Cattle Pens

I've seen these pens on the Turnpike in Kansas for years, but never stopped until the trip down this last Easter.

I can see stopping to let your dog out to take a walk, but what is the deal with cows? Do they actually unload them into these chutes, or is this a place where cattle were driven from the fields to trucks?

It's not exactly Stonehenge, but it is a mystery to me.

Half Bunny, Half Boy

As Easter nears, you see all sorts of strange things.

Yeti Sighting!

Just when you start to believe all the naysayers that tell you there is no Yeti, you finally sight one! The Easter Bunny was hanging out with him, but ran away before I could get a picture. Mr. Yeti was riding a unicorn, but he's behind the trees.

Blurry Deer

Here's the first time I got out a tripod to take pictures of the deer across the street from work. They saw me setting up the tripod and taking the pictures and were staring at me intently. The one in the foreground was ignoring me and grazing around while I snapped the picture. You can see how he blurs as a result.

Jazz Cow vs. Crocuses

I hope the Jazz Cow doesn't eat the first Crocuses of Spring.

A Mule and his Barn are soon parted

This looks like something from a hundred years ago. You may have to click on the picture to make it larger to see the little girl at the edge of the picture behind the mule.

First Robin of Spring

While out Geocaching, we saw the first robin of spring. This was on 3/12.

Smudgie of Darkness

I can hear the Darth Vader theme music in the background when I look at this picture.

Good Day, Sunshine

Finally, a day with some sun to show off the hawk. I'm not sure if you can tell a female from a male, so I'm going to say this is the female.

Hawk Pair

Here's a picture of the hawks across the street from work. You may have to click on the picture to see the back of the hawk on the left as well as the silhouette of the hawk on the right.

Red Tailed Hawks lay eggs from March to May, and they take 28 days to hatch.

The ultimate outcome of the Hawk Watch would be some pictures in a month or two of baby hawks, so stay tuned!

Squirrely Bandito

This little guy was in the front yard, digging up nuts. By the time I got my camera and took this picture, the squirrel was running off with his booty. Does he, or does he not, look like he needs a little cape?

Mark Trail

Mark Trail has been a staple (some would say the keystone) on the comics pages for decades.

I am his biggest fan.

I'm not sure how this happens, but Mark's trials and tribulations somehow seem stupid or silly when you try to describe them to people. This does nothing to diminish his stature in my mind. The man is a giant. His attributes are a blend of The Lone Ranger, the Crocodile Hunter, and the Hardy Boys. Although one might think that dognapping or guys living in trailers making their money by poaching are rare problems, Mr. Trail shows us the serious underbelly of these issues.

While delivering the action packed yet insightful saga of Mark Trail from Monday through Saturday, my own paper has sadly stopped carrying the CapStone of the Mark Trail experience - the Sunday comic. Not only does the full color boost the Sunday comic into lifelike relief, the Marlin Perkins-esk character of animal kingdom education, along with the superposition of a calm Mark Trail has an impact that cannot be overstated.

While Mr. Trail soldiers on in timeless and ageless fashion, it remains to be seen what will happen with his useless doormat of a wife Candy, his closeted adoptive son, Rusty, his senile veterinarian father-in-law Doc, and his slack jawed goliath of a dog, Andy. Although surrounded by this gaggle of misfits, Mr. Trail's contribution to the world cannot be overlooked. Without his calm guidance in this era of climate change and mass extinctions, we would surely fall prey to worst in our own human natures. Who knows how much worse it would be without the watchful eyes of Mark Trail to guide us forward.

Thank you Mark Trail, and god bless you.

Spring Henge

Today was the first day of Spring.

We live on a curve, and one leg of the curve goes due West away from our house. This means that on the Equinox (the first day of Spring) the sun sets directly down the road.

In mid winter, it sets behind the trees on the left, and by the middle of summer, it sets behind a house to the right.

So for a couple of weeks, it sets right down the road, where we can see it. I always like these Equinox sunsets.

Spring Magic

When I was leaving for work this morning, a little earlier than I normally do, the sun was not yet up. The sky was lightening, though, and there was enough brightness in the sky that the pond (recently filled up by rains) reflected the sky nicely. I stopped and looked at it for a moment to enjoy the pretty sight, and something magical looking happened. There was obviously a deer running along the dam of the pond. You couldn't hear it (they are really silent!) and you couldn't see the deer directly, because the woods were dark. What I could see was the silouette of the deer, running along upside down in the reflection on the pond.

I froze and enjoyed the moment, it was over pretty quickly. I just had time to register what I saw and was forming the description and replay in my mind when it happened again. This time, I could really enjoy it. I'm not sure what spooked them into running, but it made them more noticeable and distinct in the reflection than walking would have.

When I got to work, my wife called me from the road. She was excited because on her drive in, there was a huge owl on a telephone wire right over the road. She said she could see his head swivelling around, looking this way and that. You think of owls as pretty shy. It's a rare treat to see one from the road.

Skunked

This must be the mating season for skunks. OK, wikipedia confirms it.

I've never seen so many hit by cars before. I've seen 3 or 4 every time I drive somewhere in the last week.

They must be horrible at dodging cars.

I know deer get distracted when they are mating and get hit by cars more often, but I've never noticed this same thing happening to deer before.

It's funny. For some reason (perhaps Pepé Le Pew cartoons) we are taught that we are supposed to be afraid of or avoid skunks. The skunk has only one major problem, and that's it's smell. Don't get too close or scare it, and you won't have to deal with that issue. I suppose they also have rabies a lot, which is a major concern, too.

It's too bad, they really are pretty animals. As far as road kill goes, it's some of the nicer looking pelts you'll see. Too bad about the stink, that black & white stripe pattern would make a nice coat. I guess I hate to see any animal killed by a car, it seems like such a waste and so needlessly cruel.

Plus, who enjoys driving through the skunk smell. Not good.

Hawk's Nest

Sharon has been watching a breeding pair of hawks from her desk. She can see the nest they are building across the street.

We've been watching the nest and can sometimes see the hawks working on the nest or sitting in a branch nearby. It's definitely a breeding pair, so maybe we will be able to see the babies.

I'm sure there will be more to follow.

Mango

We have a possum that knows when the outside cats are being fed. He shows up soon afterward. Possums and raccoons are voracious. They eat so much cat food, it's hard to believe.

So when this little guy showed up to eat the other night, I opened up the door to take away his food and was stopped in my tracks when I saw his face and shoulder.

I'm not sure what happened to this guy, but I've got a new name for him now.

Mango.

It's short for mangled. He has something wrong with his left eye, it looks like it might be blind and the hide around it has no fur in it, it's scraped clean as if it was shaved. He has another raw patch on his left shoulder, which for some reason reminds me of a healed burn scar.

I'm guessing he was hit by a car and survived.

I left the food for him. I figured he's been through enough rough stuff to need a few easy meals. This one's on me.

The First Frog of Spring

It got over 70° this weekend. We spent it hiking through the countryside, and ended up Sunday afternoon in a place called Monkey Mountain Park.

While looking for a place to cross a small creek, we spooked up this little guy.

The first frog of spring! Now that is one heck of a sign of spring.

On the way back to the car, we heard a little pond or stream that had several frogs croaking away.

That night it rained hard all night and we woke up to temperatures just above freezing. The next night, it was 15°.

The coming of spring is not a one way street.

Target Practice

I'm glad that the good whiskey swilling, gun toting woodsmen find this to be a threat. One less piece of galvanized metal to to menace us when we are trekking through the woods.

Isn't it ironic?

When the greenest thing in the winter is the coating of moss on a rock?

Notice the sunglass lens on the camera? Soon after this, it fell off, but we didn't notice it was gone until after we finished our hiking in the woods and went home. I backtracked an found it the next morning.

You won't catch moss growing on me.

Whiskey Tango

There is a bar in Grain Valley called Whiskey Tango. This is code for White Trash.

These people drink a lot, dance to loud country music, wear giant belt buckles, drive giant pickup trucks and perform strange mating rituals in the building shown.

You are welcome to join them. You can never have too many Whiskey Tangos.

Thorny Issues

We saw plenty of locust trees when we hiked around this weekend. I believe in tough love. These trees just have an image problem - they are misunderstood. I think they need a hug.

Bat Box

I always wanted to build a bat box. I read about it in a Missouri Department of conservation years ago. If you make some habitat for the bats, they may favor you with settling in your neighborhood. I have heard that the number of insects (particularly mosquitos!) that one bat can eat in a day is more than the bat weighs. Talk about an efficient and effective substitute to insect repellent and bug zappers.

There are cool plans at: http://free.woodworking-plans.org/bat-house-plans.html including the Missouri one. I will probably try it this summer.

Bats are endangered, so it probably doesn't hurt to give them a home. Most of the problems with bat population in Missouri are from people visiting caves and disturbing them. They get fat in the fall and survive on this fat through the winter, but if they fly around in the winter, they burn up their reserve and can die. I just heard that there is a virus attacking bats in upstate New York that may be like the one attacking and wiping out honeybees. They are very afraid that the bat populations may get decimated, too.

This is the first time I've ever seen one, at a park called Burr Oaks near here in Blue Springs. I wonder if they understand that it's ok to live there because it has the bat logo on it?

Litter Notice

I hate this poster.

It's hard to believe that trash can deform a turtle this much.

Funny little fungus

These fungi look like little fans on the side of this fallen tree. Notice that they have moss on them?

Crinoid Stems

I remember crinoid stems from when I was little.

These are fossils of a plant that comes in segments and looks like a little stack of disks.

We were told that the Indians used them as money, which I've never heard confirmed now that I'm older. I think it's just that they look like little stacks of coins.

We found this one during a winter walk in the woods.

Where's the Turtle

We found this turtle shell near Lake Jacomo last weekend. I can tell it's a box turtle by the shape and size.

I'm not sure why it turned white. I must have been bleached by the sun, but why doesn't a live turtle shell bleach out? The shell is made of a material called keratin that is like fingernails, hooves, and even hair.

The spine is visible inside the shell. It's fused to the top of the shell. You get a feeling that the turtle was really part of the shell.

I'm sure this one did not like coming out of his shell.

Lonesome Dove

I'm not sure if morning doves migrate or not. My brother has some in his neighborhood that I've noticed twice when I visited him. We have them near my office, but I only notice them there at certain times of the year.

They should call them mourning doves, they sound so mournful and sad. It's a strange lonesome sound, but at the same time comforting.

I know that they are in the pigeon family, which was a big surprise to me when I learned of it a couple of months ago.

This one was probably not so lonesome as he sounded. As I drove past, I noticed another one in a tree across the street, so I'm thinking this one was scouting out a little dovette to make beautiful music together.

Mystery slaughter

I saw car tracks and something that looked like a bloody in my favorite deer field across from my office. I kept thinking some hunter had finally spotted our growing magnificent inner city herd and had taken one out. This was out of season, in city limits, and on private property, so I wasn't happy with the prospect.

I went over at lunch today to investigate.

I did find a very old deer carcass, the kind that you could tell had probably died of natural causes and sat out to be picked over for a long time.

The mystery meat was indeed meat, but not at all what I expected. It appeared that someone had emptied out their freezer of old steaks and hamburger. What a strange and disgusting way to dispose of this stuff.

At least it wasn't one of my deer friends.

Turkey Crossing

Turkey is often used as a derogatory term. However, I think they might be a lot smarter than a racoon or a possum. Maybe. Maybe they are just more maneuverable.

This morning I got to watch a long line of Turkeys waltzing toward the road. There was morning traffic on the road, and I knew they wanted to cross, and they would most surely see some cars. I kept watching, wondering if I should interfere and thinking that I was about to see a turkey get hit by a car.

But turkeys don't get hit by cars. Have you ever thought about it before? You see racoons, possums, squirrels, deer, and an occasional rabbit, but I don't think I've ever seen a dead turkey at the side of a road.

The turkeys approached the road cautiously, alert and looking around and backing off when the cars came around. When the traffic stayed clear, they rushed across, just like we teach children.

So maybe they are a little smarter than the average furry mammal. I know they didn't hang around and play chicken with the drivers.

Three way

For the last few nights, we've had a face off at the cat food dish between our resident possum and a persistent racoon. While scary and fierce with their long teeth and their ferocious hissing, the possum is no match for the racoon. When you have tiny people paws, you just stand back and reach in and bring the food to you. The possum has to commit himself by leaning in. During the standoff, the racoon steadily polished off the food dish. After the racoon scarfed and ran, the possum played vacuum cleaner and sucked up all the loose kibbles that had dribbled out during the melee. Sort of like the tortoise and the hare.

The cats are curious about the standoff, but not terribly obsessed by it. After all, the wild critters can eat all they want, and the people will just open the food bin and poor out some more. There's no competition here, or danger of hunger.

Advertising Elephants

The whole Elephant theme from nearby Elephant Rock State Park was evident in the advertising of local businesses.

I know that when I think Elephants, I think of buying a good new car.

Drive, Doggie, Drive

How long before one of these sad and hopeful pups decides that the waiting has gone on long enough and drives themselves to the local dog park?

Elephant Rocks

Most people wait for nice weather to visit local parks. We visited Elephant Rocks on a snowy winter day, which turned out to be very intersting. Once you get over the cold and the snow, the view was very pretty.

I didn't know what to expect, I thought the park was all about rock formations. It was actually an active quarry up to the 1960s, so you get to see natural scenes, and jumbles of rocks left over from quarrying operations.

The crown jewel of the park are a line of huge boulders that are balanced on the top of a ridge. They tell you that the rocks look like elephants, but I kept thinking of mushrooms. We'll have to go back in the summer.

Mysterious Ornaments

I'm not sure why little iron birds stuck through the roof are a good idea. Is it a whimsical attempt to make you think there are birds on the roof? Why use a model that looks like the eagles on the tips of flag poles? Do they serve some useful purpose, like breaking up ice sheets and preventing them from falling off the roof all at once?

Did they freeze in place there, enchanted by some socerer that was irritated by their peeping? Are they there to scare something away? They are pretty small. Maybe they scare away worms or moths.

It will have to remain a delightful mystery.

Shiny Copper Spinner

When you stare at these with your eyeballs in real time, they seem to disappear, reappear, and shimmer. I thought that taking a stop-action picture of it would answer the mystery of how they work. No such luck. The mystery is only deepened.

Bear Dog Passing

We got to see the famous Bear Dog wandering away after his photo shoot. It's the closest to celebrity spotting we'll ever get.

Fairies?

What kind of strange creature are these? I would have said wood nymphs, but they are too civilized. Must be their cousin, the parlor fairy.

Road Kill Cafe

We finally found the perfect poster that captures the cullinary experience of Steve's kitchen.

Bugs Bunny goes to Marti Gras

I'm not sure why rabbits are better suited to display Marti Gras garb than a standard mannequin, maybe they had the rabbits ready for Easter and thought, what the heck, Rabbits like to party, too, right?

Dog Sitting

This family was in a store, getting some kind of canine family photo taken. I couldn't tell for sure whether the dog on the right was half bear or what.

Ray

We finally got to meet Ray, my brother's new Yellow Lab.

Sorry he's blurry. He was so happy that he couldn't sit still for 2 seconds.

He's not supposed to climb up on us like this, but you have to make allowances for excited happy dogs.

Woodlawn Farms

There is a pretty little farm just north of the Topeka exit of the Kansas Turnpike. I've always admired how orderly, pristine, and beautiful it is.

I imagine that a farm this perfect must have exotic imaginary creatures like giraffe lambs and hawk wolves that dance around to the sound of flute music from live swans. The cows probably give milkshakes and the chickens lay cadbury eggs. The Easter Bunny lives there and raises candy chicks and chocolate bunnies, while magic cowboys ride golden unicorns and the Budweiser clydesdales do special tricks with dalmations jumping back and forth from their backs while they run equine obstacle courses.

I haven't visited yet to confirm all this, because I can't find the mystical lane that leads to the silvery entrance gates.

Sun Pillar

A sun pillar is formed when high thin clouds containing falling ice crystals reflect the light from a sunrise into a perfect column.

This sun pillar was very pretty, but none of the pictures I took did it justice. It lasted about 20 or 30 minutes while I was driving, and it was beautiful the whole time.

Turkey Wash

It looks like the turkeys are miserable, but they must like swimming in freezing water when it's snowing out.

That's why they call them turkeys.

Climbers

You have to be an animal to like climbing up the side of a water tower.

Snuff Lake

It appears that the message here is if you feed the Geese, you'll sleep with the fishes.

Glide Path

We were watching geese and ducks land on a mostly frozen lake and I got an up close view of the final approach. It's amazing how quickly they slow down and come to a landing. It was like watching the planes land at O'Duck International Airport.

Reflective Waterfowl

I love the way the thin layer of water on top of the ice makes a mirror-like finish that the ducks and geese are reflected in.

They seem to like to sleep with their beaks tucked under their wing, just right on the wet ice. I always wonder how their feet don't freeze.

Goodbye Longhorns

We love the cows across the street from where I work. From the days that there was still a small barn and goats in the field next to the cows' field, through the days when there was a wildflower meadow next to us (before the Seese Machine shop went up) we have been fortunate to work in an office that is on the boundry between city and countryside.

Nick often remarks on seeing hawks flying, and if you drive north down the road, there are still horses in the field to the left, cows to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you....

Sharon announced an ominous discovery yesterday. The property that the cows are on is for sale. Big signs just went up. I'm guessing that within a year or two, we'll be looking at the back of a building and a big parking lot, and the two lines of trees will be knocked down so they can plant a row of twig trees in the 3' wide strip of grass that is at the far edge of the parking lot. I'm so proud of the way we pave over everything. Isn't progress excellent?

For some reason, this little house up on Douglas (the next street over) still has a little barn and runs cattle in the field behind them. Not just any cattle, some pretty mottled longhorns of various pretty shades of brown. These cows are fun. We often see them playing in the field, romping around in big loping strides, head and tail bouncing high like a 1000 pound seesaw. They chase each other and do little cow dances, twirling around and looking like they are chasing their tail.

I guess we'll trade that in for another faceless office building that will no doubt enhance the quality of life in our city to a degree we cannot even imagine.