Squirrelly Truck

Steve's truck was not working. Steve was not happy. When he opened the hood, he found that he had a philosophical disagreement with a squirrel. The squirrel believed that the dry, warm protected compartment under the hood was an excellent place for a cozy little nest. Steve believed that the truck was a method of transportation and the engine was to be used for moving the truck, not housing squirrels.

The squirrel also thought that eating wiring was a good part of a nutritious rodent diet.

The squirrel did not survive the experience.

Photo by Steve

Antique Jeep

Here's a fine example of one of the old Jeep Wagoneers. In production from 1963 to 1991, it was the first luxury 4x4 and the second to the last vehicle produced with a carburetor rather than fuel injection (source: Wikipedia). These sturdy behemoths are still out there, still running. The owners look to be people that are primarily into hunting, fishing, camping, or in this case, politics.

Sheepish Love

It may be an inantimate object, this blanket/throw with the little sheep head, but that doesn't mean it can't show it's love to Zachy by giving him a big sheep hug.

Old Homestead

We found a geocache site in Monkey Mountain Park and I told Andrea that it was the site of an old house, probably with a barn. The fields were cleared on top of the hill just to the north, an old stone road went right in front of it, and there was a clearing with large trees around it, all markers of an old house.

This man came up behind us when we were searching the site and told us that there used to be a cabin there. He was more concerned with warning us about snakes than telling us about the old cabin. It was probably from back before even his time.

Foggy Bale Field

We were geocaching in Monkey Mountain park and found this cool view of native wildflowers and large round haybales in the fog.

Cabin in the rocks

This old hollow between rock slabs used to have a little cabin in it. This is a natural opening in the rock that was used as a fireplace with chimney. You could see the foundations at either end of the opening where end walls were installed, and the footers up on the rock where the roof was supported. This is a very strange place for a little cabin.

Making Beetles

I love the Black Eyed Susans, and apparently, so do these little orange beetles. I stood by and sang "I'm in the mood for love" to them.

Garden Spider in morning dew

This is by far the best Gardener Spider web in morning dew I've ever seen.

Heron over Water

I love the way a bird with a 6' wingspan can fly along just a few inches above the water. I don't remember having so many Blue Herons around when I was a kid, but they sure are beautiful birds.

Too Cute

Here's some more gratuitous pictures of baby Zach and his most excellent cuteness.

Family Portrait

Here are some pictures of Zach looking cute with his Mommy and Grandparents.

Confirmation

We got Zach a spiffy little outfit for his confirmation. He's looking divine.

Getting in Character

Andrea got Zach's costume for Halloween.

Z is for Zach and Zebra. Coincidence? I think not.

He really looks like a Zebra when he's crawling on all fours.

Eddy thinks he looks like a tiger, or some other kind of cat.

Standing Up

Here's Zach, working to pull himself up, and eventually succeeding!

Decked Out

Here's the latest pics of Zachary in his various hiking and travelling gear.

Bird on a Spillway

I love the way that this Great Blue Heron looks like standing by itself on the spillway of Lake Blue Springs.

Heather

I found these really lush bushes along the Lake View trail below the Lake Jacomo.

For some reason, I think of them as Heather. Now, I'm not too sure. It might be Virginia Lespedeza or a breed of Aster. My research to find out what it was is inconclusive.

Foggy Days

With so much rain this summer, there was inevitably some fog.

Summer fog is different than spring or fall fog. Usually, you're used to it being kind of chilly, which is actually what brings out the fog. It's much stranger for it to be so humid that it's pretty warm and foggy.

It wasn't a thick fog, just something to dampen the mood.

Slugs Crawdads and frogs

I've being seeing a lot of small animals on the trails I've been hiking lately.

I took a long walk in Legacy Park one night right after it rained and right before sunset. The first think I saw was a lot of slugs on the trail. You would have thought it was a great slug migration, or expected to see tiny cowboys herding them along. Later on the trail, in a place where the water was draining out of the field in a steady sheet over the path, there were lots of crawdads on the trail. It was getting darker, so I couldn't see so well, and I bent over to get a closer look. The little crawdad, whose body wasn't quite as big as my thumb, raised both its claws valiantly and tried to face me down. I imagined it saying "Back off! I'm small, but I'm scrappy!"

We found a spot next to an old parking lot that had a hickory tree leaning over it. It had dropped all the nuts on the old pavement, and various squirrels, deer, and other hungry varmits had been having a hickory nut feast. It looked the the remains of a wild party.

Besides the slugs and crawdads, I've seen a lot of snakes, snails, turkey, deer, herons, geese, and tons of spiders. I saw a wasp dragging a dead spider off to its nest, the spider was too big for the wasp to pick up. Of the snakes, I've seen a dead copperhead, a ringneck, a king snake, a bull snake, a king snake, and a garter snake. Not seen, but recently smelled: skunks. While I normally welcome whatever animals I see, I am glad to miss Pepe Le Phew.

The Old Shelter

I found an abandoned park site out at Lake Blue Springs, right off of the northwest corner of the Lake View Trail.

Always out at Lake Jacomo, and now out at Lake Blue Springs, they have called the various park sites "shelter houses". These are the little areas where they put some kind of open structure with a roof filled with benches or tables. Sometimes they have a fire pit, but usually just charcoal grills. I'm not sure if people everywhere call them shelter houses. They are nice places the park provides that you can reserve for large gatherings where people get together and cook and eat.

This location was about 50 yards off a trail that had been redeveloped about 3 years ago. It looks like the bathrooms have been overgrown and unused for much longer than that. There was no actual shelter house, just a parking lot and a cleared area. There must have had some kind of shelter structure years ago, but it's gone now.

I love recent archeology. Places that are still partly intact, but rapidly going back to nature.

Brown-Eyed Susan

I always recognized the flower called Black-Eyed Susan along the roadside. They grow thick in a field 2 minutes north of our office, and they are very distinctive.

I've never noticed it's little cousin, the Brown-Eyed Susan. I was surprised to see the flowers so small on a recent hike, so I looked it up on: www.missouriwildflowerguide.com and discovered that it is a separate and smaller species.

Ringneck

This is the Prairie Ring-necked Snake.

It is not poisonous, I should say it is not venomous. There are only 3 venomous snakes in Missouri: the cottonmouth, the copperhead, and the rattlesnake. I've never seen any venomous snakes the whole time I've lived here. People claim they see "copperheads" all the time, but around here, I think all snakes are labeled "copperheads" and most people are ignorant alarmists. That's probably not always right, even though I always assume it is.

I found a pretty good site for identifying them: http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake1.htm

Vulture on a Stick

You really have to wonder what kind of person would actually try the Vulture on a Stick if they served it at the local carnival or the State Fair.

I'm not sure why the vultures liked these short posts as perches. I saw them below the dam of Blue Springs Lake. It was raining, I'm not sure if that's related, but they would be able to see any coyote or other attacker from a long way off.