I went on a run this morning, as I always do, with Cooper. We ran out into the woods on a path for a while, and the whole time we were hit by acorns, with hard spikes on the outer shells, from above.
On the way back we came across this sweet little nuthatch, dead, in the trail. There was an acorn next to him with a feather plastered on its thorny side. The whole story was there in front of us. Coop did not lunge or sniff, he simply stared down at this beautiful life, ended.
It was over for this bird maybe as quickly as it had begun. We said a pray and placed the bird in the thick underbrush of the forest and continued on our jog, breathing in and out together.
A trip to Pioneers Park Nature Center yesterday was a feast for the eyes. The colors of the prairie are starting to be a W O W.
This Painted Turtle just astonished me -- yes they are very common but look at this coloring. If you were a fish looking up from the muddy bottom of a pond, this is what sunlight would look like. Pretty good camouflage.
This is an exact quote from my instructor yesterday at the Platte River State Park - Outdoor Heritage Education Complex. I could have slipped in a good joke about Republicans after he said it, but I bit my tongue. Probably not the best thing to do in a room full of Nebraskans and firearms. This gentleman from Nebraska Game and Parks showed us the basics of a shotgunnin' and explained that "it's about looking good," and "your predatory instincts."
All joking aside, the guys and gal at the park were excellent teachers and I learned the basics of shotguns, the different actions (pump action, semi-automatic, bolt action, etc). At a few different times during the firearm safety demonstration, I blurted out a few gasps of laughter knowing that my friends and family would be like, "whaaaaaa?" if they knew I was there. Well, now you know what I was doing yesterday!
When we got to the archery range, I was suddenly taken back to Alford Lake Camp and, well, skipping archery to go swimming. At ALC, the range was in a clearing in the woods, the bugs were bad, and the sun burned through the pine trees making my polyester camp uniform itchy and sweaty. Swimming always won. But this time around, I enjoyed flinging a few arrows.
Here's a cool picture of targets in the archery range.
I had to post a picture of this guy,
a volunteer who helped us shoot.
I experienced a very electric adrenalin rush while handling the shotgun - this reaction scared and shocked me. I was very nervous, but the man who was helping me was very calm, knowledgeable, and encouraging. Don't worry folks, I'm not about to go hunting, but I might bring Aaron back to the range and shoot a few clay birds.
After shootin' guns and flingin' arrows, we talked at length about Teddy Roosevelt and the history of wildlife management in North America. In response to exploiting game and depleting populations to nothing, he said, "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." I like that.
We could all use a kick in the pants from time to time.
When I think about where I am in the country, I can't help but get lonesome. I see myself from space, a little dot in the middle of a cornfield. Growing up on a coast gives you an internal compass that seems to ground you, at least it does for me. Being out here without the edge of an ocean lapping at my soul makes me feel lost.
But enough tears. Here's a picture I took this week near Omaha, in a nice forest where birds chirp and wind blows. I took this shot on a break during my Nebraska Master Naturalist class -- something I'm doing to get to know the local natural environment.
The Missouri, known to folks here as the Muddy River, is far from clean...but it provided two pioneer type folks a good passage-way to explore. More than 200 years ago, Lewis and Clark paddled and trampled all through these parts, along their famous journey. I asked a classmate if the river was clean and she said, "Well, if you don't mind the dead pigs that float by." Hmmmm.
Aaron's studiomate, TJ, a big friendly guy with a full beard, just took a trip home to his family's peach orchard and returned with fruits to share. I don't think I've ever eaten a peach of Utah origin knowingly, but let me tell you, it was heavenly. Watch out Georgia, you've got some competition.
