The nightly herd

Across the street from our office is a field and some trees. There are large round hay bales in the field. This time of year, the sun is setting behind our office each day around the time that we are leaving. This makes a nice reddish golden glow on the trees, field, and bales.

Each evening this week, there has been a herd of deer in the field. They look really good in the glowing sunset light. Three nights ago, I saw a group of 4 right across the road from where our parking lot exits onto the road, and a large group of 8 down the road a short while. Last night, the large group was in the field directly across the road and I stopped to take some pictures of them.

The light level is so low that the camera gets that little hand symbol in it meaning that it will take a picture, but if you move at all, the picture is blurred. So I took about 20 pictures and this was the best one. I put it on maximum zoom, which makes it even worse as far as being blurry.

By the naked eye, I did not notice that this deer was a buck until the first clear picture of him came out. Then I started following him around until I got a good picture. The rest of the herd had some young deer in it, and they were playing the deer equivalent of tag, darting around and coming back and nipping another little yearling, then doing it again.

The buck kept looking at me. They were aware of the traffic going past on the road behind me, but did not do much unless they heard a noise. Even then, the noises didn't spook them, but just made them look closely.

The herd kept moving, and eventually I decided to go home. Maybe I'll bring a tripod and see if I can get a really awesome picture or two.

Close Encounter

This owl was in a tree only 30' away. I noticed it suddenly, after walking past the tree it was in while talking loudly.

It sat politely for us to take some pictures and admire it, and flew away only after we turned to walk away.

Then a pair of deers stood politely 30' away and let us look at them without being spooked.

There must have been something in the air.

Spider case

Winter does not kill spiders, they just get in their wooley blankets and sleep through the cold. I think I woke up a little one there in the foreground.

The Travel Bug

This bug doesn't crawl, but he travels everywhere.

Winter Fungus Find

I don't know what I expected, but finding this dinner plate sized fungus in the middle of the winter wasn't it.

Going Geocaching

It's a perfect bright sunny day for geocaching.

The Ice Storm

I took a trip to southeast Kansas Friday. As I got close to Pittsburg, I could tell that a monster ice storm had struck. The trees were stripped for almost 30 miles. Crews were still out 2 months after the storm.

It's just nature's way of pruning the trees.

Winter Horses at Sunrise

There is something majestic about horses in a field, and with a beautiful sunrise behind, it's hard to beat.

Frozen World

Can you imagine being a fish in the winter? What is it like to have the ceiling of your world turn solid? What do they eat under the ice? How do they handle the cold.

In one way, it's like they are secure under their blanket. It certainly is a beautiful view from above from us air breathers.

Bird Washing

I found myself bird watching some bird washing yesterday.

I was outside a plant, waiting to go inside, and noticed a nearby puddle was a hotbed of activity.

It was nice yesterday for a winter day, almost 60°. The birds were flying in and out and really reveling in their little bath ritual.

Have you ever watched how it works? They dip headfirst in the water and scoop up some water with their head and shoulders, then they raise their head, making the water spill down their backs while they vibrate their wings this certain way that makes the water cascade over all the surfaces of the wing and torso.

They really seem to enjoy it, too. The only thing that makes them stop is the crowding and distraction from other birds. The water was very cool, I'm sure, probably from snowmelt rather than rain. It was also probably very clean, right there in a yard with mowed grass right up to the puddle's edge.

After I went inside and came back out, there were several Canadian Geese around the puddle. You don't see them washing themselves off unless they are swimming in a lake. Puddles are a bit beneath their dignity.

Red Fox

Andrea has seen a red fox twice in our backyard. I've seen one back there maybe twice in all the years I've been here. She saw it twice in one week. We'll have to get a good pic of it if we can. This pic is from the web.

Wikipedia calls them a "catlike canid" meaning that they are in the same family as dogs and wolves, but they look more like a cat. They can't bear their teeth, apparently. The article says they are common, but we are at the southern boundry of their range. There is some debate as to whether they are native to North America or were brought here, but they are all over Eurasia. They were introduced into Australia, but that is not a good thing, apparently. They think the foxes are resonsible for the extinction of 10 native species.

All I know for sure is that they are beautiful creatures. I hope to see one, and I hope we can get a good picture of them. Figuring out where their den is and seeing some pups would be too much to ask.

Animal Tracks

I love it when it snows and you can go out and follow the animal paths. I've tracked down where the kittens go when they run off, as well as what's going on next door.

I bought a book a long time ago called Animal Tracks and it has always interested me. This guy shows you how to identify the animals and some of their activities by their tracks (and their scat as well).

You can see where people have come and visited and looked around next door, but the really interesting thing is all the turkey tracks. You can tell that these wild birds are really acting domesticated. They walk down sidewalks, hang around by the pool out back, and scratch up huge areas under the oak trees to get at the acorns.

There are also a lot of deer tracks, but I haven't spent as much time as I'd like to find out if there's anything different or unique.

Snow is the only way a tracking novice can compete with the real professional trackers, or an Indian.

Possum in the Path

We went nighttime geocaching for the first time the night before last.

This is where people hide containers, mark the coordinates, post the location online, and let people try to find it.

This one was in Fleming Park, near our home and was supposedly marked by little reflectors. We found the reflectors and started down the trail.

This is a path that used to be a road before Lake Jacomo was built (I guess they build the dam and the lake fills itself, but you know what I mean). I used to go out there years ago and could still see the centerline stripes in the road on the cracked but in tact pavement.

This time was different. Armed with bright Maglites (the 4 D cell sized variety) we went into the darkened woods. It was the last warm day, 65° at sunset with the promise that the next day temperatures would plunge. We had a very cold streak and snow for the weeks preceding our little walk, and the warm temperatures turned the ground into a mush the consistency of oatmeal.

Walking down the path, the little artificial reflectors weren't the only thing that shined in our flashlights. A possum was walking toward us with bright shiny green eyes. We closed to within 25' before the distracted little creature figured out we were there. This is only after Andrea said something like "Hey little possum!" I wonder why the bright light in the darkness didn't clue the animal in before that point. He finally turned tail (effectively disappearing in plain sight without those shiny eyes) and moved quickly into the undergrowth.

We found the cache, after much tramping through the mud. It brought back memories of the times I would tramp around in the woods in the Army, as well as the days almost 15 years ago when I first started exploring those paths in the woods.

Minke Whale in the Amazon

There was a Minke Whale found in early November almost 1000 miles inland in Brazil, up the Amazon. It was 12 tons, 18 feet long.

They are not sure why it got lost and disoriented, but people tried to help it return to the ocean. Their efforts failed, and the whale ended up dying 800 miles from the ocean a week after it was spotted.

No one is sure why the whale went so far up river, but they did mention that they thought it was a youngster.

Oh deer!

We found two deer carcasses, pretty much picked clean while we were out in Blue & Gray park this weekend. Some hungry coyotes must have had a good meal!

Wild Bees

I have always loved bees. Ever since I saw my first plastic hive in a Nickersons or Smuckeys restaurant as a kid, I've been fascinated. These restaurants near highways and interstates would put a hive in a big plastic enclosure inside the store with a hole to the outside world. The bees didn't seem to mind, and you got to look at them through the plastic, doing their incomprehensible bee things.

I heard that the bees just live through the winter, but I always wondered how that worked. This last weekend, I got to see it first hand.

We were looking for some hidden treasure in the woods (a geocache) and we thought it was in a hollow in a tree. So when Andrea looked inside, she saw that there was a beehive in there. I could have reached in with a finger and touched any of the bees. It was really cold out, too. You always hear that insects cannot survive the winter outside, but you always wonder where they go. Here's one example.

Bees are seriously endangered right now. A few years ago, they were attacked by mites called vampire mites that were killing them off at a horrible rate. More recently, they are being wiped out by a virus. They call the condition chronic wasting or hive collapse syndrome. Bees are very important to the world, they pollinate plants and help keep crops growing and producing. There are other insects that pollinate, too, but the honey bee is the only insect that will pollinate any plant. Their lose would be irreplacable.

Pet Heaven

I listened to a podcast of a touching story about a man than uses his pet border collie to help hospice patients. These are people with cancer or other diseases that are not expected to live. Jon Katz is the owner, and he tells about some of the ways that Izzy makes the people feel better for a little while.

The story is at http://www.slate.com/id/2180065/ if you want to read it. It's better in podcast form, with the guy reading it to you.

The final story tells about a man that says goodbye by saying "Izzy, thanks. See you on the other side." The man died right after that, it was the last time they saw him.

It got me wondering if most people believe that the pets that they had in life are going to be in heaven with them when they die. It's a nice thought. Do they remember you after so much time? Our lives are measured in decades and theirs are only measured in years. I started thinking about all the pets I've had and some of the pets that I've known and how cool it would be to see them all again.

What do you believe?

Feline Possessions

You probably never thought much about what a cat can own.

There was another chapter in the Cuppy and the Atomic Ball saga that made me think about this.

I knew that the Atomic Ball was missing, I knew Cuppy was frustrated, but I couldn't find it. She would come over and touch my arm and talk to me, so I had figured out that much, that I was supposed to find the ball.

I had already looked in all the usual suspect places, under furniture on the first floor, with no luck. I knew that sometimes she dropped the ball down the stairs to the basement to chase it, so we went downstairs to see if we could find it down there. She kept making a funny noise and "pointing" to an empty bookcase. I moved some shelves and there was no ball behind them so I figured this was not the place. Cuppy kept at it, and finally, I decided to show her it wasn't the right place. I was going to pull it out from the wall to show her, and when I moved the bookcase, I discovered that it had a hollow place under the bottom shelf that could only be accessed from behind, and there was the ball!

I was marvelling about how the cat must have been able to smell the ball or something. When I walked by Cuppy with the ball in front of her and she had a very content look on her face. That's when I realized that she owned the ball. It was hers. In fact, it's her only possession. So in a way, it's very important to her. I would even say that she understands that it's her ball, and only because of the ball, does she understand the concept of ownership.

This is something I would not have expected from a cat.

Cuppy and the Atomic Ball 2

Cuppy kept coming up to me and stretching out one front paw and touching my arm. If I tried to pet her, she got irritated and shook me off and moved away. She's been doing this for a couple of weeks.

This corresponds to about the time when she lost her atomic ball again. Last night when she touched my arm, I remembered the deal and started looking for her ball. She often knocks the ball under the couch and ends up on her back, clawing around reaching for it. She kept knocking the ball into the same place, over and over and eventually scratched a hole in the underliner on the couch. We discovered that she had pushed the ball up into the inside of the couch through this hole once before.

I thought this might be what happened, so I lifted the couch up and tried to get the ball to roll over to the hole and fall out. It did not fall out, but Cuppy seemed to understand what was going on and kept trying to get into the couch, so I assumed it was stuck inside the couch. I lifted the couch up on its end and got a flashlight and was looking through the hole, as well as reaching in and feeling for the ball.

Cuppy came up and pushed herself into the hole, dug around for an moment, and came out with the ball! I'm not sure how she did it. It was like a cat magic trick.

Here she is looking quite satisfied with herself.

Local man performs Heimlich on son's dog

The following is an entry submitted by my brother, Steve:

I know it may not exactly make "veterinary history," but I have just successfully performed the Heimlich Maneuver on my son's yellow Labrador retriever, Ray.

Ray has only been with us a little over a week, but everyone, especially my son, Kyle, has fallen in love with him. He's not the smartest animal I've ever known and he's proving a challenge to house train, but I have a soft spot for him as well. He's a born natural when it comes to fetch, so I purchased squeaky tennis balls for him as well as a blue one of similar size without the fuzzy outer covering.

Kyle and I were sitting in the family room around the fire place when it happened. I got Ray's attention with the ball and he laid down next to my chair to play with it. After a few minutes, I heard the familiar sound all dogs make when they need to vomit. I jumped up in order to carry him to a room with tile or concrete, then noticed that the ball was missing. He began making choking noises and I ascertained that he had swallowed the ball. "God, he's choking." I said, as my years of training took over.

I picked him up to a standing position and felt his throat. Sure enough, it had an enlarged swelling, just above the trachea, that was ball-shaped. First, I shoved my hand in his mouth to see if I could get a hold of it. All I could feel was the back of his throat. I positioned my right fist just below his zyphoid process (if dogs have that) just below the sternum and glanced over at Kyle. He was up on his knees on the couch with a very concerned look on his face. All I could think was that I couldn't let my son's dog die right in front of him. I had to keep my head.

Grabbing my right wrist with my left hand, I plunged my fist up and into Ray's thoracic cavity. He attempted to get away from me, confused as to why I was attacking him, as he attempted to disgorge the obstruction on his own. I gave him a few thrusts, then stuck my hand in his mouth to see if it had come free. After two series, I felt the first hint of panic. It wasn't working. I decided to thrust harder with nothing to lose. After one more attempt, Ray's demeanor changed, as if the ball had come up into his mouth. Again, I stuck my hand to the back and was barely able to get my thumb and middle finger around the slippery ball. I removed it and immediately tossed it in the trash can.

Ray was obviously traumatized, as was Kyle. I immediately sought to console both at the same time. Ray was beside himself, wondering what had happened and why I had been so mean to him. Kyle was beside himself because he didn't need the stress of losing the dog he loves. They're both okay now. I've decided to dispose of all non-edible toys that are tennis ball-sized or smaller. I'm sure he couldn't swallow a tennis ball with it's furry exterior, but I'm not willing to take that chance.

After we had all settled, I had Kyle take the attached photos of Ray, the ball, and myself. Even though it had almost killed him, Ray still wanted the ball back.

The Ice Dragon of Winter

Our recent ice storms came at us like an ice dragon.

The weather channel confirms this.

Baby Elk

I went by the Hooved Animal Enclosure at Fleming Park last weekend. They have Buffalo and Elk out there, and the name lacks elegance, but I don't have a better suggestion.

People go and feed the elk through the fence. They mostly feed them carrots and this has totally tamed the animals. They will lick your fingers and take the food right out of your hands. If you really want a good friend, slice up an apple and feed that to them.

They are doing what Elk herds do this time of the year, they have a bull and he's got his harem. I think some younger bulls are around, unless they were shipped off, I didn't see them up by the fence. When I pulled up the bull bellowed, which is one of the coolest sounds you will ever hear.

The family that was there just finished feeding all their carrots to the elk, and the youngest elk was still trying to get something from the mother. I don't remember ever seeing them this young out there before. It seems odd that the bull is in rut (that time of the year when they loose weight, get agressive, and mate with the females) while there are still calves mixed in with the herd. You'd think the bull would run the little guys off in order to get busy with their mommies.

I'm not an elkologist, so I don't know.

Strange Fungus

The neighboring house has been vacant for about 4 years and the yard rarely gets mowed. I recently saw something I've never seen before, which is fungus growing at the base of an oak tree. These are some huge funguses. They look like brains.

I have heard that fungus and mushroom species are usually matched with a particular tree species. Mushroom hunters will tell you, for example, that the favored mushroom, the Morrell, is usually found where Elm trees have fallen and rotted.

I'm not sure what the story on these specimens is.

Siberian Tigers

The Siberian Tiger is almost extinct. There are only a few hundred left. Many people thought that it would be gone very soon.

They live in an area from eastern Russia to China. The Russians recently hired some game wardens that have been suppressing the poachers that were hunting and killing off the tiger. This is making a difference and they are making a dramatic comeback.

This year, there are over 100 cubs, and they are making signs of a comeback.

I hope it works.

They look cute when they are little, but I wouldn't want one as a pet. You'd probably have to buy a side of beef once a week to keep it fed.

Iranian Cheetahs

Luke Hunter is the Coordinator of the Great Cats Program, and he is currently working on saving the Asiatic Cheetah found in a desert area in Iran.

There aren't many left, but they are radio tracking them and trying to learn more so they can come back.

Cheetahs at one time were kept as hunting pets by Egyptians and Indian Princes. You can't breed Cheetahs in captivity because the female has to run for a few days, chased by males before she can even be able to get pregnant and start making baby cheetahs. So in the old days, they would find Cheetah kittens in the wild and raise them for hunting animals. There was a Prince in India that had over 100 of them. I guess they made great pets, but you had to keep raiding the wild ones if you wanted more.

The Geoquiz on PRI told me about this issue, and you can read about it at http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/13231 with the answer at the link below
http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/13231&answer=true

The podcast I heard it on had a Cheetah purring, which is a really cool sound. The web link only has the answer to the quiz, but the question, which has the cheetah purring, is not there. Email me and I will email the mp3 file from the podcast or you can subscribe to the PRI Geoquiz and listen to the October 10, 2007 quiz for the purring sound.

I hope we can stop them for disappearing. They are just too cool of an animal to get wiped out.

The Great Pumpkin

People love to grow pumpkins. It's the biggest fruit or vegetable (whatever it is) that people grow.

Each year, people have a contest to grow the world's biggest pumpkin, and this guy, Joe Jutras, did it this year with a 1,689 pound pumpkin, 187 pounds bigger than last years record. See: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/giantpumpkins.htm

These pumpkins aren't even purely pumpkins anymore. They have been crossbred with squashes to get this big. They are so big that they sometimes grow over 50 pounds in one day and start to bend and collapse under their own weight.

I recently listened to an interview of a person that wrote a book on growing these huge pumpkins, and you can tell that people are obsessed with it. You can listen to the interview at http://www.sciam.com/podcast/index.cfm?e_type=13 and click on the October 31st episode of Science Talk. The author, Susan Warren, wrote the book Backyard Giants. Her website is www.backyardgiants.com.

Pumkin Obsession: tell me about it. We do the same thing ever since a friend threw her old pumpkins in our compost heap a few years back and the volunteer plants the next year yielded huge pumpkins.

Linus would be proud.

Four Seasons

Sometimes, when I watch the seasons shift, I think about how they are like the stages in your life. I was thinking about it again when I noticed all the fall colors finally fading and shifting into a winter looking landscape.

Spring is like childhood, everything is growing, new, and exciting. You feel youthful and invigorated, the world is full of growth and purpose.

Summer is like young adulthood, full of vigor and energy. The long days are like the rhytm of those times, full of productivity and long efforts and struggles, but fun and interesting. The heat is like some of the feeling of stress that you wake up to when you start shouldering the responsibilities of life.

Fall is like middle age, when you see a ripening of things, the promise of a full harvest for all the effort and care you have put in. The colors change and you are surprised about how beautiful something can be in the process of ending its time. The weather is colder and you slow down and start taking it easy.

Winter is like old age. People's hair finally turns white, like the snows of winter. Activity is slowed way down and getting things done is a struggle. But it is also warm and safe inside, and all the work done to make a for a comfortable life is now relied on and appreciated. The skeletons of trees remind you of all that is lost, silent monuments to the vigor of life that once was.

And then the next generation comes around and starts their cycle of the seasons of life.

Moray Eel

The Moray Eel has been known by people for a long time, but recently, scientists discovered something new about them.

If you've ever seen the part in the movie Aliens, where the alien's mouth opens up and a little headlike thing with snapping jaws and sharp teeth comes out and goes bite bite bite. Yikes. Science fiction, right? Well guess what....

The Moray Eel has something just like this.

Check it out at:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070905-eel-jaw.html

When the Moray Eel grabs something big, it's back jaw comes forward and helps move the food back into the throat so they can swallow it. A normal fish eats things underwater by swelling up, causing a suction that pulls the food into the mouth. The Moray Eel doesn't have enough size, it's this thin snakelike fish, to create enough suction to pull in food.

So it uses the Alien jaws. Cool.

In the Doghouse

Is UGAVI Greek for Ugly?

The Bridges of Madison County

Yeah, we did the cliche trip while in Iowa last weekend. We visited the bridges of Madison County.

Fall Colors

We hoped to be enjoying the fall colors in the Ozarks 3 weeks ago, but fall was pretty late this year.

The oaks on the way up to Des Moines were the prettiest colors I saw so far this year.

Pumpkin Mania

This local church has the biggest pumpkin spread in town.

However, they also have a lot of pumpkins left over the day before Halloween.

Don't try this at home

This may look casual, but the drop off behind my fearless brother was about 50' straight down a rocky cliff.

It may make a good Match.com picture, but it doesn't do you any good if you fall and turn into a mangled heap in the process. Chicks don't date hamburger.

Where the Spring meets the Current

Here's the view of where the Big Spring outflow goes into the Current River.

Spring water is just so amazingly clear.

Cave Man

He may look primative, but this speciman obviously uses modern clothing and has a grasp of modern technology.

Although he looks like he is at home, the typical Cave Man of this species only spends about 6 minutes of their lives in a cave. And that's no bat guano.

Alley Springs overflow

This is the little stream that goes out the overflow of the Alley Spring pool. There is a little rock in the middle that kicks up a spray of water in the rapids.

Alley Spring

The Alley Spring has a huge and beautiful pool that it come out of. The color of the water was really blue. I like the reflection of the mill on the water, as well as the limb in the water.

Alley Springs Mill

We had to visit the Alley Spring Mill.

They use pictures of this mill on most of the travel brochures for Missouri and it's not hard to see why.

409 Cabin

Here's the cabin we stayed in at Big Spring. # 409, like the cleaner.

It was built in the 30's by the CCC and had a fireplace that smoked up the whole cabin unless you pushed all the wood to the back of the hearth. It was really cool, and I would highly recommend the experience to anyone interested in a little local Missouri flavor in their weekend getaways.

Commuter Spider Chronicles

The commuter spider that I wrote about some time back has finally disappeared on me. He would make a web on my rear view mirror each night, and each morning I would see the new web, then mess it up when I drove to work. He went on a few trips with me. He went to Junction City, Hillsboro Kansas, up to the airport for a long weekend while I was in Cincinnati, and to Big Springs Missouri for an Ozark trip with me. After the airport, I actually saw him fall into the car and he took 3 days to find his way back out to the rear view mirror. I'm not sure what happened, but he finally stopped remaking his web the week after the Big Springs trip. He was my constant companion for about 2 months this summer, and I always enjoyed seeing the evidence that he was still with me each morning. I only actually saw him 4 times. He was pretty shy and hid behind the mirror most of the time. I hope he left in search of spider love and was able to father a new batch of commuter spiders for next year!

River's Edge

This little resort in Eminence Missouri on the Current River was very cool. Looks like they had all kinds of verandas and benches and gazebos for the comfort and enjoyment of the guests. We'd like to go next spring and float the river and stay there.

River Gage

This River Gage was next to the bridge over the Current River in Eminence Missouri. I'm not sure whether the station transmits information back to the center in Rolla Missouri, or whether it stores the information in the little box at the station. It looks very old fashioned, but they have been keeping constant records of the rivers for years, and I can't help but think that they do it with more modern equipment now.

Trail Riding in the Ozarks

These people had some trail horses saddled up waiting for them outside of the kitchy tourist place in Eminence Missouri. I think they have trails along the Current River where you can ride for miles. Looks like something out of the Old West, doesn't it?

Wildlife Photographer

My brother Steve at Big Spring in the Missouri Ozarks.

Stalking the elusive sky blue spring water shot.

Big Spring Moss

Here's another pic from Big Spring south of Van Buren Missouri in the Mark Twain National Forest in the Ozark Region of southern Missouri

There is some beautiful moss on the rocks next to the outlet. The pretty blue color of the water is due to the minerals in the water.

Even though all the water that falls into the "recharge area" of a spring goes underground and is filtered by solid rock (mostly dolomite), minerals and some surface chemicals persist in the water, giving it the pretty blue color.

It makes for some pretty views.

Big Spring Snails

The water coming out of Big Spring south of Van Buren Missouri in the Mark Twain National Forest in the Ozark Region of southern Missouri is 56°F year round. That's pretty cold. Try wading into one of these springs some day if you don't believe me.

But in the winter, that's pretty warm. You wonder what could live in such cold water, and the answer is, strangely, snails. When you look in the water, you see a carpet of black snails.

I did not want to jump in and cuddle up to them.

Fake Snake

We were in the bottoms near the Current River and passed over an old channel. The mucky river bottom was intriguing and we stopped to look it over.

We thought there was a snake slithering over the a rock, see the yellow stripe on the dark rock? We were convinced until we looked at it with the binoculars. It's a root.

Firesong

10/13/2007 6:59 AM

As I write this, I’m sitting in a cabin in the woods near Big Spring Missouri in the early morning hours, next to the fire I woke up and stoked up this morning. The cabin is unheated except for the fireplace, and although it is not midwinter or horribly cold outside, the fire does make the cabin much more hospitable.

As I woke up cold and decided to rekindle the fire, I knew I had to be quiet to allow my wife and brother to continue to sleep. So it was one of those early morning experiences where the silence magnifies every sound that does occur.

Through careful feeding of small sticks and nursing the reluctant coals back to life, I was able to get the fire going again. By the time I was feeding the big pieces in, I was ready for the warmth the fire would bring.

Then I noticed something. This was at a time when I had moved away from the fire and could not see it. There was a sound just like a geyser erupting. If it had not been for the recent trip to Yellowstone that my wife and I took this summer, I probably would not have made the association, but the sound of a branch violently offgassing was very similar to Old Faithful erupting. More on that later.

I moved closer to the fire and could hear more sounds coming out of it. Little high pitched notes, that I had trouble identifying at first. Morning twilight was starting, and the sun was starting to bring a tinge of light to the curtains. This is usually the time of morningsong, when the birds are waking up and start to sing joyously about how beautiful the new day is - at least that’s what I imagine. Maybe they are sharing sports scores or gossiping about the escapades of the night before. In this case, the fire was making those noises. I had never heard (or maybe just never noticed) such an uncanny duplication of the noise from a fire before. In the next 10 minutes, I noticed that the fire made a noise just like a steady strong wind, then it made a sound like a sail or cloth flexing in the wind. It also makes those really loud snaps, which are distinctly a sound from fire. Something about the early morning silence had focused my hearing and concentrated my imagination.

The geyser noises probably aren’t such a mystery, when you stop to consider them. I learned in Yellowstone, from reading the storyboards at various sights, how geysers work. If you think of the groundwater as a lake that has a surface under the ground, that’s a fair start. Rather than a clear surface of a lake you can see, the surface underground is bounded by rock and earth, so it is not as free to move as the skin of your favorite fishing lake. For a geyser to happen, you have to have the intense heat of the earth’s magma. I imagine a red hot arc of material that looks like a loop of your intestine, but I’m not sure how far away or what shape the magma takes. What is important is that it heats up the rocks below the ground, hotter than boiling water. At the beginning of an eruption cycle, this hot spot is underwater. The rock has some cracks, crevices, or holes that go all the way up to the surface, but the are filled with water. Just like your ears are under intense pressure at the bottom of a swimming pool, the water in contact with the hot spot is under pressure from all the water above it. Water under more pressure takes more heat to boil, so you can have superheated water in this region. At some point, the water gets so hot that it finally boils, and something starts the column of water moving upward. Once it starts to move upward, all the weight of the water above comes off the water below. Under pressure, this water was liquid, but without the pressure, the boiling point is quickly reached and the water turns to steam. Steam takes up much more volume that the water it came from, so it expands. This forces the column of water above, already in motion to shoot out of the mouth of the geyser with explosive force.

The sound is distinct, a prolonged rushing whooshing sound. If you’ve ever watched a fire, you’ve seen logs send out jets and streamers of flame. Something inside the log is suddenly trying to escape explosively. Wood is nothing more than a series of tubes, bundled together in a trunk, log, branch, or twig. In the living wood, the tubes carried water and nutrients from the ground to the leaves and back. The core of the tree is old conduits from earlier years, like a tree skeleton. The surface just below the bark is the active living part of the tree where the sap still flows. You cut a tree down and slice it up and stack it in a pile and all the sap that was in the tree doesn’t just pour out of the cut ends. In pine trees, there is some seepage of evaporated sap, or resin, on the ends, but most wood just magically dries up without leaking all the sap out. What happens? Probably two things. The water in the sap makes its way to the cut end and evaporates. In addition, some of it is probably converted into compounds in the resin. The resin eventually renders itself into a hard substance, like amber. That resin is distributed throughout the wood, and it is flammable. It is trapped in the inside of the wood, but under heat, it liquefies. When it finds an open channel to the surface, it boils from the release of pressure and it jets out of the opening, just like a geyser. Same process.

Discovering the mechanism behind the phenomena does nothing to diminish the lovely sound of the geysering wood.