Stormy Night

 

Dark and Stormy Night

 

Jeff strode through the woods, that dark and stormy night.  The wind danced over the trees, clouds played tag with the moonbeams.   Jeff was making rapid footprints as he strode down the path.  Lantern at his side, light beams lighting the way, penetrating the darkness. 

 

Shadows from the lantern light, bouncing off the shrubs.  Oh what a night for a horror story, Jeff thought.  This is the path the coven would dance down to their bonfire what a witching New England night it would be.  Jeff’s mind raced on that dark and stormy night.  Other images came forth as werewolf’s sat among the trees serenading the witches.  Naked warlocks scattered among the waving trees.  Bodies writhing and weaving to the sound of the rustling wind.  The thump of the branches pounding on the ground, a frenzy of dancing around the fire.

 

Jeff continued his pace along the path, watching the shadows dance across it.  The storm had pushed the wildlife into their burrows.  Looking ahead, Jeff could see the path ahead, lit by the silver beams of the moon. 

 

Oh what a romantic night this could be Jeff thought.  Walking my girl back home after the dance.  Brief interludes in the hidden shadows.  Jeff felt her warm body beside, rubbing on his arm.  

Into the Dark

 

Dark Storm

 

It was a dark and stormy night as Joe hurried down the side street.  The snow was blindly swirling around him.  Following the buildings edge, Joe scrambled along towards main street.   Trying to pull his coat up tighter to keep the warmth inside, Joe had a losing battle with the slashing wind. 

 

Reaching the end of the building, Joe could tell he was closer.  Reaching the corner, Joe turned, only to turn back to the side street.  The harsh wind had  torn at his face, sending ice pain through his cheeks.  Reaching up, Joe pulled at his beanie cap, trying to pull it down over his face.  He laced the hood down tighter, covering his chin and mouth.  Feeling kind of secure, Joe turned the corner again to duel with the wind.  Leaning forward, Joe trudged into the fierce wind.  Flakes of snow were splattering against his coat and forming ice around his eyelids. 

 

Three fourths’ of the way down the block, Joe came to an entry way.  Stepping into the doorway, Joe got a reprieve from the howling wind.  Here he brushed the ice off his face and coat.  Standing there, Joe took a deep breath and slowly exhaling, he looked out the entry.  Other side of the street was not visible as small drifts swirled down the walk in front of him.  The street lights were but miniature light points.  Joe lingered knowing his journey had to continue in the fierce night. 

Into the Dark

 

It was a dark and stormy night as Bob stood in the doorway.  Bob had moved further back into the entry as the wind had picked up and the rain intensified.  His had was cupped around his mouth and the glow of a lit smoke could be seen through his fingers.    

 

Smoke rolled out of the entry to disappear up into the canopy.  His eyes ever present focused on the diner across the way.  Ever so often the eyes would roll of to the light of the all night gas station down at the end of the town.  Rolling back the other direction, Bob’s gaze would stall at the diner.  As Bob looked the other way, he could see couples darting out of the movie house to their cars.  A few had umbrellas and were hustling down the street.  A few movie goers crossed the street headed for the diner, heads bowed and coats pulled up over. 

 

Into the diner they darted, brushing off the water and shaking out the moisture of the day.  A few sat at the counter, most went for the booths.  Across the street, Bob could see hand gestures, smiles and heads jerking from laughter.  Cars in front of the movie house had come to life and were slowly pulling out onto the rain soaked street.

 

Bob reached into his pocket, pulling out another smoke, lighter flashing, smoke floating upwards.  The cars had left to their homes and main street was quiet again.  Bob stared at the diner, the waitress was scurrying around, taking orders and setting them up for cookie.   Drinks in hand, the waitress placed them on the appropriate tables. 

 

Bob stood there in his doorway, taking a slow drag on the cigarette, smoke exhausting into the air.  The gaze of Bob resumed it course of traveling up and down the street.  The rain had eased up and was down a heavy mist that swirled in the light breeze. 

 

To his left, Bob caught the flicker of headlights.  Down main street, a dark green sedan rolled, coming to a rest in front of the diner.  Headlights flicked off, the motor went silent and two men exited the car.  Crossing the sidewalk, the two men opened the door to the diner, to a booth at the far end they strolled.

 

Bob tossed his half smoked cigarette down and began walking out of the doorway.  Skipping over the flooded gutter, Bob strode out on the street.  Turing his collar down and rearranging his hat, Bob moved across Main. 

 

Into the Dark

 

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Bob ducked back into the doorway as fingers of ice rushed around him.  Further back into the doorway eased the grip of the icy wind as swirled down the street.   Bob pulled the collar of his coat up tighter around him to block the icy fingers.  The rain had let up, but the blasts of air lingered, seeking the nooks and crannies of Bob’s soul. 

 

With some warmth flowing around him again, Bob reached into his pocket.  Ushering a cigarette forward, a lighter followed, illuminating the cigarette.  Smoke rolled out from under his hat brim and the lit end of the cigarette glowed in the dark gloom of the night. 

 

Bob’s gaze returned to the street, drifting off the way, the glow of the all night station lights light up the dark.  At the other end, the marquee of the movie house was off, only the glow of the next show posters gleamed out of the dark.    The midnight horror show was underway.

 

The ever present glow of the diner across the street brought Bob’s eyes back into focus in the diner.  The waitress was sitting at her corner, rolling napkins.  Cookie was busy in the back, getting dishes ready for the next day.  At the other end sat Phil, nursing his coffee and has his conversation.

 

Phil had returned from the war all messed up.  His leg had been amputated because of a bomb explosion nearby.  His buddies nearby had taken the brunt of the explosion, protecting Phil.  Phil had survived, yet he hadn’t.  He was in a pile of dead bodies and or badly bleeding bodies. 

 

The horrors of that explosion left a mark on Phil that would not ease.  Returning home, Phil was withdrawn and kept to himself.  He would walk the town, shaking and with a distinctive of the wooden leg.  The town had adopted Phil and watched out for him. 

 

Tonight was one of those nights for Phil.  Stay up all night, so he wouldn’t have to face the terrors of the night.  

Into The Dark

 

Into The Dark

 

It was a dark and stormy night as Bob stood in the doorway.  Coat collar was turned up and hat drawn down against the slashing gusts.  His gaze would travel up and down main street, ending at the bright lights of the diner across the street.   This time his eyes focused on the little stream falling off the canopy over his head. 

 

The awning had been built in such a way, that the rainwater would flow across out off the awning’s edge.  Bob followed the drops across the canopy as they gather to form a stream rolling off the edge of the awning.  With a loud ker splat the rivulets spattered on the sidewalk, rolling across the walk to the curb and down into the gutter. 

 

Here the water droplets disappeared, the storm gutter was swollen with the stormy rain of the evening.  Bob let his mind wander and follow the storm water down the gutter to be swallowed by the storm sewer.  Bob let his mind’s eye gloat along with the water. 

 

Disappearing into the grate of the storm sewer, the splashes would give way to the roar of the micro flood in the sewer collector.    The water was racing down the h ill to get to the river first.  Bob watched the water traveling at breakneck speed.  Soon the drain would open up into a gully, for the rest of its journey to the river. 

 

The town was built on a rise overlooking the river, but the water flowed away from the river.  The gully took the water on a long journey to the river of over a mile.  Once the river swallowed the gully water, it was a U-Turn.  For now the water would flow downstream, passing by the docks just below the town. 

 

Bob’s mind eye wanders back up to main street, leaving the rushing water behind.  Through half closed eyes, the lights of the diner were a dim glow. 

 

It was a dark and stormy night as Bob stood in the doorway watching the street lights reflect off the shine main street.  

Into the Dark

 

It was a Dark and Stormy night

Joe tilted his head to the side as he rounded the corner onto Main Street.  Here on the main drag downtown, Joe would have some protection from the swirling rain.  It a dark and stormy night as Joe marked his steps down the sidewalk.  

Across the street, the marquee from the movie house was dark.   In the light of the lobby, Joe could see the attendant cleaning up.  Soon the movie would be over and the movie goers would head out the front door. 

Leaning into the wind, Joe continued his journey down the walk.  At the corner he paused, glancing off to the left, he could see the line of streetlights marching off the end of town.  The headlights to his right caught his attention and he stood on the corner.  The lone car turned and headed for the lights of the gas station couple of blocks down the street. 

Crossing the street, Joe’s attention shifted to the diner across the way.  The lights of the diner, glared out onto the walk, producing a daylight look.    On down the street Joe walked, turning into a doorway.  Here Joe was out of the elements.  Glancing across the street at the diner, Joe fished a cigarette out of his shirt pocket.  A flame flashed in front of Joe’s face, revealing a cigarette dangling from his lips.  The flame disappeared, revealing a glow in the front of Joe’s face.  Smoke swirled out of the doorway to be blasted away by the stormy wind.  Settled into the doorway, Joe returned his gaze to the diner across the way. 

 

Attractions of the Roadside

Roadside Attraction

            Overlooking the valley is an oxymoron of a roadside attraction Built in the era of late 1910.  The horseless carriage was taking to center stage and the American traveler was being born.  Highways were being built to accommodate this new machine.  Boundaries were being broken and the country was prosperous.  There were numerous noveau rich living the American dream.  World War one was on the horizon, Marx and communism were popular and the world was an oyster for many.

            Jump in the car, travel cross country, see the wonders.  No longer was tourism limited to the rich.  The automobile had opened up new vistas for the peasants of the land.  Onto the new highways in their new fangled contraptions the populace jumped.

Many a business sprung up along side highways.  Giving the wearied traveler a brief respite, place to refresh. gas up, eat and spend money.  It was wide open country free of many modern restrictions.

            Conversation in coffee shops on the college campuses was about Marx and his ideal dream.  People were discussing on campus how to impose this dream on their countries.  Meanwhile WWI breaks out and the dream is put on the back burner except in Russia where Lenin and the Bolsheviks bring the communism revolution.  Even in the USA there was a small attempt to bring communism to the country.  WWI slowed it down as did the prosperity after the war.

            People had money to spare, there was land so there was no need to overthrow the evil empire of capitalism.  Jump in the car, go visiting.  After WWI there was a new affluence for the average person surplus income to spend lavishly, in particular on the new automobile.

            The roaring 20’s floated in, flappers, speak easies, gangsters and the car.  It was a buoyant age 

 Federal Government policy built the Interstate highway system bypassing many a roadside business and pushing cars onto to super slab cross country speedways.

            On the highways a new enterprise was cropping up, the roadside attraction, and a place to separate the new tourist from their money.

            Communism went to the back burner in the US but the tyranny in Russia was just beginning.  The people’s party, Bolsheviks were ruling with an iron fist.  Churches were destroyed and people disappeared that opposed the new Russian regime.  A new ruling class was formed in Russia.

            More and more automobiles were being built in the US.  More and more people were acquiring money.  The 20’s were a golden age to be in.  Then 1929 showed up because of a government boondoggle and greed on the part of a few.

            What had been a golden period became a depression leading into the dirty 30’s and communism reared its head again.  There were also numerous government programs leading to the claim of socialism, kind of a polite name for communism.

            All the time people were still traveling cross country seeing the sights it had to offer.

Small Towns

 

No longer am I in a hurry to get there.  Now I plan my trips with some slack time to tour some of the small towns I pass through.  There are a variety of buildings.  I like to capture pictures of them and there are other things that are unique to that town.

State of neglect is the companion of many of these burgs.  Businesses are gone as are the residents.

The old storefronts line the highway.  Most boarded up and awaiting……….?  Some look like they came from the south, others from another era.

Thriving businesses they were.  Serving travelers, tourists and the wanderer.  Travel changes, people flock to the super speedways of the Interstate, bypassing these little villages.

A few have tried to find a new life for them but to little avail.

Wonder where those gates led to, was it a plantation a large business or maybe a mansion.  Today it is overgrown with weeds and care is neglected.  What could the story be, a dream gone bad?

A southwestern style home, gated and protected from unwanted visitors.

Time moves on, these little towns struggle to survive.  The Siren song of the big city calls their children.

 

-----30-----

Sacrifice

 

What is it to sacrifice?  To give something up.  During the recession so many have lost their jobs, many of no fault of their own.  Layoffs were a common occurrence, companies closing.  Onto the government dole went many people,

 

So how many government workers did you hear of getting laid off?  In our area it was teachers who got the pink slips.  Other government employees, none got  laid off that I know of.  One of the more critical jobs we pay taxes for took the brunt of the economy.

 

Look at what the politicians are saying about the economy.  Are any talking about cut backs in pay for government employees and or layoffs?  What kind of sacrifice is forthcoming from the bureaucrats and politicians to help the taxpayer?

 

When there is a downturn in the economy it is the everyday worker that takes it in the drawers.  The government workers just keep on drawing their check.  Who do the politicians say should help?  The people on the dole, welfare, food stamps… etc.  Government layoffs are not even mentioned.

Why is it the work a day Joe has to sacrifice the job and the taxes do not stop being paid to the bureaucrats.

 

The average government worker makes 20-25% more then their counterpart in the private sector.  So the public employee could take a pay cut and still make a nice wage, better then average. 

 

The public sector has become bloated but do the politicians talk about the wages they pay?  Government sacrifice is not in their lexicon. 

 

Bet that if there was an across the board pay cut of 10% that the national debt could be reduced by 50% or better.  Low level government administrators make 6 figure incomes into the 200-300,000.00 dollar range.  What government job is so critical and pressurized to warrant that kind of pay?  Most government jobs are cookie cutter work.  I don’t even want to talk about incompetence.

 

One of the things one can do is to bug their congressman and ask them what kind of sacrifice their agencies are going to make to help the country?  In this day and age of electronics it is easy to send your Representative an e-mail, they all have one.

 

Why should the private sector take the brunt of the bad times. 

Politicians gripe about welfare, but what really is welfare?  Look at all of the people that get government checks.  When we send tax dollars to DC….. what do you want in return?  Let the politico's know.

 

We’ve had some rain but it won’t last long.  We could use some more buckets of wet stuff.  Cost of living is going to climb, not only at the food store, also the gas pumps and other places.  The government wants to throw more money out to those dealing with the drought, farmers.  This will push prices up even higher for it will be more taxes floating across the desks of bureaucrats.

Calvary outpost….. Ft Wallace

 

Took a short trip to check out an old steam engine and chase it.  Along the way there were other things to look at and take pictures.

One of the places I wanted to go to was Wallace, Kansas.  Here are the remains of an old military building.  It had been a museum at one time but Kansas changed their tax policies for places such as this.  Losing their money the locals closed it up and today it sits vacant.

 

It is given some care but for the most part it appears to sit neglected.  There are stress cracks here and there that probably will become worse over time.  Being made of rock it will wear pretty good.  I just hope Kansas will give some funding to it to keep it from falling apart.  Then it is not alone, I have run into other places that have closed up when the state pulled the funding.

I hate to see the funding pulled yet the local county is not all that poor and something more could be done with it.

Yet it is so typical, rely o n big brother, in this case the state, and all of a sudden big brother closes the pocket book.  People throw their hands up and …………

Ft Wallace came into being in the 1860’s to protect the Smoky Hill Trail and the railroad.  In 1868 the railroad stopped building and Ft Wallace became the railhead for a couple of years.  It was a wild and rowdy town.  Railroad workers hanging around, not much to do, gold seekers passing through and the outlaws plundering anything and everything.  Late 1869 the railroad started building west again and Wallace shrunk.  A few years later, most of the Indian problems were over and the Calvary had not much to do. 

On off went the Army to other jobs and the building was left behind.  The town of Wallace prospered until the depression and then dust bowl.  Today it has a few residents and lots of ghosts.  The building was fed and well cared for but today it is abandoned.

In back the horses await the return of the cavalry to go riding on the prairie looking for Indians and bad men.

Things like this I have no problem supporting with tax money but at what level.  So much tax money is spent on special interests and things like this get lost.  There also needs to be some local help and not reliance on big brother because look what happens when big brother changes his mind.  Maybe there is a lesson in there someplace but do we learn?

                     _________________________________

Other Notes

My pelvis is pretty well healed up and the tailbone is doing pretty good.  I am still battling the hematoma, but at least I can sit for a spell now.  I am looking at blogging some more and getting around to others also.  Got a bunch more stories from this short trip.  Some neat train pictures and buildings in the small towns.

Have a good week.

Jobs….. Where they Gone to?

 

Headed down the road the other day and passed some blade trucks and there were some pulling off the road.  So rather then waiting for them, I paused and took some pictures of them.  The trucks they haul these big blades on are amazing.

Look at the rear wheels on the trailer, they are steerable.  The driver in the cab has a joy stick to turn the rear trailer wheels.  Used to be someone in the pilot car would jump out and steer the wheels.  Long load….. over 90 feet long.

While that set of blades was turning off the Interstate this set was parked on another highway.  They are from a different factory going to another hot air farm.

On down the road the first group goes.  On to the farm road and up the hill to the ridge where they will be planted.

There are times this components are shipped by rail.  There are specialized cars for hauling them by rail because of their length and other pieces because of their weight.

 

Besides the hot air fans there are other bits and pieces necessary to get things moved around.  These huge transformers are super heavy.  One guy said there were 92 tires on the truck that hauled it.  A whole bunch of weight.

Then there all the new high power transmission lines necessary to haul it to the big city.

The

The fans, they stretch out for miles across the prairie.  First group was about 120, next group about 90 and the new group over 200. 

The prairie is becoming cluttered.  It was bad enough with houses, out buildings, fences then utility lines.  Now it is monster size stuff popping up.

 

Watching all this involves lots of people, from the manufacture of electrical parts and the mounting structures to the land siteing. 

So why is there such a problem with high unemployment.  This government money was supposed to take care of the problem.  What am I missing?

One thing, most of these things are foreign made or owned by companies based out side of the US.

Mitsubishi, Siemens, Vestas and GE are the big names for manufacturing these things.  They are made overseas or owned by off shore companies.  Side note…. The Obama people are complaining about Romney’s money being off shore.  Guess where our tax money is going.

Electricity generated by these windmills cost about .04cents compared to about .01cents for coal generated electricity.  When the tax credits for the windmills is dropped they will sit on the prairie collecting dust because of the expense.  The government mandate requires that utilities use 10% green energy, IE wind power being alleged green energy.  When the utilities meet their 10% they discontinue wind power.

So I look at the windmills and wonder why the jobs aren’t there?

They government can mess things up but have a hell of a time fixing things because of the politics of reelection and other stuff.

Just wish we would stop going to the government to fix little things.  We pull ourselves out of recessions when left alone and the government stays out of the way and uses sensible regulations that favor no one.

I hope the windmills become an icon of how boneheaded we become when it comes to electing out political leaders.

Bits Here and There

 

Nature is my neighbor, sometimes not enjoyable when it is mice and spiders.  Then when Mr 10 point shows up.

He spent the afternoon there, relaxing in the shade under the semi trailer.  Later that afternoon I saw why he was lounging there.  As he grazed, he hobbled.  He had injured a leg and was not up to speed.  That evening some of hos does showed up for the evening meal.

Better then any television show.

A few days later on the way to the clinic I spotted this guy in the bar ditch.  When I went past, it just watched me.  Making a U turn and going back slowly it did not like.  To wing it took and landed in the pasture to watch me.  Make another U turn and as I’m leaving it flies back to the ditch to finish its meal.

One of many reasons why I like to avoid driving on the main highways.

We finally got some nice showers in the area.  The brown pasture above should show some green spots shortly.  Lots of lightening rolls in with the storms.  As long as there is no damage, lightening is spectacular to watch.

I hope other dry spots in the country get moisture.  We are right on the edge of the dust bowl and dry land makes the old timers nervous.

Drought makes for some spectacular Dust Devils.  This one was close to 300 feet in the air, about 10 miles away.  Hoping this area got some showers also.  Knock the dusty devils down.

Nature has its own rhythm, it’s just that sometimes we don’t want to dance to the tune.

Support Counter Intelligence

 

Out in a little town, in the middle of nowhere, close to somewhere is Mama’s store.  Here is a collection of old stuff, for she rents space to a variety of people.  Even the store is old.

In the old days of saloons and pool halls this shop thrived.  Pool balls made great missiles to be launched at the enemy.  Even the ceiling had it’s stories.  There and here was the occasional bullet hole. 

 

The clientele has changed, it is now mostly the wives of the pool players that wander the aisles. No longer to the six shooters thunder forth, or dodge the lost pool ball.

The floor can still be heard shuffling some soft shoe.  The hair from the barber getting mixed into the floor.  His chair long gone, but a memory.

The bar, cabinets and stools still await the thirsty traveler.  One can belly up to the bar.

I  stop in for the iced latte, maybe a shake just for  the ambiance.  Walk the aisles, hear the memories whisper to me.

Looking for Cheese

 

I post on a couple of other forums plus facebook.  One of the things that has been popping up is how easy people whine anymore.  They act so helpless.  It is almost as they expect someone to fly over and sprinkle fairy dust on them and all will be well.

There is some turmoil in the local schools over money cuts and programs.  Again lots of griping but few willing to bite the bullet and deal with the issues.

Geography is another trouble spot.  So many ask where is it.  Rather then doing some looking, they whine expecting me to tell.  Well the door is well marked: MEN.  Then they ask, where is it?  I slowly boil up into an aggravating chuckle and……. guffaw.

History is the other pet peeve.  It’s like the schools want to avoid teaching some history for it will upset their agenda.  The world according to, GARP.  So many do not know to get a book out and look up information or they do not want to.

Yet here on the internet is one of the fastest tools for looking up info. 

Now the circle, what are the schools missing?  By all test scores and standards that have been set forth, all the government programs have been failures.  Graduation rates are lower, students are less educated.  Oh there are exceptions but overall.  So when will people admit that big government in schools is a failure?

Look at how successful schools were in the early 20th century.  These little schools produced the people that invented the phone, light bulbs and even the computer. 

So when I hear whining I wonder who failed?

Such is life, there are foibles and successes.

So often the focus is on the failures and the successes are just there.

Wonder if there would of ever been an apple if Steve Jobs would have been a whiner…….?  His mother chose to not have an abortion and gave him up for adoption.

Snow Day

 

The snow gods are smiling upon us at last.  I know, I’m an oddball,  I like snow.  I love watching it rearrange in patterns on the landscape, cover things and kind of make life miserable for a short time.  Yet it is this white stuff that brings the flowers of spring and the greenery.  The nourishment of the land.

Like many, I do not try to fight it.  For it happens no matter how hard the combat zone is, nature will run its course.

The soft lacy flakes lay out their pattern.  Making the nuisance tumbleweed a bit of beauty for a moment.   Soon the beauty will fade into a memory and life will move on.

In the future the green shoots will usher forth from the ground.  While man struggles against the snow.

Vehicles slip and slide, visiting ditches,bouncing off curbs.  Backs will ache, coated shovels mute in their work.  Prints across the white mantle, wildlife searching out a tiny morsel.

Business cry because of lost job time, others shout with joy for the extra work they will get.  Banged up cars, more snow shovels/blowers, wreckers towing more cars.  Life evens out, no matter the noise.  Man struggles to control nature, the leash is broken as nature scoots along.

What is so important in life to go do battle with the snow storm.

 

May you have a blessed day.

Horrors….. gone shopping

Watched a horror program the other night.  It wasn’t so much a scary story as it was a scary mind trip.  The mind has so much capacity to create it is beyond comprehension.  And that’s what this show was about, the travels of the mind.

Where does the inner thoughts lead a person, what is real, is there a distortion, what am one seeing?  In the magic of video and acting the mind trips can be recreated to flirt with reality.

 

Deep within the dark recesses of the mind lies unfathomable stories of horror, real or imagined.   It is on these thoughts that the craftsman plies the word craft. 

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the more famous ones, then there was Mary Shelly’s tale and the king of horror, Alfred Hitchcock.  Their stories play out on our fears/phobias.  Monsters lurk around corners, fly with the full moon, walk darkened streets or are crafted in a laboratory.

Dreamscapes paint pictures brought to life with the pen of writers.  Generation to generation tales were passed on.  Evil spirits roamed the country side looking to wreck havoc on the unsuspecting passer by.  The mind’s eye creates fear that rises to the bait of the craftsman.  A ringing bell at midnight, clouds passing over the moon, loud footsteps on the walk, distant howling and so forth, evoke a level of fear in many.

The spinning of a story to scare……… begins in the eye of darkness.  Which direction will the screw turn, when will it turn, what is on the other side?  Are there ghosts, spirits of the dark side, what travels in the mind’s eye? 

The Life of the Wild

 

Deer are plentiful in the evening and fun to look at  as they browse on the grasses.  They also a desired by predators and they make an evening meal for numerous critters.  They also become road kill when they get close to the highways and try to cross.

They are a curious animal, standing there staring at the two legged creature snapping pictures.  They are also mesmerized by headlights at night and blinded.   A combination that is very deadly.  There is a stretch of highway west of here that I see a dead one along side the road almost weekly.  The herd lives on though, it is but part of the process.

 

Quietly they munch away on their evening meal. glancing back at the stranger.  Life and death wages on in the wild.  Where it comes from, when will it happen….. is but s moment of fear that flies into adversity.

Being atop of the food chain it is a fear I know not.  My cognitive reasoning carries me through dangerous moments.  A separation that carries very little understanding.

 

May God be your companion this week.

Flying South…. Nope Not Me

 

This time of year the V’s have been floating over head.  A lots of them have been landing here.  No longer do they go to the warmer climes of the south.  Today there are numerous man made lakes for the birds to splash in.  Nearby are fields loaded with seeds.  It is heaven for birds.  The climate is not that harsh here through the winter.  Daytimes highs occasionally reach into the 70’s during the winter mostly it is the 50’s n 60’s.

So the migrating birds have found it is a nice place to hang out for the winter.  The golf courses make nice places to hang out and the farmers leave behind seeds that were not there a 100 years ago and there are those who feed the birds. 

The journey south is much shorter now.

Seldom do the ponds freeze solid so the birds have a refuge from the two legged critters.  There is plenty of down to insulate them.

In the morning feeding time thousands upon thousands can be seen flocking to the sun flower fields and nearby corn fields.  It is an amazing sight to see millions of birds in V’s up in the air circling fields.

Massive farming has changed the way lots of wildlife lives today.  There is probably more wildlife today then there was over 100 years ago.  There is an abundance of food and shelter that the farmer and rancher have provided.  Don’t tell the greenies that though.  They think the farmers and ranchers are pretty stupid and can’t take care of wildlife.

I put the little bird feeder out for the little birds but to see the millions of massed birds is incredible.  Man influences the environment but to what extent.  Do I really want to foul the land I live in.

Hope your week is going well and that may the bird of paradise be your companion.

Water Springs Forth

Snow is cursed by so many, yet it a fount of life that carries many through the parched summer.  High in the mountains snow fills the ridges, covers the valleys and caps the trees, making a vista to be in awe of.  But that very snow feeds the rivulets that cascade down the hills. oozing under ground.

Wind whipped snow sends all scurrying for protection.  Grasses are covered, bushes peek out and trees sway to the extra weight.  The damage of the snow is the renewal of spring.  Moisture in the shite stuff ushers forth the green fresh plants to blossom in glory.

For miles this moisture can travel underground to sprout forth in tiny puddles.  Gushing springs heave forth to nourish the ground.  Last years snow flows up out of the dirt.

A tiny wet spot oozes out of the ground.  Tumbles down the hillside to nourish a few plants to sink back in the ground.

A small ribbon of green marks the spot where the water flows.  Returning back to the earth to resurface in a another location.

Here the animals found water to slake their thirst.  Not more then a mud hole but pools enough of water.  Hundreds of miles away are the mountains but underneath the ground are streams of a different nature.  Water travels through the sandy rocks for miles to seep out of the ground at another place.  Creating a small garden on the parched prairie.

Indians knew of these places.  here they would find the animals for their food, plants for their food and water for their thirst. 

What appears to be barren land, the starkness in broken by a few trees.  On far hillside a small grove of trees mark a spring.  The hillside is an escarpment revealing where the formations of the mountains is exposed.  Over many miles this formation rises.  Springs ease forth along the escarpment, giving life to the land.

Small ponds create a micro system of life that would not be without the snow.  This water may of fell a number of years ago as it traveled under the earth.  Following a path the eye can not discern.

There are many springs in life.  What ushers forth, has it been there for years, has it been dammed or is waiting for release.

Peace like a river runs through it.

A View

 

For a variety of Reasons the eye is attracted to views/images, some are pleasing others distracting and so forth.  The Vista lets the eye travel to the horizon, to the world’s end.  Do a 180 and there is the end of the view.

Parallax is the divergence that never ends and it is the same no matter the distance.  Lines the appear to converge, remain the same distance apart.  To what end does the eye travel?

 

Floating cotton puffs dapple the sky, poles mark lines, cars pass by, wind riffles grasses, a brief moment paused.

From here to there an eternity, flowing together, to never join up.  A separation merging not that gives the illusion of converging.

The weekend is rolling along, it touches not the last, it goes on to the next.  Adjoining but with no attachment.  To the next it marches, pauses not to attach.

May your days have journeys of no end that reach to the next and continue in a path of desires.