"A tragic situation exists..."

                                               Eastern Glass Lizard- dead in the road

beautiful legless lizard which looks like it has green metal flakes under the skin

a good reason to drive with care when going down the country roads

"A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph
but when it is still felt that man is nobler than the forces which destroy him."
                                                                               George Orwell

seems that the fox in the last post was probably not a kit fox but a swift fox
I believe the distinguishing marks is the stripe on the tail
always get a second opinion as some things you read are wrong
I once read a story in the newspaper about how armadillos lay eggs!
I have recently read about the "San Joaquin" fox which is endangered.
Haven't seen one yet.

Isabella Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll

"There should be no forced respect for grown-ups..."

       
                                               miss armadillo digging her holes

                                               mr fox gets a drink of water

the armadillo video was taken at night in the Atchafalaya basin.
There were several large holes that had been excavated by this
armadillo in a couple of spots. Perhaps in the same way that
a bird carrying sticks to make a nest causes changes in the bird
which facilitates them laying eggs and nesting this hole digging
activity in the armadillo may cause the animal to begin her rearing
of young. I believe they have delayed implantation also.

The fox video was taken in the desert near the Imperial Dunes in
California. The nearest surface water was several miles away.
Sometimes they would come at night and drink for a full minute.
This animal may have have been at this site several times this night,

"There are living systems, there is no living matter."  Jacques Lucian Monod (bio-chemist)


"There should be no forced respect for grown-ups.
We cannot prevent children from thinking us fools by
merely forbidding them to utter their thoughts; in fact
they are more likely to think ill of us if they dare not say so."
                                                         William James

Harry Callahan inspector #2211

                   

"In the name of the bee..."

                                                        live oak tree=habitat

                                                           Carolina wren

                                                        red-bellied wood-pecker

                                                            grey squirrel

                                                       some sort of fly creature



after spending 4 days at this little grove of  live oak trees
on the banks of the west pearl river
I was rewarded with the company every day of these animals
the oaks, the spanish moss, the resurrection fern and the lichens
are the animals grocery store
and every day they would arrive and go from tree to tree
poking around for bugs and caterpillars and various other
groceries
the live oak trees live for hundreds of years and the wood is too
hard to use for most construction so there are still some very
old trees....but some of the trees became prized for their
very tough and hard wood and they were sought out and
harvested for ship building

"In the name of the bee
And the butterfly
And the Breeze- Amen!"   Emily Dickenson

and when I start to get too hot
I think of captain Oates
"I am just going outside,I may be sometime."

"If this life be not a real fight..."

                                          baby gator
                                          young cottonmouth snake
                                          ruby-throated hummingbird



was driving down the road
in the Atchafalaya basin last week and spotted this
2 foot gator in the road
then 50 yards further down the road
there was this young cottonmouth snake
I try to pay attention so as not to drive over these
animals in the road because I always see a few
dead ones that have been crushed
 the hummingbird apparently is more acrobatic
than I would have thought
I was sitting by the feeder when this one came for
the nectar and I did not know what I had for a picture
 until I looked at the image on the camera
always a surprise with these fast birds

as some people may know I spent some time around camels
the one humped kind
I had an experience which somewhat changed my view of life

I was leaning up against the loading platform of the camel ride
my head hurt because I had too much to drink the night before
as usual
and I heard someone behind me laughing
so I turned around and a young girl was walking up the steps
saying she wanted to feel the camels hump
sure I said and I had Omar the camel lean up against
the platform so she could feel the hump
then I noticed that where her eyes should have been
there were two empty sockets
I was flabbergasted
here I was in pretty good physical shape and moaning
about my problems
while she was laughing and without sight
I have thought about all of the tactile experiences
I had by being able to pet the zoo animals
over a 15 year zoo experience and thought how wonderful
it would be for the visually impaired to experience
touching a rhino or a bison or even a peacock not to mention
all the other animals
animals die in the zoos every day
it just happens
if someone could pay to have all of these animals
professionally mounted so that there could be a zoo
for the visually impaired it might change a persons
life like that little girls laughter changed mine
just a thought

anyhow now that I am 33 years without using
alcohol I can see how fortunate my life has been
to have had such good animal friends
and even the dead ones could be put to further use

"If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally
gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game
of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will."
                                                           William James


Vladimir Ussachevsky

"Life is hardly respectable..."

                                            tree frog on the ground-Atchafalaya Basin


heard some bad news on the radio
suicide biggest killer of young people
what a dumb idea
a lot of folks dead themselves due to
having a poor thinking day
drugs can do that to your brain
this is an idea from a fellow who was
around a lot of drugs and a lot of lost people

"Here's the way I feel that these drugs affected us.
They cut off our periphery time sense, so here we
just were, floating. Our minds were scattered.We
weren't worrying about where we were going or
where we had been. After a length of time of this,
we wanted to go somewhere. We saw that there is a
light ahead; there are things to be done, in each
community and in each heart. So we started trying
to make it towards this light, but we could not steer
the boat. We had turned loose the tiller, the boat was
awash in the sea. When you're lost in superstition and
dope, you're lost. A lot of people were."  Ken Kesey

now I do not want to put down other peoples entertainment
but so that people know
there are no super heros
no spider man or super woman
Harry Potter can not do magic
game of thrones is a bad example of
a world
in fact
and facts make for good companions
much better than magicians and sorcerers
i think one of the reasons young people give
up on life is that they never get a good grip
on the real world
too much superstition

there are things to do which are
interesting and will help you and
others- you have to find out what they are
there is a fellow who wrote a good book
about his experiences in 4 concentration camps
Victor Frankel "Mans Search For Meaning"
he had a system of thought he called
Logo-therapy
he had a chance to see if it was workable
when he was in 4 concentration camps
his idea was that people have to have goals
to give meaning to their lives
I like to observe nature and try to help
out with picking up some garbage
it is not much but it helps me and nature

"Life is hardly respectable if it has no generous task,
no duties or affections that constitute a necessity of
existence. Every persons task is their life preserver."
                                                        Ralph Waldo Emerson

Herbert B. Khaury

"When any calamity has been suffered..."

                                    victim of rising water on the Atchafalaya river?


went to the levee and drove south
this morning...
past bayou Sorrel
past bayou Pigeon
and observed high water everywhere
on the bayous
in the roads
inside some of the houses
not much has changed
most of the cows were happily munching
grass high on the lush levee
this bull was ....
a little bull headed I suppose
but a rescue was not needed
it was the gnats that were the real problem.

"When any calamity has been suffered,
the first thing to be remembered is how
 much has been escaped."  Samuel Johnson

Harry Partch

"Ignorance, when voluntary is criminal..."+

                                                      happy greeter at the boat launch this morning




wrote a blog last week about climate change etc.
it may have sounded negative

listening to one of my "Big Science" CD's and the
lecturer was on the subject of what makes humans
different from most other life on the planet
ADAPTABILITY
this is why people have inhabited every environmental
niche on the planet
and the human species will adapt to the changes now taking
place on this earth
not to fret!
and do not be discouraging to others
your hope will give hope to others

ONE OF MY FAVORITE POEMS EVER...

Say not the Struggle nought Availeth

BY ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH

Say not the struggle nought availeth, 

     The labour and the wounds are vain, 

The enemy faints not, nor faileth, 

     And as things have been they remain. 

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars; 

     It may be, in yon smoke concealed, 

Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,

     And, but for you, possess the field. 

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking 

     Seem here no painful inch to gain, 

Far back through creeks and inlets making, 

     Comes silent, flooding in, the main. 

And not by eastern windows only, 

     When daylight comes, comes in the light, 

In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, 

     But westward, look, the land is bright.

"Ignorance, when voluntary, is criminal,

and a person may properly be charged with

that evil which they neglected or refused to

learn how to prevent."  Samuel Johnson

Tycho Brahe's nose