Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

Computer Woes Continue As My Blood Pressure Leaps

Posted in Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , on June 16, 2011| 6 Comments »

 “The hacker mindset doesn’t actually see what happens on the other side, to the victim.” — Kevin Mitnick

Travels With Maggie

Hackers are drowning us with viruses just as surely as Mother Nature does with her weather extremities, as shown here at Cedar Hill State Park in Texas. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The picture that accompanies this blog was taken several years ago at Cedar Hill State Park in Texas, when the area had an excess of water. Today the same area is in a drought.

Meanwhile, Northern Utah and Southern Idaho, which is my stomping grounds for the summer, is having an excess of water.

Given the extremities of Mother Nature, it’s a problem of inequity that’s never going to be solved.

I’m beginning to think it’s the same for my computer woes, which is actually what got me focused on this particular photo this morning. I feel like I’m drowning.

It seems my brand new computer may be suffering from a malicious virus targeting Windows 7. So far, counting travel and tech support costs, I’m out nearly $300 in an attempt to get it fixed – and it will be more when I have to drive 320-miles round trip to pick it up again.

As I’m the only campground host volunteer at Lake Walcott State Park, I need to get back there for the weekend crowd. And my computer, the geeks told me, won’t be ready by then.

Budget cuts, layoffs and business failures abound these days. It’s a time when everyone in this country should be pulling together to find solutions.

I do not understand why some of the brightest minds, those among us who might even be able to improve the economy, are so intent on making it worse. How, I ask myself, can we stop this maliciousness?

I truly wish I had an answer.

In the meantime, I hope every hacker making this country’s economy woes worse is caught and prosecuted to the fullest degree possible. We need to let them know their pranks are criminal acts that are costing people their jobs and business to fail.

And my blood pressure to rise.

Read Full Post »

Mountain Joy and Computer Sand Woes

Posted in Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on June 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 “Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” – Robert Service

The sun was shining brightly over Lake Walcott when my computer crashed. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

It was sunny and bright, after a morning of light rain, at Lake Walcott State Park, when my new computer crashed Monday.

My choices to fix it was to drive 160 miles to Ogden, Utah, where I had bought the computer at Best Buy, or 45 miles to Twin Falls, Idaho, to the closest Best Buy. I chose the former because of having a place to park my RV in Ogden and because it was an opportunity to visit friends.

I packed up my RV and left immediately. Maggie, as always, was tickled to be on the road again, and soon was contentedly snoozing in the co-pilot seat. I was also happy to once again be going down the road.

The drive from Southern Idaho to Ogden on Highway 84 is a pleasant drive on a four-lane divided highway over a mountain pass with minimal traffic. The best part of the journey for me is coming back into sight of the majestic Wasatch Mountains that were my home for 25 years.

It took longer than usual, however, to see them. About 50 miles into my drive, Mother Nature decided to weep Mississippi tears.

Anyone ever caught in a Deep South downpour knows what I’m talking about. The rain comes down so hard that one can’t see more than 10 feet ahead – if that. Windshield wipers can’t keep up and are almost useless.

All one can do if caught on a highway driving in such a downpour, as I was, is to try desperately to stay on the road and keep driving. To stop is to risk being hit from behind. I truly think I drove through the hardest rainstorm I had every experienced  in Utah.

The sight of the Wasatch Mountains finally breaking through the storm briefly made me forget my computer woes. -- Photo by Pat Bean

It wasn’t until I hit Brigham Cit, just north of Ogden, that the rain lifted enough for me to enjoy the view. It,  as alway, filled my heart with joy.  I’ve seen many mountains in my lifetime, but none that touch my soul like these western peaks of the Rockies that stretch from Idaho to Central Utah.

Just to be able to drink in their beauty once again made me almost forget my reason for seeing them.

But tomorrow, when I would spend the day confronting Best Buy and HP geeks and management before getting my computer problem solved, I would remember.

 It was my day to have sand in my shoe.

Read Full Post »

A Flower for a Computer-Troubled Mind

Posted in Nature, tagged , , , on June 14, 2011| 1 Comment »

“Earth laughs in flowers.” —  Ralph Waldo Emerson

I needed laughter today to calm my computer-troubled mine. I’m working on an old one that’s as squirrely as a jumping bean in a hot hand, and slow as an injured snail trying to climb a hill.

So here’s a flower to make you smile, and keep me sane, from my friend, Kim’s, yard. I’m here at her house in Ogden because that’s where I needed to come to get my brand new computer, that won’t boot up, fixed. Wish me luck.

A red tulip. -- Photo by Pat Bean

If you’ve never been thrilled to the edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom,  maybe your soul has never been in bloom. — Terri Guillemets

Read Full Post »

Snake Adds Element of Surprise to Daily Walk

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on June 12, 2011| 3 Comments »

Nature's surprises aren't always as beneign as a bull snake. I gave this Brazos Bend Texas State Park alligator sleeping beside the trail I was walking a wide berth. Photo by Pat Bean

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.” Ashley Montaqu

Bull snake -- Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Travels With Maggie

Maggie and I, out for one of our daily walks here at Lake Walcott State Park yesterday, weren’t looking where we put our feet as we rounded a curve that took us back into the campground.

I was watching a red-winged blackbird, admiring the contrast of scarlet epaulets against black feathers, and Maggie was keeping her eye on a dog sitting beside a nearby RV.

I’m not sure what caused me to look down, but one more step would have put my foot on the top of a long snake that had evidently been sunning itself on the paved trail.

I jerked Maggie back and let out a yelp, followed by the words “a snake!” I wasn’t afraid, just surprised, and loud enough to alert nearby campers who all came rushing over to see it for themselves.

The snake, in the meantime, was slithering as fast as it could toward a scattering of rocks beside the trail. All the onlookers got to see was the end of its six-foot ropey body as it eased itself out of view.

It was a bull snake, which isn’t poisonous, and I suggested that everyone just leave it alone. I hope they did, because bull snakes eat small rodents, the kind that twice have found their way into my RV.

Up until the snake surprised us, my walk with Maggie had a sameness about it. The snake gave it the exclamation point that set it apart. While the red-winged blackbird was a joy to behold, the more rarely observed, although not as pretty, snake made the walk more memorable.

Read Full Post »

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mornings

Posted in Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , on June 11, 2011| 1 Comment »

“The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn’t, matters not a jot.  The possibility is always there.” ~Monica Baldwin

This morning's sunrise at Lake Walcott State Park. I'm a morning person, and catching a sunrise is the best start I can give my day. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

 
 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Jack Kerouac: His Writing Perplexes Me

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

A yellow-headed blackbird seen on my morning walk with Maggie makes me go "Awww!" -- Photo by Pat Bean

 “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the muddle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’” – Jack Kerouac

Travels With Maggie

Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” is listed in almost every version of the 100 Best Travel Books. And on all of the various lists I’ve come across in recent years, I’ve read well over 50 percent of the selections.

But I haven’t read “On the Road.” That is I’ve never finished it. I’ve started the book several times but have never gotten beyond a few pages before laying it down and forgetting about it.

While there are quite a few of Kerouac’s quotes in my journal, such as the one above that I absolutely love, I can’t connect with this author like I do with say Tim Cahill, who has me rolling on the floor with laughter, or Charles Kuralt, whom I consider my travel soul mate, or John Steinbeck, whose down to earth writing draws me into his circle, especially since he writes about traveling with his poodle, Charley, and I write about traveling with my cocker spaniel, Maggie.

But I don’t, except for an occasional quote, get Jack. I keep thinking I will if I just read more than a few pages of “On the Road.”

Perhaps one day I will. Perhaps I’ll even find that copy of his book I bought a few years back to give it a fifth or sixth try. It was at least the third copy of “On the Road” that I’ve bought over the years, and I honestly have no idea where it is now.

And a patch of colorful pansies lights up my eyes as well as a fireworks display. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I recently read a book in which needful books kept turning up magically for one of the characters. I wonder what it means when books disappear. Or how come I can’t get into a book that so many other people think is a great classic.

Perplexing questions to which I have no answer. But I do love Kerouac’s above quote. It’s a whole book in itself.

Read Full Post »

Morning Walks Are For The Birds

Posted in Birds, Lakes, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on June 8, 2011| 1 Comment »

            “If you feel the urge, don’t be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think wild geese are for anyway? – Will Rogers

This killdeer is acting more like the plover shorebird it is, than all the others I've seen here at Lake Walcott. The many others I've seen have all been in the grass away from the water. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

            My morning stroll this morning was punctuated with killdeer along every path. Although a shorebird, the killdeer is more often than not found in grassy areas, where it builds its nest and raises its chicks. Whenever trespassers enter the nesting zone the killdeer, both male and female, will attempt to lure you away.

            They do so by walking on the ground, often holding out one wing as if broken, until you are a goodly distance away from their nest or chicks. Then they’ll fly out of harm’s way.

             A pair Maggie and I came across this morning stayed barely six feet ahead of us, screeching as they hurried along to make sure they had our attention.

These young Canada geese are looking more and more like their adult parents every day. -- Photo by Pat Bean

            I once found a nest of killdeer chicks by ignoring the adults, who hopped away in different directions, by looking where they didn’t want me to look. I didn’t stick around long watching the long-legged bits of fluff, however. The parents’ wails quickly pierced my heart, and after only a couple of minutes I left the family in peace.

            I haven’t seen any killdeer chicks here at Lake Walcott yet, but I have been watching a pair of Canada geese with two chicks. They were already past the frothy yellow fuzz stage when I arrived mid-May, and are quickly taking on a more adult appearance.

This morning I found the family just off shore, where they felt safe enough to not swim away immediately. Thankfully I hadn’t forgotten my camera.

Read Full Post »

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night …

Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on June 7, 2011| 4 Comments »

“For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.” – George Gissing

The late afternoon rain at Lake Walcott was merely Mother Nature's preamble for the night ahead. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Travels With Maggie

Mother Nature threw a hissy fit last night.

She began the day with ominous clouds playing with the sun, blew up gusts of wind about midday that tumbled my bike and lawn chair about, then drizzled a little rain in the late afternoon here at Lake Walcott State Park in Southern Idaho.

All was merely a preamble to the thunderous symphony she had in store as night fell over the park’s lush green landscape.

Her daytime mood hardly bothered the birds at all. Brown-headed cowbirds, black-headed grosbeaks, house finches, house sparrows, mourning doves, robins, killdeer, starlings, and one northern flicker continued to eat my birdseed or flit about just outside my RV window.

But hopefully they were tucked away some place safe when Mother Nature discarded her lamb’s persona for a hungry lion’s roar.

The rain pelting on the roof of my wind-rocked RV sounded like Thor was frantically beating overhead with his hammer. The trees around me, spotlighted by lightning flashes, swayed deeply to the frenzied beat of surround-sound thunder that came in rolls.

This black-headed grosbeak is a regular visitor to my campground site. -- Photo by Pat Bean

My canine traveling companion, Maggie, is not one to be afraid of storms, but for this one she decided she wanted to curl up next to me on the couch where I was reading “A Sense of the World” by Jason Roberts. It’s the true story of James Holman, who despite being blind became one of the world’s greatest travelers during the early 1800s.

Its seemed an appropriate book for me to be reading during the storm, although I did more watching the disharmonious, strobe-flashed world out my window than I did absorbing the words on the page of my Kindle.

The sightless Holman, who used all his remaining senses to experience the world, would have loved this storm.

And so did I.

Read Full Post »

In Africa, or Kansas, Life Can Be Unfair

Posted in Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , on June 6, 2011| 2 Comments »

 “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life … We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll.

Life is good for this impala as long as he escapes being eaten. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Journeys

Life is full of pitfalls, and life is not fair.

I think I always knew about the booby traps, but my Pollyanna-brain took much longer to absorb the unfairness.

While I still believe that working hard is the way to fulfill one’s dreams, I now have learned to accept that we can’t always make our dreams come true – or always win an unfair lawsuit filed against us.

Life throws wicked curve balls at all of us.

Perhaps, after saving up for years to buy the home of one’s dreams, the spectacular lake view is obscured when a two-story residential development moves in next door.

Or a beloved child is killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Or one’s career as a dancer is ended by a serious injury.

This lion has no fear of the impala he wants for dinner, but somewhere another male lion might be wanting to take him on. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Or, as has become common these days, one loses their job and can’t find another that pays half as well.

Rare, if not non-existent, is the person who’s made it to my old-broad age who hasn’t suffered some tragedy in their lives.

The wise among us grieve, and then move on the best we can.

My 2007 African safari reinforced this hard rule imposed on all by Mother Nature.

Life is not fair, but it still can be good

Read Full Post »

Weekly Photo Challenge: Clouds

Posted in Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , , , on June 3, 2011| 9 Comments »

“At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor, here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds. I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this: to glorify things just because they are.” – Czeslaw Milosz

 

There could be no better place than Canyonlands National Park's Island in the Sky for cloud watching. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I love taking landscape photos with my Canon digital  pocket camera And I find that sometimes the focus of my photos have more to do with the clouds above than the land below. Here are two photos, taken during visit to Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, Island in the Sky that fit this category. Wouldn’t you agree. 

 

A sky full of clouds above Whale Rock in Canyonlands National Park. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 “Nature is a mutable cloud that is always and never the same.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »