Urge for Spring

In going through some of my photos I found this shot of some cherry blossoms I took last year. My urge for spring is getting stronger every day.

Cowboy Drink Pitcher

Mother got this little kids milk, or drink pitcher for me when I was about 2, I think. Which would have been in 1953. (Now I'm telling my age) The hat comes off to pour the drink into the pitcher and then the spout is the little gun that the cowboy is holding. It was well used my me and my sisters. Mostly for milk and kool-aide. I have no idea where she might have got it but my bad memory says it was something she ordered through a mail advertisement, but I could be wrong. With my love of all things western it has long been a prized possession. I allowed my son to use it on special occasions as by then it was showing signs of wear. The paint is almost gone from one eye.

It is the guy having the most fun....

that wins every time.These guys are having some! Make sure to dbl click this one and watch it full screen.



INSPIRATION!











Brian's web site again:



http://www.getstrongergolonger.com/journal//5/19/buck-north-face-trilogy.html

Bluewater Creek Canyon

We took a road that we had seen deer, elk, and turkey on many years before. It was rough and got rougher until we found we had come to the end of the road. We decided to step over the barbed wire fence where others had done the same before us. We walked out to the edge of a canyon and looked down, or tried to. We couldn't see the bottom. We could see many miles to the northwest beyond the canyon. The rock ledge was intriguing. There were black streaks down the almost smooth rock at one place. I wondered what could have caused the streaks like that. Had it been water falling over the ledge some time in the past when there wasn't the drought we are having now?

Suddenly we heard an eagle scream. The big bird did it over and over. And then we saw the birds flying against the side of the ledge. Knowing that they are such big birds they looked small up against the side of the huge rock wall. They disappeared but then were back to fly right over our heads. We were so interested in looking at the eagles we almost forgot to try to get some photos and the only one I got was blurred.

It was a wonderful experience to see the eagles. I think they were golden eagles. They just didn't lookright to be juvenile bald eagles that have the dark heads. We agreed thatrock wall would make the perfect place for an eagle nest but as much as we looked we couldn't see any sign of one. But we could only see the wall across from us and not the one right under our feet.







































When we got back I goggled around until I found out that the canyon was the head of Bluewater Creek Canyonthat runs into Bluewater Lake that is just west of Grants according to the Cibola National Forest website. There is a hiking trail along the creek that is about 2 miles long. I would love to be able to take the hike but old age doesn't make for goodhikes.

Early Winter Wonderland along Old Highway 61

Several November storms meant a lot of early snow accumulation inland from Lake Superior near Grand Portage, MN. This photo was taken on November 25, . I was a bit disappointed that these storms left little snow in my yard. I live right on the shores of Lake Superior and early winter storms often mean that rain falls along the shoreline instead of snow. Right now I barely have one inch of snow covering my yard, however one only needs to drive a few miles inland to see the ground covered with almost two feet of snow already!

Newspaper Rock

Along the access road to Canyonlands, thirty miles east of the entrance, Newspaper Rock is a little mystery that will likely never be solved. It is a large slab of rock covered with desert varnish (a blackish manganese-iron deposit that gradually forms on exposed sandstone cliff faces due to the action of rainfall and bacteria) into which have been inscribed numerous petroglyphs. The older images are becoming darker in color as new varnish slowly develops over them. The first carvings were made around 2,000 years ago, although a few are as recent as the early 20th century.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the meanings of the drawings but in fact no one really knows what they mean or why they are in this place. It is in the middle of nowhere. Was this a stopping-off point for native people? Does it have spiritual or religious significance? Is it simply graffiti from a time long past?

There is a reason.......

you see two links to Will's post today. It is worth your time to read it.









http://willgadd.com/ice-breaks-dont-be-in-the-way-of-it-as-it-falls/