Sunsets (II)

Last Friday I went on a bike ride down to the river. It was nearing sunset, so I knew I needed to hurry, but I knew I had time to go to one spot. I had discovered this spot while walking along some railroad tracks that follows the river, it was a beautiful summer evening and the sky was just starting to get some color in it. I hadn’t been walking for a very long time when I came to a spot where there was mun on the non-river side of the tracks. My gaze then followed the steady trickle up the hill to a spot where I couldn’t see it any more, my naturally curious self was itching to climb, and climb I did. I discovered that the trickle of water flowed over what appeared to be an old service road that carved its way in between the woods and the drop down to the railroad tracks. This road had many vistas, from which the river and what laid before it were visible at a vantage point that compared to very few others. I knew I would visit this spot again.

The most recent time I visited was one of the most beautiful yet. The sky was already splashed with the warm colors of the sunset that contrasted sharply with the chilly wind that whipped through my hair. The wind is always more intense when you are riding into it, especially down hills, and since I was going to the river there were plenty slopes for me to speed down.

The feeling of going down a large hill on a bike is similar to flying. The wind whips past your face, and through your arms. Objects become blurred on either side of the road. And the speed, the speed is exhilarating. The final hill before the river is the largest of them all, and you feel as if you really are flying.

I commenced to follow the railroad tracks to where I knew I could get the view that I had traveled for. The walk always increases the anticipation, with glimpses of the sky given through the trees at random outbursts. The climb up the slope must be done with both hands and feet so you typically do not turn around on the climb. But after the climb is done, you get to turn around. The river snakes through a blanket of changing leaves. The clouds reflect the glorious light of the evening sun, and the water follows suit. This wonderful scene spread out before my eyes like a vast mosaic of life and light. I could not help but think about how lucky I was to have found that spot, and to be able to be there at a time when everything was so beautiful. There are spots like this everywhere, you just have to go looking for them. In some cases, like mine, the spot might just present itself, out of luck or fate, but whatever the case is make sure you take the time and energy required to enjoy these beautiful spots, and share them with others. Again I issue a challenge, a challenge to go out into nature to experience the simpest of things, for it is the simplest of things that lead to the greatest happiness.

 

 

how close you are to nature

           I work at a construction company, and we travel to many different developments through out the city in which I live. When I say city I do not mean like New York or Chicago, but rather a smaller city of about 200,000 people. The developments that surround this city all border either a corn, soy field, or a forest, two of the most beautiful uses of land that humans have. As I viewed the areas that surrounded the places where numerous new houses were being built I could not help but think about the wildlife that had their habitat destroyed by the houses that now dot the hillsides where they used to roam. Not all species have their habitat destroyed by development, many animals that live in lakes are fine because the lakes are kept when the houses are built. Other species such as coyotes and deer have no problem living in the suburban environments that have been popping up around our country. The thing about these developments that is the saddest is that the people who live in them do not appreciate the nature that they love closest to. They have so many beautiful natural places that are very near to their homes and very few of them take the opportunity to actually enjoy them. These are not bad people, and many of them are good people, but very few take advantage of the natural spaces that surround them. Of course they all know that there is nature all around them, but what they do not know is how to fully take advantage of these places. Very few will ever take the time to go for a walk in the woods, or to explore the creek that flows through their backyards. They do not realize the beauty of what lies so near to them, in the trees, streams, and wondrous fields stretches far as the eye can see. They not realize how lucky they are to live in a country in which beauty can be found everywhere. I like to think that I appreciate the natural places that are all around me, and that my opinion has some affect on those I interact with. I now encourage all of you to go outside, to look at a tree, to get muddy in a creek. You will, I guaranteed ace fun, but most of all you will be able to take a step back, and enjoy what lies around you.

trapping season is ever near

Next Friday will be the first day of raccoon trapping season.I have been waiting for it for a very long time, and I am very excited to get out into the woods in which the raccoons live. Last year I also went trapping,but this year I and much more prepared, and experienced, therefore I hope to have much greater success. The biggest surprise in preparing for this upcoming season is how excited my friend is to participate with me. Is overly whelming would be excitement to get outdoors to experience one of earliest forms of putting food on the table. Sheer my trapping operation will be much larger than last year. I will let him any more traps and will set them much more often. My friend will drive us nearly every day down to the various creek and streams and woods where the raccoons live. We will set the traps, bait them with catfood, and then go to bed just hoping that we will get lucky and a raccoon will be wating for us the next day. Rounding the corner to see a raccoon sitting there wide-eyed looking at you is a feeling like no other. Your heart is racing as you approach where you know the trap is. The air is often crisp and clear, the trees with no leaves stand like skeletons against the deep blue of the autumn sky. The smells are also just as invigorating and vivid, The fresh morning air has an aroma the cannot be described and cannot be explained but nevertheless is always present  in its own special, beautiful way. It is like that with many things in nature, they all have such a beauty about them, but it can be so difficult to explain. They have a spell, a way to reel you in, and like fairytales of all the answer can quite often never be explained. The ending however is quite often happily ever  after. This being said it can only be happy ending if you make it one. You must be with people who you are willing and able to make a happy ending for. You must adventure to make experiences that will lead to this happy ending. For me I have found that my happy ending is one that is not really an ending, but rather a continuation of the story that has happy moments at every bend in the path.

On Thankfulness

As I was driving home on Saturday a deer just casually walked right in front of our car. It was a buck, a 10 pointer to be exact and we came very close to becoming more familiar with it than preferable. We stopped at a distance that seemed to be about 2 feet, way too close for comfort. Many many others have not been quite so fortunate as we were, and have hit the deer, causing much damage to their car, but typically very little damage occurs to the passengers. Deer are just one of the many animals that are often hit and killed by cars, and what happens to them? Well the truth is honestly quite sad, not just that these animals are killed but that they are left to rot on the side of the road. The native peoples of the Americas used every last bit of any animal they killed, and the ones that we kill we leave on the side of the road. I am not suggesting that we all pick up possums off the side of the road, but that we do not be wasteful with what we have, that we do not waste what we have. So many in this world are of want and we have so much that we take for granted. Soon the season of thanksgiving will be upon us, and I hope that we all can truly be grateful for the many things that we have. So the next time that you are about to complain about a small thing that you really have no real need to complain about, take a step back, and be grateful for what you do have. Just think of the many that would be elated to run across a dead deer on the side of the road.

Sunsets

Yesterday I went up with my dad to remove the docks at our cabin on the Mississippi River. The drive, like always in the fall, was gorgeous, full of the colors of changing leaves, the rolling hills of the Iowa countryside, and the barns and farmhouses that dot the landscape. After summiting one last hill the river came into view, surrounded by trees thy had leaves all sorts of shades of red and of orange. Once we arrived at the cabin  the work began. The docks needed to be taken out before The winter, and the sooner we got them out, the warmer the water would be. Taking them out of the river is not terribly complicated, but it does require a great deal of strength. The process was going along nicely, but then one of the poles was found to be rusted onto the joint which connected it to the dock. As we were working on this, the sun was setting,  and let me tell you, a sunset on the river is like few other things. The horizon is long, and relatively even; the water reflects all that is in the sky, creating an amazing display of color that very few ever get to see. On this particular occasion several clouds had moved in, creating even more of the beautiful shades of pink and orange. This was all happening while we were working on getting the dock loose from the rusted pole, giving us a gorgeous backdrop to our work. We finished putting the docks in a little after the sun had set, but I was still thinking about the sunset; how can something so beautiful that occurs every day be pushed aside by so many people? How can we dismiss these phenomena as just part of the day, and not take any time to enjoy them? Thinking about these questions made me think about if I fell into that category of ignoring these natural displays of wonder, and I’m sad to say that I do some of the time. However I can distinctly remember times that I haven’t. There have been sunsets in parks, sunsets in the mountains, and most of all sunsets on the river that I remember enjoying till all of the color was gone. These wonderful experiences all have other memories tied to the images of the sky, and they are all made more meaningful by the wonder of the sunset. The challenge I will give you today is to get out and enjoy a sunset. It doesn’t need to be by your self, and it shouldn’t be. Take that special someone out for a walk in the park, or enjoy a family drive along the river. Whatever you do make sure that you take the time to enjoy the beauty of nature, and to give it the time to go through all of the stages that it was meant to. Please follow this challenge, and if you do I promise that you will not regret it.

The Way the Stars Turn Us

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to a doctorate student at a local university talk about the path that he took to get where he is today. He is an emerging astrophysicist, and the origin of his interests is as simple as can possibly be. The summer after his freshman year in high school he went to a Boy Scout camp in New Mexico named Philmont, that was the first place he had ever seen a sky full of stars. The sights of the night sky full of stars led him to wonder about what is out there, and then brought him to the field in which he is studying today. I also had the pleasure of going to Philmont the summer after my freshman year, and although it hasn’t set me on any career paths, it has given me a great deal of other things. 

Philmont is a vast area of mountains in northern New Mexico, and the same adventure that was there in the era of the wild west. At Philmont almost all of the transportation is done by foot, with you backpack, which carries everything you will need for your upcoming week in the wilderness. The pack totals in at around 50 pounds, the total mileage of your journey around 50 miles, so you are essentially carrying 50 pounds up and down mountains. The terrain is rough, and although the mountains are beautiful, they do present somewhat of a challenge, which teach you much more than your average math class. The journey pushes you to your physical and mental limits, and you must learn to rely on yourself and others to complete the task. The most challenging thing that I had to overcome while at Philmont was one day of hiking. On this particular day we had an extra long hike, and the majority was down hill. In my mind I pictures the downhill trek being very easy, but I could not have been more wrong. The downhill hiking is extremely strenuous on your feet and legs, and the 50 pounds on you back only magnifies the experience. The day started early in the morning, and it went until the sun was down. That day of pushing myself to go farther, to go all the way to the finish line, taught me how good it feels to complete a goal. This has been with me ever since that day of hiking, and has brought me to places that I never would’ve imagined, just as the doctoral student never dreamed that his first real glimpse of the stars would lead him to a career studying the workings of our universe.

What Will this Fall Bring?

This last Saturday I was able to spend a lot of time outside, and it was a beautiful day for it. I went scouting in the morning, for raccoons, with my friend. We left in the morning, and it was one of the clearest, and most beautiful that we’ve seen this far in the season. The wind was blowing, the sky was completely void of clouds, and one of the deepest blues I’ve ever seen. We drove along the river on one of the most beautiful stretches of road that I’ve seen within a 100+ mile radius. The trees are transforming their leaves right now in my area of the world, and they put dashes of bright yellows and oranges on the vast canopy of the forest. We scouted for a couple hours, in various locations in the area, and arrived to the conclusion that this would be a great spot for the trapping that we would be doing in less than a month.

That afternoon however was when I enjoyed being outside even more. It had become partly cloudy at this point and the sun was shining through the patches of clouds in such a way that certain things in the landscape became highlighted, such as a tree or a spot of grass. The wind was still blowing at this point, and it brought with it a feeling that can only be described as potential, or just an overall great feeling. I went  on a walk through a beautiful neighborhood full of large, and many colorful, trees. This walk was taken with the same person who I shared the sunrise that I mentioned earlier in the week, and let me tell you having someone to share these experiences with makes them immeasurably better. We walked and talked, and just experienced the beauty of that gorgeous fall day. We came to a pond at one point in our walk, in a spot that i did not ever expect to see one. This pond was in the middle of a residential neighborhood, but yet I knew that it was there before the developers and the houses came in. This pond had frozen over, and thawed many times, taken on the leaves of fall and the heat of summer in a cycle that has gone for an infinite amount of times. I believe that like the pond is constantly there, so is the potential that every new season brings. It is in our hands what we will make of the time that we are given, and no one can take that away. I set a goal this Saturday that I would make the best of this season, that I wouldn’t let there be any regrets. I’d like to think that this daring goal was made at the exact moment that the clouds opened  up and let a glorious beam of sunshine through, but in reality it didn’t. Things like this don’t always need to happen in a big or dramatic way. I know that it is up to you to make the most of any experience, thought, or opportunity that comes in front of you, and that how your life goes from that point on depends on the decisions you make. Going back to the season of fall (which is in reality the season of change), I believe that this fall could hold a lot of wonderful things. But it will be up to me to make them happen, and I really hope they will.

It’s Really Getting to be Fall Now

Yesterday we had a cold front move in, and now it really feels like fall. There is an undeniable nip in the air, and the gusts of wind that come every once and a while send chills through your bones. I cannot feel like this is coming way too early, but I’m probably wrong it is already October anyway. Some of the trees have already lost all of their leaves, and yet others don’t have a single leaf that is not green. I went on a little hike yesterday by a creek and some woods, and the experience was amazing. The cold wind rustling through the leaves, the overcast sky full of texture and mystery. I love fall.

I also enjoy all of the traditions that surround fall, trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving, hay rides and haunted houses, and many many others. One of my favorite fall memories is of one Halloween that I went over too my friends house. Halloween happened to fall on a Thursday this year, and even though we had school the next day we still decided to do it. We started out the evening with a fun dinner, and proceeded to get dressed for the fun ahead. This is just one example of the many fun and amazing experiences that fall provides, and is certainly not the most fun or most memorable, but was fun all the same. This fall season try to get outside with your family and friends, get out into nature and enjoy time with family and friends, and eventually fall might become your favorite too.

Reflections on Summer

Summer already seems long ago. No more are the green leaves on the trees, The days when you can just sit on the porch doing nothing. For many students the end of summer also represents the start of the school year, and therefor a loss of freedom and the varied opportunities that only accompany summer. This change is always very gradual and sometimes hard to notice, but it does have some very noticeable effects. These effects or symptoms as some would call them include the leaves changing color and falling down, the air getting significantly cooler in the mornings, and of course the plague of fatigue that always follows a late night doing homework. These things are not all bad, and some of them can be quite enjoyable, like the leaves for instance, but these things all represent the end of summer.

To get things straight I feel like I should talk a little about what summer is like for me and many of my peers. We have very little responsibility aside from the typical summer job. This lack of responsibility gives anyone the opportunity  to truly let go and enjoy the moment. I made a goal at the beginning of this past summer that I would enjoy some if not the majority of the experiences that I could truly let go and live for the moment. I did a very good job with this goal, and gained a variety of experiences from it. One of my favorite experiences was stargazing. My itinerary for 3 or 4 nights during the summer had this in the program, and I would suggest it to anyone looking for something to do on a clear summer night. Staring up at the night sky, full of lights and potential,  is a guaranteed way to make you smile and look into the persons eyes that you are sharing the moment with. Another thing that is a must do in the outdoors in-between the months of May and September is watch a sunrise. When I say that I don’t mean getting there in the middle of the miracle but being there from the beginning, from the moment that the sky first starts to light up to the moment when the sun first starts to poke over the horizon. This process is so gradual, and yet so quick at the same time, like a clock with no second hand. At first it appears that the clock is unmoving, but if you glance away for just a little bit, the minute hand moves further than you would’ve imagined. These moments are more valuable than I can express, and made even more valuable by the fact that they are seasonal. I would give anything for it to be summer year round, but that wish in and of its self would be self defeating, because we cannot appreciate something to it’s full potential unless we experience life without it, even though the time without it is sometimes long, and not nearly as pleasant as the thing which we love. Summer starts on the 21st of June, and although it is a long time away I’ll do my best to enjoy the seasons in between.