2-29- 2012, the farm lane. 

     

    i wish i had a quater for every time i was up and down this lane in my life. this is the lane to where we live and i have a pretty complete coverage of the whole area  from beginning to end in a series of pics i have taken over years and you can see it at different times of the year. i always described myself as being 1/2 mile east of easy street. easy street was accessible but not without its fair share of work. when ever we would venture out we could see the neighbor kids , and it always seemed like they were having fun.

     but it was a different fun than us, we did have fun and fight as we were brothers and sisters from a large family . mom and dad  figured we always needed some thing to do , and in ways i guess we did as animals and me seemed to get along from the start. but we didn't do much socializing out side of school. we would run up and down lane but mainly for the bus.  i was up every morning around 5:30 then head out to find  the cows and drive them back to barn , cows are kind of a herd animals and although we wanted only 2 we had to bring the whole herd . there was days they just didnt want to come but we would manage to separate out the milk cows , peggy and daisy, and would hand milk them out being careful to avoid the crappy tail that would swat you if you man handled the girls faucets a little to hard . we would milk into a pail and would give the cows feed to eat while milking. as soon as milking was done would run to the house as by now we were running late and needed to kick it in gear to catch the school bus. and it is along the stretch above at almost the very same location i had an accident i am trying to tell you about.

     well our barn clothes and our school clothes were pretty much the same . so dancing the cow pasture polka was important step to getting ready for school . would maybe have time to comb hair,wash up and grab a bite, bum some lunch money off mom and out the door we would go . normally i would run to the y as me and my brother jim would rush to get around the corner and then we could coast as we could see the bus from the split in the lane which was about halfway.well this one morning, i was alone and being later than usual,  i rounded the corner and there was the bus waiting on me. the bus driver was good and would give us a minute or two if we were late and then go on .  we missed the bus not often , but maybe once a month just to keep mom in practice of taking us. but i needed to catch it this time as i had home work to do at school before class,  so i kicked it in gear. having already ran a quarter mile i felt pretty good and was not feeling any loss of strength as i quickened my pace and decided to make a show for the bus. i was stretching it out and was striding feeling the fresh wind flow through my hair and could now see the kids faces in the window as i reveled in my own power . 

   again from somewhere something told me i could go even faster and still be able to slow up for the bus as it was getting closer all the time and then it happened i stumbled and twisted an ankle on a large rock in the lane sending me head first into the ground as my arm went underneath my body saving my body some damage from what seemed like boulders. my body ground to a halt just feet from the door of the bus . i looked up through the dust , and could see the look of pain and contained laughter of the students staring down at me. i pulled myself to my feet and looked at the bus driver who was now getting more impatient than ever. and says to me. well are you getting on or not. i shrugged , dusted myself off and limped on to  the bus to the astonishment of all. i found me a seat in the back as they would have to turn around to glare at me  in wonderment just to see how i was doing , and i really didn't feel like sharing at the moment. 

       i started assessing my injuries.  first and fore most was i had practically ripped my thumb nail off my hand and had some pretty good road burns complete w/ gravel and blood,  as the pain ebbed and flowed , causing me to grimace as i wiped the blood on my pants . anyhow the bus looped up the road and all the time the bus driver was watching in his mirror to see  if i was alright. seeing i wasn't he yelled back at me asking if i wanted to go home and i indicated i needed to. so he swings by the end of the lane and dumps me out in the heat and forces me to take the long walk of shame back to the house alone and hurt,dragging my books and tail,  a half mile to the house uphill did i say alone? 

      well they removed the thumbnail and x-rayed me . no broken bones and 4 stitches . but i fared much better than the guy who came in beside me as soon as i got there saw him once and next thing they were bringing in crash carts and pulling curtains . all the while i was hearing the noises of lives trying to save one of their own to no avail as they called out the time of death. for a 17 year old want to be athlete with bungling feet . my troubles were small . and such are farm lanes , places for memories,sometimes hard ones . 

2-28-2012- strip tease

     this is the old dragline you used to see out on the hills behind magnolia school. in mr matties , sixth grade class where i was admonished by him for staring out the window. he wondered just what was so more important than what he had to teach me . well i never told him as i had heard horror stories of how he had whacked students , hitting them so hard with his boat oar of a paddle, that it actually brought the ill minded student up off his feet. as they were not allowed to paddle alone i assume another teacher witnessed it. so instead of taking chances with the hitler-esque mr mattie, i decided to just apologize and refocus my attention . besides he had already humiliated me in class , what more could he gain. we all had to confine our joy when we found out they were not renewing his contract. 

     and what was so important was watching this rig and move thousands of tons of soil and debris to uncover coal . coal has long been the lifeblood of the local economy. i remember being late for school one day after that first incident with mr. mattie, i missed the school bus and mom wasn't to keen on hauling me down to school , and it was farther to walk home than the state route, so i decided to thumb to school. this is the first time i ever tried it and sure enough i get out to st. rt 800 and who is the first car i stick my thumb out to but  state highway patrolman. he invited me into his car after he found out i missed the school bus and would take me to school. along the way he told me the reason he was headed down our way and that was to escort trucks from the coal mine to the tipple , as truck drivers were being sniped at by the teamster everyone assumed. james' coal comp.  was a non union mine and they were  trying to make it union. and they never did accomplish that but frayed a lot of nerves. anyhow the state highway patrolman was running escort on a convoy of trucks. and that was where he was headed. although he warned me to not thumb, he  thought it was great i showed effort to get to school. and i actually beat my bus there as he pulled up in front of sandy valley h.s.,to let me out. everyone was wondering just what i did to get a state highway patrolman to drop me off in front of school. 

     at a couple of points in my life i worked in strip mining. first i had ran dozer for first time in a lot of the pits around here . would push spoil as it is called in a system called box mining where the coal you uncover today would be buried by tomorrows overburden or the soil you need to excavate to reach the coal. this goes on 24 hrs . per day 6 days per week, thousand of tons of soil are moved by huge dozers to uncover a 2 -4 foo vein of ok coal. not a good hard coal but instead a sulfur rich  soft coal. sometimes they would remove the clay with it but a lot of times just stopped at the easy pickings and went on. some coal companies would excavate up to about 60 feet in depth of overburden leaving a high wall then auger drill under the remaining hill where it was impractical to remove the coal otherwise. acres and acres and miles upon miles of reclaimed strip mine land lay in their wake. the soils are a hodge -podge of their former structure. layers of striated stone ripped apart and exposed for the first time. some former mine operators for years never bothered to do anything with the spoils after they left them. taking the easy coal out that didn't require much mining. today any strip mine is first required to post a bond insuring that reclamation will follow plans. and basically i would run a large dozer called a d-9 to rip and tear and basically keep my blade full as pushed to uncover more coal. 

     next job i had was as a blaster's helper on strip mines setting up shots to blast a bench for a drag line as the one is  above. this allowed the drag line to operate more efficiently in removing overburden. there is nothing like watching dynamite blow on a rock shoot as the ground lifts up about four foot and the bottom slides out the side of the hole leaving debris reigning down all over . we hid by the trucks just in case we needed something to jump under. it would be nothing to see ton rocks hurtling through the air and smacking into a hill side. but at same time you would see more dirt moved in 3 seconds then a team of dozers could do all day. it was beautiful physics in action and mr mattie wanted to know what i was looking at. this was an ok job not without the usual worries if something goes wrong you die along with others, and yet in the end it was the dynamite that go me . just by picking it up. it came standard in 60 lb boxes you slid around everywhere. but to slide you needed to pick up first and i was unloading a truckload of dynamite and picked a box up wrong and went to send it down rollers to a guy catching at other end and heard a pop sound as it was the discs in my back popping. well i went to office to seek medical help and that whole thing there is another story in itself. long and short of it is that was my last day of work as they found a way to get me out as i was hurt and of no use to them. 

       i can drive out my drive and drive for miles in any direction for almost 20 and in some cases a hundred miles and see remnants of strip mines . in our immediate area we have more reclaimed strip mine land than we have agricultural land. we have the convenience of driving over the land that once was covered by dense forests. there is no trace of trees left on alot of this land. it will take thirty to forty years to get anything productive out of this land. and it will never be like it was. having the rock ripped up so far down into the hillsides assures very little water towards the surface is retained. and we get the double whammy as now a power plant is burning that same coal and emitting carbon dioxide and heating up our planet. but now we don't have any trees to remove the carbon dioxide or lock it away. just seems to me that the restore point we should try to achieve when reclaiming is better than it was before, not worse.  by working with the landowners , possibly plant seedlings at near or at better rates to achieve densities of woodland to insure good soil and water conservation and to reduce global warming. judging by the reclaimed land on our property i would say trees is the best use over livestock for reclaimed areas. livestock would reduce vegetation and hooves would leave marks increasing erosion over the long run. trees provide cover for animals and have a positive effect on our environment working ceaselessly to capture solar energy and also to sequester carbon dioxide. 

2-27-2012- heavy metal

      above is an oliver 70 rowcrop tractor produced around 1940 i believe or it could have been 1937, originally a continental 6 cylinder engine . all of this information has never been checked as this is my best guess. the holes in the frame allowed for implements to be hung from the frame. of course this is a modified tractor all tricked out . these old tractors were easy to swap an engine in as all you had to do was make a flywheel housing to contain he fly wheel and the engine shaft was splined to the transmission shaft allowing fast unbolting of the engine. ours had a tractor pulley on the right side engaged by a lever. brakes were drum brakes w/ individual right and left and combined brakes. ours was usually oil soaked and we hardly ever had a tractor with  any brakes for years . you learn to drive with the hillside always being careful to let the engine brake for you

        this was fine and dandy until you need the brakes to stop you. fortunately we were lucky enough to never have anyone seriously hurt , although we did have a few tractors get away with us. we grew up with tractors . the first i could remember driving when i was a kid was a 1946 ford ferguson. 4 cylinder  and i was about 5 then . we had a big river bottom below grandpa and grandmas house and i would climb up on tractor and ride between his legs till we were down in the field , then grandpa would head me toward other end of field as it was long and straight. after i was heading in right direction he would crawl over seat while tractor was driving and i would sit back in seat as he  positioned himself on the disc and would ride back there to add weight. when we got to where i needed to turn around then he would climb back up and sit down while we made the turn, then repeat at other end of field . made me feel good to be able to help grandpa out. 

      there was so many things i was able to do before i was going to school , i wondered what grandpa was going to do with his time when i did go. 

   

      the photograph in the photo below is of the old oliver 70 we had. nothing like the one above but when it was running was a strong tractor. this one went into disrepair mainly because we couldn't find tires for it anymore as it had 40 inch rims and next most popular size was 38 inch rims. so it ended up being a parts tractor as it always looked easier to swap other parts instead of those big wheels and rusted bolts. the ironic thing about this photo is my brother snapped a front end off  this tractor once before by running it between two trees . then while sitting here waiting for a reprieve from tractor graveyard , the tree springs up and snatches it in its lair while others rush in to block its exit.

    this looks like an old international m . these were good old tractors and did a lot of farming in their day. apparently they did other work doubling as a road roller compacting and smoothing roads somewhere. 

       i believe this is a kerosene engine tractor around the 1920's . it comes equipped with a belt pulley to be used as a stationary engine. a lot of farm work was still being done with horses at this time as these things were quite cumbersome to use as pulling tractors. they were mostly used to power threshing machines as in last nights blog main picture. horse and wagons would bring shocked straw to the thresher and thresh the wheat out to make flour.

     this was probably typical of first row crop tractor to pull a plow or disc to till fields. even back then , they still had to prove themselves that this new machinery could outproduce teams of horses. but eventually they did as the technology has improved dramatically as now the behemoths we use could easily till 50 -60 acres per day or more, better and cheaper.

   
         this is a full working model of steam engine that pulls the owner around in the lap of luxury , knowing full well he will take the prize for smallest steam engine if not the the most outrageous one there. and who would think you would call a smoke and steam belching tractor cute, but this one is.

2-26-2012- no particular place to go. 

         sometimes me and mom head out on a drive with no particular place to go. together in the old expedition we decide in a spur of moment left or right , north or south . east or west is determined same way and we veer one way and another till we end up at our no particular place to go. sometimes we intentionally head out to some places, like the the barn in smithville ,ohio. this will give you some information about an enjoyable dining experience. made even more enjoyable by the barn itself . the care and decoration of the grounds glorifying the barn is in some ways a testament to farming. well done displays of floral arrangements brighten the wayne co. countryside. 

      farm memorabilia adorn the inside and outside of the barn demonstrating the kinds of machinery employed by farmers in their everyday tasks to provide food for not only their table but instead to serve the multitudes of people dinners on their respective tables. their christmas decorating is beyond anything you could imagine giving the grounds a storybook look. nice getaway if you have no particular place to go. 
     The Barn Restaurant

      next up is a garden cart i thought was interesting . imagine the large front wheel would be nice to maneuver over large clods of dirt. while at same time giving you a portable table to hold items of need:  shears , hand shovel, berry boxes, water, pots, you name it, could be stored on either top shelf or in box underneath. maybe a step stool, and an umbrella to shade the days sun. this would be a welcome addition especially when in garden would be nice to have something help you up or give your back a break. sit down grab a swig of water and put up umbrella to shade your self , and a case beer as in my old drinking days i would have been out there all day. 

         this is a building i found when we were headed out with no particular place to go. just getting off the main route . driving the road less traveled , so in off the beaten path, ohio . we came across this neat little storefront reminiscent of by gone days . we talked as if it would be neat to move it home, but totally out of question as it would be easier to make a copy . any how i grabbed a shot . it would be just about the right size for a carving shop . but then i would have to carve to fill it up. keep picking the wrong jobs . to bad i couldn't find something to do with air bubbles or something light. no i have to play with chainsaws. to be able to do anything is a blessing , compared to those less fortunate. so will count my blessings. 

      and again i want to include this bench /table , which i thought was a neat idea and will be made and i will try to post complete plans . also 2 of these benches could be placed back to back to create a large picnic table. and with them doubling as benches can be separated and easily stored next to wall under eves of building. anyhow the reason i entered this again so soon is that spring is coming soon , and it was also because again i was driving around intheboonies , new york, when i found this bench on a no particular place to go day. the bench and the garden cart  are 2 must haves for this summer for me. 

2-25-2012-heads up folks

     today i'm going to visit all the big heads i have done. will try and make this a complete set of easter island style heads i have done . i love to carve the big heads as i like watching the face come jumping out of the wood at me . i try to keep them primal ,yet not exact copies of moai statues in this link.        http://www.flickr.com/photos/28495615@N02/6242241250

the guy i sold him to said there was a resemblance between him and the statue. the statue above was in trade for some aged pine he had on his property. he brought his dad down and the 2 of them sat and watched me carve out the bulk of the carving. we had a great time visiting. 

      

         the top photo  is another i did in same style minus the mohawk. i believe this was a black walnut log i carved this one out of and that  is its natural color and in fact had to leave in sun for awhile to bleach the face out because he was so dark. the one in the picture below is one i had just finished carving but had not yet finished staining and finishing the head. the thiird picture is a finished version of the second. and the last one in the above is my mr. natural man.

        although he is not the primal style , this is a jesus head  i was carving , he was still a big head , standing at three  feet tall. the above carving was carved in the likeness of christ and i feel he resembles him. at the time i placed a crown of rose bushes on his head. and has since fell off. he is also the icon i use on a lot of my stuff on the internet. 

        and in the last photo is a pic of same sculpture showing some of the close up carving detail i employed while carving this statue.

        above is the last but hopefully not the last of my head sculptures as i love to do them . just might have to do smaller work. trying to but finding it harder to get chainsaw to cut as i want. wait a minute ,always had the same problem . oh well that's just the way life goes sometime. 

2-24-2012- ties that bind. 

    you are wondering how can all these pics be tied together and yes i have the answer. i like them all and will talk about them individually as if there was some hidden meaning of why i choose them . well i  will get on with the explanation of each . above is the first and only elephant i have done to date. last time i saw him he was headed to new york state on another story i assume. it was black walnut and lovely wood as i didnt have to stain the elephant but instead let it sit around in the sun and it began to bleach out from the classic black walnut to the grey color seen here.i painted his tusks white and sealed him then got a lesson in carving elephants . somebody told me it was a good carving but it was bad luck to carve an elephant with its trunk anywhere but up in air to symbolize good luck. well i have found a lot of critics out there, and its easy to criticize , and harder to do something. guess that is why they are critics. its not perfect but the friend i had given it to i'm sure would not take anything for it. and i guess that s good with me. happy trails mr elephant. 

     the box turtle , and no i didn't carve the poor guy or run over him but instead was working on a job placing fill behind a house and come cross this guy and took his picture. then picked him up and proceeded to take him deeper into the woods hoping that he would not come back before i finished for the day . he was one of maybe  hundreds i have saved over the years. usually they are crossing the road in search of a mate . it seems to be generally in the spring time the box turtle sprouts legs and pops some viagara and heads out for a mate. it is a slow process and sometimes complicated by roadways and tall bumbling men who think they have the turtles interest at heart. i have taken them to other side of the road to have them turn around and try to get back out there. i understand cars and animals don't always mix. but i think it is in our best interest to yield to all animals whenever possible. not asking you to be roadkill yourself but have a heart for those not able to keep pace with us and our toys. 

       these guys all belong to fenders fish farm . a place over close to baltic, ohio. where you can buy fish for stocking your pond and be able to view these guys and more, as they usually have a couple of donkeys, some sheep, and other assorted animals and a thee legged dog that is so cute , and of course called tripod. tripod seem s to be only name to call a three legged dog. oh well he was one of a kind for sure. will get you the link if you need minnows or want a few fish or possibly some koi for your ornamental; pond . this is the place.http://fendersfishhatchery.com/

      

       well hopefully tripod is doing well at the fish farm . he loved to ride and it was neat to just watch him climb up in the gator and get all excited about going some place. he is special . it is really interesting place to visit in the middle of amish country. be careful driving on backroads as around every turn might be a buggy or something to see.
        im summary what binds it all is that each and every picture put a smile on my face . and sometimes that is hard to do. life can be like that . but life moves on and so do we .and hopefully around the next corner life will catch you smiling too.

2-23-2012- things are looking up 

        trees are quite versatile left to their own nature , quite content to send their tentacles as necessary to find food and nutrients in the most inhospitable of environments. along  a stone cliff edging its way into cracks , seeking out nourishment with its silky filaments in the tiniest of places.working their way into pipes and meshing down the cylindrical contours , till eventually they become a mass so thick nothing can get through them. i have seen them grow in walls , in sidewalks , in pavement. our roads would take no time to be destroyed by trees if left unatteded in no time. in fact i believe trees might grow in road faster than in open sometimes. this could be due to the trapped moisture and ideal lateral movement of root system in gravel subbase of roads. 

      in new mexico while i was visiting there i happened on the old city airfield in roswell , . it wasn't the one they brought the aliens to after the ufo crash but another close by that had been discontinued after the air force moved out of their base. what amazed me was how quick the desert grasses and trees regained tarmac areas around the runways of the old airport. dry arid conditions are commonplace for this desert town . but  in spite of the 110 degree days and nearly 10 percent humidity , that in the cracks of the tarmac where water would lay from rain runoff . water would enter along with seed and soil. trees were beginning to find their way out of the tarmac with robust style in  a region so dry. in fact the trees that were in area of tarmac were doing better than trees in desert. the pavement allowed the water to not evaporate but remain trapped underneath in gravel base . with the sun the trees were doing great. the tree in the picture above was created by another wrapping around it. the tree that is around the other is dependent on other tree for support and is competing with it. eventully the tree wrapping around will win , choking off same tree it is using. the bottom picture is a typical new mexico scene , notice the lack of trees or anything. this is different than in city and places that were paved and allowed to return to nature.

     we can use trees for windbreaks and to protect easily eroded soils . these pine trees planted in close proximity to each other will grow tall and straight allowing very little light to penetrate the forest floor. this along with the high acidity reduces noxious weeds and brush that may occur in other less pine forests.

         maple trees are synonymous with maple syrup production which involves inserting a spiked spout into a drilled hole in side of the tree to allow the sugar water to flow in springtime. this sap water is collected and boiled down to make syrup at about 50 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup. further refining would reveal a natural sugar.

       and sometimes people do things like build a house around a tree , and sometimes it goes wrong . at one point i'm sure they thought this was a great idea , but now . well i drove by this place the last time i was in new york and they had removed the tree from the house . but felt as though they should just as well have taken both out as the tree was dead and the house knocked off foundation. a real no win situation. that would give you the creeps in a tornado wouldn't it?
       faced with adversity trees have been known to survive and thrive . to see the new seedling sprout after a forest fire or an apple tree grow from a broken down old limb of another tree. they adjust themselves to conform to nature , growing close to the ground to conserve moisture in arid regions , and growing tall in warm moist regions . if only we were as resilient as the mighty oak which will bend but doesn't break when the wind blows.
       i have reached one sixth of my goal to write daily in my blog . i have produced sixty different blogs and have only begun to tell some stories and keep you the readers interested in following along. thank you for your patience and yesterday was my all time high reader count. would be happy with only 1 reader. but would still be wondering what i was doing wrong. this is  more to teach me a lesson than anything. something about old dogs and new tricks has a lot to do with it and maybe one more check off on bucket list.  i have learned many so far and have a long way to go. your response would be deeply appreciated and will pass along an email where you may contact me directly and not have your comments published with out your permission. my alternate email  address is kdavis3051@gmail .com. your comments will be deeply appreciated , and kept with strictest confidentiality. 

2-22-2012-we need more trees

       global warming should be here even if it isn't. we have been cutting trees in mass quantities since the industrial revolution started and trees were the main source of heat for thousands of years before that back to the dawn of civilization. first thing that man did was gather wood and take back to the cave or hut because his woman was cold. or he made her go get the wood. not quite sure how it happened but it happened . so we have bee using this resource for years. all the time the trees have been replenishing themselves and have been used as windbreaks to fight erosion , to build our homes , and still to heat our homes today. we need trees lots of them . 

        they remove carbon dioxide and lock it up in the woody matter of trees, better than anything we could devise . they also are scrubbers of our air removing pollutants and locking them away and releasing oxygen we need ot sustain our self. they condition our enviroment by their combined presence as a whole to reduce the buildup of carbon dioxide in our earths atmosphere. we cant live with out them , and a plentitude of plants and animals all depend on trees for their existence here on earth. and what would a summer outside be without a tree or two to park yourself under as the sun creeps high in the sky. 

         and you would think that i am hypocritical to be a wood carver and express a love for trees. but you would be so wrong as to say that. as i only use trees that were already down or someone had removed the wood through foresting. to me this allows for cull trees to be replaced by stronger trees. but none the less i refuse to carve a tree someone specifically cuts down for the purpose of carving.  don't include me in that game. also they have kits that you can attach to an alive tree that looks like a face. those are bad also. as they usually involve screwing something into a tree shortening its life. 

       foresting is ok to a point . but it seems like the turnaround on our forests is now creeping closer to 20 years between cuttings. and in reality may be even less. resulting in smaller trees harvested overall. as far as virgin timber in Ohio . i believe it is extinct except in parks and close to urban areas, where they might be more protected.  smaller trees reduces the potential for curbing the greenhouse gas problem we have from using fossil fuels. even if we were to plant 2 trees per person on earth for next 20 years we would only begin to keep an even pace with the destruction being ravaged on our forests. that would be 280 trillion trees we would need  by 2032 in order to maintain our present status quo. we are only recycling maybe 50 percent of our trees now. some goes to heat generation , other goes to mulch products, or reuse as lumber products etc.. assuming a population of an existing 7 trillion people who share this earth with you. we would be lucky to have even half of those trees survive the 20 years as things go now. and first you have to plant them. trees are the perfect solar collector. requiring no technology yet able to store mass amounts of solar energy and lock up undesirable carbon dioxide . 

      we continually cut down and excavate wide swaths of land to build new housing developments and industrial parks and replant only a hundredth of the trees that originally occupied that area. how long can we keep doing this before our children start gasping from the intense effects of the greenhouse effect. we are a profit driven society that needs an awakening . are we going to see it in dramatic weather swings. are we prepared to face drought situations , and continually hide our head in the sand to decry the effects of global warming when we know through common sense we as humans have the responsibility to make right what we have wronged and reverse the effects of global warming.

      it doesn't have to be a costly transition to overcome these effects if implemented gradually. some common sense approaches to the way we do things would make a considerable improvement. first priority should be to increase our reuse of recyclable lumber and look for alternatives to using traditional stick built  homes. steel studding has come a long way in residential use. look for long term homes designed to last a hundred years instead of twenty. second is a personal thing we could each do as a group as we all use paper products for personal hygiene, etc. use recycled when ever possible or plant a tree or two to make up the difference.  third is to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as they are a major contributor to green house gases. also  we need legislators who are willing to put the environment over profit to provide the stimuli to encourage more green conservation of our resources. use our tax dollars to allow humans to live harmoniously with nature and not against nature.

      i look at the cities sometime and really fail to understand why there blight has become so. you look at the lifeless pieces of real estate left in profits recess, and i see potential. to me these areas should be highest priority as to developing. at one time all the utilities were there as once they were prosperous foundries etc.. but instead of abandoning these properties we should be developing these for our industrial use again. why build new factories and destroy woods or cornfields. why extend utilities to distant areas where we have never had that need for that before. yes it makes jobs but it wastes critical rsources that we will one day need for humans to exist. 

       i just think we need to rethink our selves and find a way for society to advance and allow individual effort to be rewarded. most people tell me i m an idealist. well that is one name i have been called that i only hope i can live up to. ideas has brought us this far and we will have to have a lot more ideas to get us anywhere in the future. this is a tree in front of a cabin at atwood lake that is probably gone by now , but is a testament to its ability to put up with all the people who signed it . click on the pics to enlarge. look at all these peoples ' names and wonder how many trees they have used since they wrote their name here. in spite of the graffiti it was a healthy beech tree popular for writing on. its fate is unknown. 

1. 

2-21-2012- ch-ch- changes 

          this is my backyard , so it is a little bit bigger than most peoples backyard it has undergone a major transformation over the years . at one time it was a pig pen , complete w/ a hog house and a hog wallow, which we kept wet so the hogs would be able to keep cool. we actually raised quite a few hogs here on pasture  for what it was worth as it was always tore up from the hogs rooting . we would give them coal to keep them from rooting as we were told they were looking for something besides food ,  the coal would disappear and so now the hogs have disappeared also. unfortunately i am not a good farmer as i care way to much for the animals and treat way to well. i know there is nothing wrong with that until you get ready to send them to a butcher shop or imminent death through a sale barn  . i always feel like i was cheating them . at other times i feel like i did my best to make their lives as comfortable as i could while they were here. as if this was going to give me solace and peace even now . 

         well i am every bit as redneck as the next guy but somewhere  got a heart , never was a hunter , but went along with it as it was a ritual i enjoyed a lot except the killing part. once they were dead i could get over it enough to allow myself to clean the game we acquired that day. i would shoot at stuff but at same time would close my eyes as i shot as if this would stop the killing. well that just about scared the hell out of everyone with me , when we were out. gradually i become more accustomed to the gun shot and remember going hunting  to West Virginia with my brother and dad on dad's old home place. we were squirrel hunting and dad was a stickler for making sure you made no noise while walking through he woods , sneaking up on the squirrels ws something he thought you could do. so you followed in his footsteps doing as he did , well dad and Jim had each nabbed a squirrel as Jim and i split off from dad as we climbed higher into the mountain , and then Jim split off from me and headed up the other side of a ravine till i lost sight of him and dad both. i was determined  to get myself  a squirrel i sat myself down on a log and was quiet and looking about as intently as i could. 

         suddenly off in the distance i see a squirrel tail poking around a tree , first on one side then the other , never quite coming out to where i could get a clear shot and i was ready, i had the gun shouldered and safety was off as my heart raced as i my finger eased onto the trigger determined to get it right this time. and i see the squirrel easing out closer to me on the side of the tree i aimed and as dad always told us took a second look before i squeezed the trigger, and the next second my brother comes out from behind the tree with the squirrel in his hand . i just about died , and dropped the barrel down and was instantly pissed at the ignorance of my brother. really don't know if he was just messing with me or if he was just innocently admiring his squirrel, but why play with it like that. don't know . never asked him . dont care . never went hunting much after that . the though of squeezing a round into my brother was to much for me. from then on i was apprehensive about hunting , and just went along for the fun , never really caring much if i achieved anything more than time out with friends .                 

         i lived in southern Ohio for a time in my life and friends would come to visit me there primarily to go hunting and fishing and of course the drinking associated with the parties we threw back then . guns and beer as well as  water and beer always make for some interesting combinations . it is a wonder no one was killed .seems as if something was wrong with you if you didn't hunt , fish and drink growing up. well that mostly came to an end when i quit drinking for my own good years back. suddenly i wasn't asked to do a lot of things, and it was partially due to my quitting drinking. and for me it was just as well as i really didnt like to hunt , so there was no big loss , except maybe for  a few so called friends who thought i could help them justify their bad habits by imbibing in the spirits. don't miss the headaches , from hangovers , the empty feeling in the bottom of my pocket as i now had to figure out how i was going to make it the rest of the week on nothing , but least of all i don't miss them if they were that shallow to think i was weak. 

        as i went along for quite a few years not drinking and not hunting , i came to a point where i began to hate hunting , partially due to the fact i had numerous encounters with hunters that would walk to my grandmas door with guns on their shoulders and ask permission to hunt. a growing distaste with the new hunting crowd of today has grown from encounters such as those. there is a new crowd of people out there that have very little respect for landowners and their game. to me that deer is beef on the hoof if i need it. i don't need it , so i choose not to hunt. that is my right . but today's hunter wants to question why i don't allow him to . it not his property or his choice to make it is mine . i don't tell other people what to do with their land , so please leave me alone and our property alone. 

         so this life is all about changes , instead of going with the flow i went my own way, may not be the best way but it is something i can live with. i look in my backyard and watch the squirrels come and play. babe watches them too. but never stands a chance getting any as they are well to aware of her and disappear up a tree at first chance. life is a beautiful thing and seeing it flourish is a good thing i hope i can see for some time yet.