Categories
Photography Places

Meets the eye

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, almost 70 degrees. There was a breeze, but it was warm and gentle and one could go about with a light jacket and feel just right.

I hadn’t been up to Shaw in a long time because of the road construction on I-44. The state is adding an extra lane all the way to Gray Summit, and in the process the lanes are narrow and the road surface uneven. The speed limit is supposed to be 50, but I’ve yet to see anyone follow this. Well, other than myself. A Ford Focus handles beautifully on country roads, gravel, in the city and what not, but it does not do well on uneven roads.

At Shaw I debated on taking the forest path to the wet land, or the country road behind the back. I had my iPod in its new heavy duty Belkin leather case, and it was fun just walking along the road, listening to Bond; taking the ear buds out from time to time to listen to the wind through the trees and the birds singing.

I also took along my camera because, though Shaw is in the middle of its dormant stage, you never know when something will pop up that might be fun to photograph. Such was the case yesterday when I came across piles of cut Eastern redcedar.

woodpile

Eastern redcedar is really a juniper tree, but it still has a beautiful grain and smell. The photography gave me an excuse to get close to the wood and breath in the scent. I noticed that the trees must have been fresh cut, as they were still ‘bleeding’ from the cuts.

cedarcuts

pitch

pitch2

A couple of folks came along and seemed dismayed to see what looked like healthy young trees cut down. After all, this is a Nature Center, what could be more natural than trees? Especially when the Center replaces the stands of trees with what looked like fields of weed. However, this effort is part of the the ongoing effort to remove invasive species all across the park; restoring native wetland and prairie, as well as stands of hickory and oak, which are more natural for this area.

Environments are delicate, and the health of a particular environment is not necessarily obvious in the eye of the beholder. Though a vast empty prairie may look like ruin, and a forest of cedar look richly healthy, the opposite can be and often is in true–prairies are alive with many species of plants and animals that may be difficult to spot, while eastern redcedar forests may contain just that: big redcedar trees and nothing else.

At one time, Shaw was prairie and wetland, but people came along and plowed it under into farmland. When the farms were abandoned and the ground lay fallow, rather than be reclaimed by what was natural wildflowers and grasses, seeds contained in berries eaten by birds made their way to the fertile ground and honeysuckle and eastern redcedar thrived. Unfortunately, redcedar needles contain a high level of acidity, unpalatable to other plants. Both species choke out others by overrunning the ground as well as providing a canopy preventing young plants from getting enough sun.

woodgrain

Like many other areas in the midwest, work is underway to pull up these invasive plants, and replant native species in their place. Until this is finished, every winter the park is a mass of pulled and destroyed honeysuckle vine and redcedar trees in addition to the marks of controlled burns.

I left the road half way around to take the forest path past the prairie. The park had added a new bench overlooking the hills in a nice place to sit and enjoy the view of the grassland and the sod house on the hill.

hillsidetree

I liked the inscription on the bench: He was in love with this world.

dedication

Old joke here at Burningbird: No stone was harmed in the making of this photo.

steppingstones

pond

bench2

Categories
People Photography Places

After the Flood

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I’m working on a very long essay on the recent dam break here in Missouri, the hurricane effects in New Orleans and other topics, and am out taking photos as annotation. The writing may be a long time in coming, but I thought I would post photos as I go along.

Monday I went to the Johnson Shut-Ins to see the effect of the Taum Sauk Reservoir dam break. It was…extraordinary. The trees and much of the scrub in the area where the campground and picnic areas are almost all gone, or damaged beyond salvaging.

There were several of us about, most local to the area. We were gathered in a group trying to figure out where the water came from, when one man mentioned that the water came from a direction in back and to our left. How can this be, I asked, because the trees were lying down towards the left. According to another man local to the area, the water had come down with such force that it hit the mountain to the right and bounced back. It was this bounced water that took out the ranger’s home, pushed the semi off the road, and knocked down the trees by the road.

The campground and shut-ins got the water directly. So much so that rebar from the dam was twisted in and around the granite pillars of the shut-ins. In the summer, during the day, all 57 campground spaces are filled, as well as the space for 110 day use cars, with vehicles lined up to get in for miles. During a peak time in the summer, an estimated 1000 or so people could have been in the impact zone of the flood–a probable 250 in the direct path of the water.

I’ve also added some Google map images to the photos, to demonstrate the water flow and where items I photographed were found.

As the following Google maps snapshot demonstrates, the water flowed down between mountains, and came out pointed directly at Johnson Shut-Ins. It flowed down Black river, in both directions at first, and bounced back from the mountain bordering the Shut-Ins across from the water path.

Keep Out

Path of Water down Mountain

Black River

Unusual color in Black River

flood20

It hit the mountain, bouncing back and taking the Ranger’s home. The following photo encompasses both the path of the flood and the home. The light colored foundation in the right side of the following photo is what’s left of the home.

Flood Path in Relation to Park Ranger Home

Cactus

Knocking three cars and a semi carrying zinc into an empty field across from Highway N.

Location of Truck pushed off road

Debris, both from the dam (rebar and plastic liner) as well as from the ranger’s home was still scattered about in and among uprooted trees and the inches of mud and silt over everything. The following map shows a circle where the Ranger’s house was, and Xs marking where debris in the photos was located.

flood19

The front wheel from a child's bike

Lining from Reservoir was littered everywhere

Sign by Park Ranger's House

A Baby's Socks

Categories
Photography Places

Philosophy

I renewed my Botanical Garden subscription as a Christmas Present to myself. I wasn’t going to renew it; I had planned on trying new walks next year. But the Botanical is a place of sanctuary for me — especially in the winter when I can have the place to myself.

Yesterday, though, there were dozens of parents and grandparents out with children to see the train show. I grabbed a few photos, though not many. The room was crowded, the lighting not great, and I didn’t want to block people from the displays.

I did want, so much, to get a picture of a grandfather showing his grandson the model trains. He would point at one coming around a corner or a building, and the child would stand their bug eyed with wonder; the image of the two of them, heads close together, was a visual joy. I only caught them indirectly, though, when taking pictures of the entire display. Like the natives who believe you steal a person’s soul when you take their photo, you do take something when you intrude on an intimate scene, camera ready to selfishly rip it away.

Instead, I’ll get my photos of small trains and fluffy cotton hills and tell you about the grandfather and the grandson. And the asshole.

Christmas model trains

The room was crowded, and the adults who came to see the show stood back from the table so that those with kids could get a better view. There was one woman, though, part of a an older couple, who seemed less interested in seeing the show and more interested in ensuring others did not.

She planted herself along the edge of the table and moved down the side, brushing children out of the way, complaining about how warm the room was, how tacky the display was and responding indifferently when her husband pointed out some novelty or other. She stepped into the way when people were taking pictures, and had a face like Jim Carrey’s Mr. Grinch–but less green. Which was too bad, in a way, as at least a green face would have added some touch of holiday spirit.

the train 2

She wasn’t the only person not interested in the display and along for the ride. But where others were patient indulgence, she moved and acted as if the room, and the people in it, were responsible for her present state of misery.

I remember being concerned that she would ruin the show for others, because people like her can. But I could see, across the display from her that when she passed, people would fill in the space left in her wake, children close to table, parents bent down (just to help the children, you understand), smiling adults in the back (discovering that there’s also a train running along the back, among the Christmas flowers — just for them).

trains are for boys, eh?

After the show, I walked around the grounds. It was a nice day yesterday — warm enough for Spring, though with dead things. There wasn’t much to photograph other than the greenhouse flowers and an oddity now and again.

A young couple was at the main pond and the man was breaking up chunks of ice with his foot and they were tossing them out onto the ice. I stopped to watch because they were having such fun. However, my presence made them hesitate and I could see they were wondering if I was going to get upset at them for tossing the ice about. I imagine if I had been an asshole, like the woman at the train show, I would have puckered up and looked on them with disapproval and ruined what was nothing more than an a moment to have a bit of winter fun.

Instead I called out to them to never mind me, and to continue; after all, it was only ice and they weren’t hurting anything. I eventually walked over to chat with them and watched as they had fun with the ice. They even offered me a chunk if I wanted to try it, which was nice of them.

ice on ice

Yesterday was a good day to walk about the Gardens–few distractions. I spent the time thinking about the lessons I’ve learned from this year that I want to take into 2006. During my musings, I found I could reduce them all to a simple two-part philosophy.

The first part is: The world is full of assholes.

 

This is a very important philosophy to have. The world is full of assholes. Contrary to how we may feel at times, we’re not asshole magnets and they’re not gathered solely around us–assholes are everywhere. As such, we’re never going to be free from them. We therefore have only one recourse and that’s accept that assholes are an inevitable fact of life.

You better not shout, you better not cry, you better not pout–I’m telling you why…because the world is full of assholes.

The lover that has left us is an asshole. The boss who has fired us is an asshole. The middle aged white guy who holds a technical conference and doesn’t invite women? Asshole, big time.

saloon

The politician who doesn’t vote the way we want is an asshole; the crooked judge, the bad cop, the robber, the killer, the racist, bigot, sexist, and molester–all assholes. But so is the clerk at the store who crushes our eggs, or the dog owner who doesn’t use a pooper scooper; not to mention the person who innocently takes the parking space we wanted.

That woman at the train show: asshole. Me at the pond–not an asshole. Yesterday.

Keep the world is full of assholes firmly in your mind. If every job we lose we tear ourselves up with insecurity over the rejection, we’ll die young. If, in the loneliness of our beds, late at night, we lay sleeplessly, listening to echos of “if only, if only”, we’ll go mad. We are not walking around with a cosmic “kick me” sign pasted to our butts. Or if we are, we’re all wearing the same sign.

fuzzy

What do you do with an asshole? You catch them, you cure them, you cage them. You make them clean up, grow up, shut up. You stay and fight, or you walk away. Most of the time, all you have to do is give them a few minutes. Whatever you do, you take away their power.

touched by light

At the train show, the people had two choices in how to react to the lady who was an asshole: they could have focused on her behavior, or they could focus on the show. If they had focused on her behavior, the show would have been ruined. As it was, she was nothing more than a minor nuisance, perhaps even someone to pity.

But enough about her: look at that train coming around! Can you hear the whistle?

the train

We seldom have an opportunity to change people. We seldom have an opportunity to agree on what needs to be changed. I may think a person is being an asshole because they see everything around them as a marketing opportunity; they may think I’m an asshole, because why should I care what they think?

If a person does act like an asshole, though, we can remember the people at the train show and the older lady who probably is not a very happy person. Whatever influence she had, she lost immediately because the people around her were just too busy having fun.

petals

The world is full of assholes. What a philosophy to experience at a Christmas train show. What a philosophy to take into a new year! Isn’t this the season of good will to all? Where is the ’seeing good’ in humanity in a statement such as this?

You probably think I’m an asshole for saying making this statement, and this leads me to the second part of my philosophy; the part which adds, I think, both perspective and hope:

The world is full of assholes, and sometimes I’m one of them.

The world is full of assholes, and sometimes I’m one of them. Does a woman’s philosophy have to get more complicated than that? I don’t think so.

Whatever your religious belief or lack of one, Merry Christmas, assholes. You make my world a better place.

Categories
Places

That’s Missour-ah

It might seem as if Missouri consists of nothing but red state, conservative, fundamentalists with mullet haircuts. However, they don’t call Missouri the “Show Me” state for nothing — there’s a stubborn streak of independence that runs through this piece of the American Pie…and by that, I don’t mean Independence, Missouri.

Instead of cats and cute, and the usual back and forth of politics, I thought I would start pointing out items from the local news organizations on Fridays. Sort of a “Hackers Guide to Missour-ah!”.

***

Top of the list, a present for my pinko, liberal, commie, ACLU card holding, tree hugging friends who are trying to steal Christmas: How the liberals stole Christmas (or) A visit from St. Dick.

***

Today, my next door neighbor, Archbishop Burke, on orders from the holy Roman Church, excommunicated the entire lay board, and priest of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Church. This church has become a center of faith for the growing Polish community in St. Louis, and there’s an interesting story behind the little quarrel.

The Church hired the priest, Rev. Bozek, who was happy to accept the job. The thing is, though, he didn’t have permission to take the job from the Archbishop. Why didn’t the Archbishop give him permission? Because there’s been a squabble about the money that the church board holds. The Catholic Church wants control of the 9 million dollars currently managed by the church board, but the board doesn’t want to allow control of the money outside of the parish.

The Church removed the priests originally at the parish, and they’ve been without spiritual guidance until Rev. Bozek defied the Archbishop, tossing aside his 30 year career, because he originally came to this country …to help people with no priest.

Yes the Church excommunicated several people because of a long standing dispute over corporate financial structure.

***

Then there’s the guy award. What’s the guy award? According to Bill McClellan:

This award is not to be confused with the Man of the Year award, which was established years ago by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and then kept alive after that newspaper’s demise by a bunch of rich, establishment types who had not yet been selected. This is definitely not that award.

Instead, it honors the fact that women are smarter than men. Which is a nice way of saying that guys tend to do stupid things.

***

Don’t want St. Louis to have all the fun. From the Kansas City Pitch, Merry Christmas from Dead Malls.

***

Just remember, that’s Missour-ah!

Categories
Critters Photography Places

Zoo lights

I know that many people don’t approve of zoos, but the St. Louis Zoo is one of my favorite places; especially yesterday when there was only a handful of people walking about. The trees are decorated for the evening Zoo Lights, but on a dark and dreary day you can benefit from the lights almost as much but without the crowds.

With the cooler temperatures and the growing lack of people visiting, the animals come out more in the winter and take almost as much interest in the few visitors, as we do in them. You also have a better chance to talk with the keepers during ‘off season’.

It was from a keeper that I found out that the two grizzly bears are named “Bert” and “Ernie”. They’re now 15 years old and over 900 pounds each, but when the zoo got them, they were orphaned cubs from Yellowstone. The keeper was throwing them hard shelled nuts to entertain them, keep them active and foraging. She told me about standing next to the gate in their enclosure and how their heads were this big around, as she held her arms wide.

Bert was friendlier than Ernie, but he didn’t like the flash. That’s good to know if I’m in the wild and happen to run into a grizzly: they don’t like camera flashes.

Bert and Ernie

I was able to get a couple of fairly decent photos of American White Pelicans.

pelican

Yesterday I discovered the Cypress Swamp; an enclosed habitat featuring birds found in the cypress swamps in our area. I was able to get a nice photo of a heron while there–something I’ve not been able to do as well in the wild. I know that getting photos of animals in the wild have more ‘value’ than getting ones of those in captivity, but I do love taking pictures of animals regardless of location. Does it really lessen the photo?

Cypress Swamp

The transcaspian urial in particular were much more active in the cooler weather; climbing all about their duplicated mountain in their compound. At first, I thought they were statues when I saw them high up above the ground, on carefully crafted indentations in the ‘rock’. I was particularly taken with this handsome fellow and his curly horns.

Ram Tough

I haven’t been able to find out my favorite camel’s name, so I call him Bud. He was in fine, foamy form on Saturday and kept following me, hoping I would have a nice tidbit for him. The foam is natural for a Bactrian camel and results from their rather abundant saliva. So much saliva that desert dwellers sometimes capture it in a cloth for drinking.

whatfoam

The sea lions were in full voice, most likely demanding their own dinner. Yesterday was very cold and there was hardly anyone about and I imagine the afternoon feeding show was cancelled and chow hadn’t arrive yet. This disruption in their routine wouldn’t please this highly vocal crew.

I did it myyyyy way

Either that, or they also liked the cooler weather.

A Picture of Grace

I haven’t once been able to see any of the apes at their new Jungle of the Apes habitat. I think it’s going to take a good long while before they’re used to it; their previous habitat was enclosed.

Zoo Lights

I doubt I’ll go down during the evening for Zoo Lights. I go for the animals not the crowds. If I can get my tires replaced relatively soon on my car, I’ll also head out and see what I can spot ‘in the wild’. It’s almost time for the bald eagles.