you allow hunting?" Yes we do, but only with a bow.

This is not related to anything in particular but since we just opened the mail I thought I would pass this along. There was good news and bad news. The bad news was that our cabin and car insurance went up about 25% over last year - same exact coverage. We have not had a claim of any kind in many years. The good news is that our electric bill actually went DOWN! The cost per kw hour went UP, but our usage was nearly HALF of what we normally use. We try to do a good job of energy conservation (thermostat is at 78 degrees this summer, and is on the cool side in the winter - we wear sweaters then), and it is great to see it paying off - or actually not paying! (Turn off lights when you leave a room, turn off those power-hungry giant TVs, put your computer to sleep, turn the temp up, sit in the dark and enjoy the night!)

08/09/08 It was oh so SWEET out walking in the woods yesterday evening! There were no bugs, no snakes, and I wore long pants so the weeds did not bother me. I wandered around the hillsides near our cabin for an hour and didn't even work up a sweat. The air was cool with a slight breeze, low humidity - it was one of those days when the air was so sweet and cool in the middle of the hot August heat stretch that it felt just like a crisp fall day - that's it, the air was CRISP! Oh how I love the transition from one season to the next, especially when it happens a couple of months early.

There had been white puffy clouds floating around in the sky all day, and they began to turn a lovely shade of pink as I wandered on into the evening. I did not have a direct view to the west so never got to see what was going on at sunset, but the light show above me that I could see through the heavy canopy of trees was good enough. Just a beautiful cool day in the wilderness.

The well drillers got rained out a couple of days ago and so we had to hold our breaths for another day, but they finally arrived yesterday - when they pulled the drill up from 800' they encountered some collapse - not a good sign. So I had to hold my breath twice as deep as they lowered the bore hole liner, one 21' section at a time. I was about to turn blue when the last section of casing disappeared down into the hole - EUREKA, and YIPPIE COYOTE at the same time!!! Our new well had been lined all the way to the bottom, which meant it would not cave in unless we had a really large earthquake. I was a happy camper, until I got the bill that is! The next step is for the pump man to come install the pump and lower 800' of steep pipe into the ground, then connect everything to the previous water-pipe system and then fire the system up. First I have to dig a 50' trench, 24" deep, but I was able to get a lot of that done yesterday afternoon (with a little help from our tractor). We hope to have water once again by Monday - yippie!

In the middle of all the well drilling I got a new set of tires - had to stop and plug one that was going flat on the way into town, but now I don't have to take the big air compressor with me everywhere I go, at least for a while. These tires will last about 15,000 - 20,000 miles before they begin to get frequent flats, a typical mileage for me out here year in and year out (since I normally drive between 40-50 thousand miles a year, that means two sets of tires a year at almost $1,000 a set). One of these days I'm going to buy a car that I can buy 6-ply tires for and that might help the situation, but I'm pretty particular about what I drive and may not be able to match them up.

It is 64 here this morning - the same sweet crisp air as yesterday, only cooler. Just a couple of baby clouds in the canyon, and they will soon rise up and go off to become a puffy cloud that will float over the landscape. There is some RED in the landscape beginning to show up already - poison ivy and young black gum trees are turning. I hope the brilliant RED is a sign of things to come - I think it is, and have a feeling we will be in for one terrific fall color season this year! Oh yes, and hickory nuts are GIANT right now - holy cow if you go out hiking and the wind starts to blow you had better bring your hard hat!

08/10/08 LOTS of rain overnight, soft, lovely rain - the kind that soaks in and doesn't run off too much. We won't be seeing too many waterfalls out of this, but it sure is great for the landscape, which is already very healthy for this late in the summer. It remains quite dark here this morning, even two hours after sunrise. Lots of baby clouds being born down in the canyons. Sometimes the cabin is engulfed in fog and we can't see a thing, then a breeze will blow a hole in the fog and we can see down into the canyon - the light and cloud show changes minute by minute and if sun to just sit and watch. It rained most of the night, and we've had about three inches since it started yesterday evening.

I spent much of yesterday on the tractor, bush hogging Aspen's meadow and hauling gravel. At one point a couple of years ago I decided to let a portion of the meadow go back to woods and did not mow it. I decided to keep it in meadow so started to mow it again. I ALMOST waited too late to do that since many of the small trees were turning into larger trees, almost too large for the mower to cut. I was able to get most of them mowed down, but there is one small section of the meadow I did not cut since the little trees were just a wee bit too large - I may leave that section alone and let it grow up. The landscape will often do better if there are patches of open ground mixed in with the big forest - that is where much of the food supply grows, and where you will find deer, rabbits, bears, foxes, and all sorts of birds and other wildlife feeding and living. Lots of colorful sumac beginning to appear - had to mow some of it down though - sorry sumac!

My lovely bride had a plan to showcase a relic of my family's history - a giant iron skillet that came over from Europe back in the 1800's on a boat and was used on their Minnesota farm to make lye soap (among other things). My mom used it at her house for many years as the centerpiece of her front yard, always filling it with gorgeous flowers throughout the seasons. I brought it out here many moons ago and have tried to keep it colorful, but have not done a very good job. We spent part of yesterday hauling rocks to cover the mound or "berm" in front of the cabin, and then set the big iron pot at the top of the mound (used the tractor since the pot, full of rocks and flowers, was kind of heavy). This relic of our family will continue to shine with mom's smile.

In the middle of my tractor day yesterday we had to make a run out to get more diesel. Some of you who frequent the area may have noticed that the little store in Kingston on the square has been closed for a good long while. The new gas station and store is now open - not only do they have many pumps that you can actually drive right up to, but they also will cook you just about anything on the grill inside. They also have off-road diesel. And it doesn't stink inside like the old store did.

No water from the new well here yet, but we hope that will happen on Monday. In the meantime we will enjoy the continued rains, and perhaps run out into it naked from time to time to wash off!

08/10/08 It was really thick fog all over when I headed out the door yesterday for a ramble in the woods. It was cool, with a light mist in the air. I had on long pants, and grabbed a rain jacket as I went out the door. We had quite a bit of rain overnight and everything was really wet, and lush, and GREEN. It was kind of dim when I first started, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. As I stepped into the forest it got a lot dimmer, even dark - yup, it was a deep, dark forest in the middle of the day!

My eyes adjusted to the darkness in a hurry and the dogs and I made our way through the woods, slowly, and quietly - there wasn't much sound at all anywhere, and I didn't want to be the elephant that broke that silence. Soon I could see a glow way out there in the forest - well, at least as far out as I could see, which probably wasn't more than 100 yards or so - the fog was really thick. The closer I got the brighter the scene was.

A few moments later I stepped right into that brightness - the edge of the East meadow. The fog was so thick that I could not even see to the other side of the meadow, in fact I would just barely make out a few of the redbud trees out in the middle - they were mere shapes with no detail. There was a slight breeze, and the mist seemed to be larger - in fact if I looked hard into the fog I could see the individual drops of mist dancing around in the wind - it almost looked like tiny bits of snow.

As I hiked along I inspected the bushes and branches and leaves and sometimes the fruit of whatever was there. I noted that the sassafras trees were developing some pretty good sized berries - they are always weird since they grow up instead of out or down. I came upon a favorite wild plum tree that I have photographed the bright white blooms of often in the spring - a few rock-hard green plums were there, but not nearly as many as I would have expected - I wondered if a bear had been by for a snack?

Our little orchard we planted a few years ago was finally beginning to bear fruit - we had almost forgot all about it. There were apples on four or five of the trees - I don't even remember planting that many apple trees. Some of the apples were beginning to turn red - all were high up and out of reach from the ground. Back in the olden days of my youth when I used to spend the month of August on my uncle's farm in southern Minnesota, we used to climb into the bucket of a tractor and go up high and pick apples. At the end of the day we would all gather around the big press and my uncle would turn the arm and crush the apples, and oh my gosh you should have tasted that incredible liquid of pure apple juice that came out of the spigot!

I inspected our grove of pawpaw trees and found a few green bits of fruit, but did not see more than just a few - I will keep an eye on them for the next few weeks and see how they come along. Oh how I enjoy a morning jaunt past this grove later in the fall when breakfast is just a shake of the tree away!

There were wild peaches on the small trees too - also hard as a rock like the wild plums. It always amazes me how much fruit these tiny trees produce, although the fruit is also small and most of the time "someone" else gets to eat them before I do (Mr. Bear). The bear had already been to the largest peach tree on the mountain near the Faddis cabin - there were a few peaches left, but most were gone and many of the branches had been broken - the bear had climbed up into this tree to get the fruit and the branches could not hold his weight. Benny reports another peach tree of theirs had been stripped by the bear a couple of weeks ago.

The big persimmon tree was LOADED with green fruit - I suspect some of the branches on this tree will break this fall under their own weight! I need to find a recipe to do something with them.

Most of the landscape was green, and almost everything was the very same shade of green. Then some plants begin to show a tiny bit of yellow in that green I know that fall had begun. That can be seen in the overall landscape view but also in individual plants. Some poison ivy, Virginia creeper, sumac, and even a few young black gums have already made that transition and are showing not only yellow, but orange and red too. But mostly everything remains GREEN.

I found one yellow leaf - not sure what kind - that had fallen and got caught in a spider web - probably just a single strand of web. The breeze got the leaf to spinning, and I stood there and watched this spinning leaf for perhaps three or four minutes - the leaf never did change direction like I would have thought, it just kept right on spinning the same way. I wondered if leafs got dizzy?

The more I walked the heavier the mist got - a light rain in fact. It felt so great on my skin that I didn't bother to put on the rain jacket. One of the meadows that I hiked through was nearly clear of fog at first - I could easily see to the other side. But the farther I got into it the heavier the fog got, and by the end of the meadow I could not see behind me 100 feet. Another meadow I crossed I saw several deer - just silhouettes of them out there, not too far away, but just far enough they felt like the fog hid them and they were safe. The dogs did not even bother to chase after them.

By the time I stepped back into the deep woods for the final leg of my ramble those woods were really dark, and I had to slow down and let my eyes adjust. The fog was really heavy too, and this time I was walking away from the light. A little while later I spotted a faint glow up ahead, but as I approached I was taken aback a little bit as the glow morphed into a building - I was expecting to see the cabin, but it was the gallery!

Fast forward now to this morning. There are tons of baby clouds in the canyons below - formed no doubt from the recent rains. The sky above has been breaking up and is turning pink right now as I write this. Looking out the window to the west I can see a few spots of orange light in the forest - the sun has just appeared above the horizon (I had to look out a window on the opposite side of the cabin) and it is as orange as a pumpkin!

So far it is a very nice damp and cool morning, but I suspect if the clouds run off it will get warm and muddy today - after all, it is August for goodness sakes! But for now it is a mighty nice 63 degrees and I think I will step outside, sit down, and linger a while as I sip on my tea and watch the week begin...

08/18/08 Mom was really smiling today! When she does, she smiles in wildflowers and butterflies, two of the most favorite things in her life. Her meadow just below the cabin is now filled with wild sunflowers, small but very bright YELLOW flowers that stand tall and dominate the landscape. And they attract not just a handful or a dozen or two, but I bet there were at least a hundred butterflies feeding in Moms meadow this evening - they were everywhere! Big yellow ones, orange ones, black ones, and some other multi-colored ones. All of them feasting on sweet treats as the day rolled into evening. I sat on the back deck, sipping a tall bourbon and coke, and thought how much mom would have enjoyed this scene - and she did several times before her death. She will always live on in all of the color that surrounds us.

I took the dogs down to the river this morning for a quick fitness hike. Several large trees had fallen across the trail, I had to scramble down the steep slopes to get around them. At one point when I had to veer a pretty good ways off of the main trail route, Lucy started screaming at me - "GET BACK ON THE TRAIL!" She is a great trail dog and knows you are not supposed to leave the trail on a steep slope like that, but I had no other choice. I have hesitated to take the dogs to the river lately since so many friends we know that have dogs have been snake bit this summer (the dogs, not the friends). And Milancy McNamara's (ex-wife of the famous watercolor painter, William McNamara) favorite dog was killed by a bear last month. So we've been trying to keep our dogs close at hand, but I figured as cool as it was this morning the snakes would probably not be out, or at least would be really moving slow.

We finally, just YESTERDAY, went back onto 100% well water, and I'm satisfied at both the quality, quantity, and reliability of our water system now. The new well (ended up costing us about 14 grand) doesn't produce any more than we've had before (only a couple hundred gallons a day), but we put the pump 200' deeper into the ground so we have that much more storage than before. So I have told Amber that she was not allowed to take a six minute shower instead of the usual five minute one! The girls have done a great job doing almost without water this past month, although we were really completely out of water for a few hours one day (I made four or five trips into St. Paul to fill up a big water tank).

Today was Amber's first day of high school. And she got the "hard copy" of her driver's license last week (won't be able to drive alone until next year though). Despite all efforts by her momma, she has been growing up into a fine young lady, and already taking pre-college courses. Even though we have had to beat her with an ugly stick on a regular basis, she still is so pretty that her mom won't allow me to post any photos of her here! I do believe she gets that beauty directly from my lovely bride!

The other morning I got up at 3-something and drove to a field about a mile from here and set up my camera for a long exposure of the starry sky. I had to wait until almost 4am for the moon to set since it lit up the sky to much (you can't see as many stars when the moon is out). I turned the camera on and went back to the cabin. I have a special doodad that will make a long exposure and then shut the camera off, which it did before the sun rose. After daylight I got up and hiked back to the field with the dogs. I wonder if dogs have a photographic memory? I've walked past that very field many dozens of times this summer with the dogs, but when I got close to the field on this morning Lucy started to bark and growl and got all upset - she saw the camera and tripod out in the middle of the field and just knew it did no belong! This was just a test photo of a new camera - I'll redo this photo sometime later in the year when the sky is darker, and I'll also move up some to get rid of those telephone lines.

A 70-minute exposure

I didn't sleep at all the night before I shot this picture. I drove on over to Buzzard Roost, and hiked in a couple of miles, arriving around midnight. It was amazing how many SPIDERS were on the trail - you can spot them easily with a flashlight - their eyes beam right back at you! This was the peak night of the Perseid Meteor Shower, and I wanted to play around with this same camera and one of the rock formations at the Roost. The moon did not set until about 3am, so I had lots of time to explore around and figure out exactly what I wanted to do.

But when I first arrived I walked out onto the top of the main rock formation and just lay down, gazing up at a sky full of stars. The moon was up, but it was mostly behind a line of trees back over there, so I had a good view of the stars. It reminded me of the very first camping trip I ever went on - also in August - when I was five years old. Dad took me and my brother, Terry, to what was then Lake Shepherd Springs (the exact spot where we camped is now under water and part of the new Lake Ft. Smith). We fished and swam and cooked on an open fire and had a grand old time. We could not afford a tent back then, so we just laid out on an old tarp, then dad folded it over us, leaving just our heads sticking out. We did not know it then, but I'm sure it was also the Perseid Meteor Shower going on that night as we laid there and counted a hundred falling stars - holy cow, what a first camping trip it was! I have enjoyed gazing up at the night sky ever since.

I eventually made my way down into the bottom of the big rock formations at Buzzard Roost, and found a spot where I could look up through a large crack in the rocks and see stars - this was the view I was after. My hope was to be able to do a series of photos and capture some shooting stars. I spent the next few hours doing just that, trying different combinations of exposure and camera settings.

I was standing in a cave of sorts, only it did not have a roof - I guess I was in the bottom of a narrow canyon with vertical walls. In fact I was right where three canyons all met in the middle of the big rock formation. I did a little bit of light painting of those steep walls, but most of the time I just stood there in the dark while the camera made a photograph. I could not see a thing but the stars, but I could sure HEAR a lot of stuff going on. I guess there must have been a lot of bugs in that place since it was a non-stop freeway for BATS! I could hear them whizzing by all the time, often coming within inches of me. I love bats so that did not bother me at all, but a couple of times there was some other creature flying through there as the rush of air was pretty LOUD!

Since these photos are larger than normal so you can see the stars, I have included links to them instead of slowing down loading of the Journal and taking up so much space. I love this new camera and playing around at night with the stars and the moon and other things, and I suspect you will see a lot more of this type of photography from me in the months to come. The only problem is that it often takes an entire night - or even two or three - just to get a single good image, but what the heck, who needs sleep!

Buzzard Roost Stars

A long exposure, looking sideways (both images shot at ISO 6400)

One last note before I wander on up to the loft to sleep tonight. Amber was driving me around the other day and we came upon a momma bear and a cub out by the mailbox. I had Amber stop the car while I got out and looked around to see if I could get a photo of them, but they had quickly disappeared into the thick brush. And then we heard a bunch of crying - it was a second bear cub that had already crossed the road and had scrambled up into a nearby tree. I went over to have a look and didn't dare get too close - I could not tell where momma was and didn't want for Amber to have to go back home without me! It was pretty neat for both of us to see the little guy up in the tree, but we did not hang around long as he was crying out loud for his momma.

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