Heading South for the Winter

Mallards Flyover

https://thelonelycreative.com/art-gallery/ Mallards Flyover © 2008 Bo Mackison

https://www.parolacce.org/1233521495418_f/ Geese have been flying over the house every morning, and then again every evening, since September. The lake they use as their headquarters is maybe six blocks to the east of us. The cornfields where they feed are a mile to the west.  The birds often fly so close I can see them clearly from the second story window. Occasionally they appear to be nearly skimming the roof. They are truly magnificent birds when seen in flight at such close range.

https://www.wjsmithconstruction.com/garage-building/ But a few days ago, the early morning honking became less noticeable. Yesterday, when I went to take photos, there were only a dozen or so geese in the sky, instead of the typical hundreds. Today I only saw a pair.

source I suspect most of them have packed up and headed south, like many intelligent creatures choose to do at this time of year. It’s early though. Last year, the geese were still in Wisconsin through the end of November.

Buy Lorazepam Online Without Prescription Maybe they know something I don’t.

Cabbage Flowers

Decorative Cabbage

https://hymnsandhome.com/disclosure-statement/ Decorative Cabbage © 2008 Bo Mackison

https://geneticsandfertility.com/geography-served/ I don’t think a flower can be any prettier than this decorative cabbage. I love the contrast of the purples and greens. Yesterday was the last day of the Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Capitol Square. Happily, the market now moves inside so we can shop in comfort. I love my Saturday forays to the Square, but I’m not fond of getting my fingers frozen pinching the produce.

Spirit of the Tree

The Last Hurrah

https://thesentinelgroup.com/round-up-lawsuit/ Last Hurrah © 2008 Bo Mackison

Ambien Buy Without Prescription When you can see each leaf as a separate thing, you can see the tree, you can feel the spirit of the tree, you can talk to it, and maybe you can begin to learn something.
~ William J Bausch

https://thesentinelgroup.com/roundup-settlement/ I guess if I’m going to learn anything, I’d better be quick about it. I think perhaps these are the only two leaves left in my neck of the woods. Wonder if I can study the snowflakes that are falling today instead. Not much accumulation though.

Order Soma 350Mg Online Does anyone remember catching snowflakes on black construction paper and looking at them with a magnifying glass. I think my Grandpa took me out snowflake spying when I was about six years old.

Buy Soma 350 Mg Online Do kids do still do that kind of thing?

Petrified Wood for Sale

Petrified Wood for Sale

click here Petrified Wood © 2008 Bo Mackison

go My way of thinking, this is a lot of money for an old (thought, granted, very old) piece of tree. Someone must buy the stuff, or they wouldn’t have such big piles of it. The ranger at the entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park did say that the people from Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Company in Holbrook, Arizona ran a reputable shop–unlike some nearby store keepers who illegally remove the rocks from the park to sell.

Petrified Logs in Petrified Forest National Park

see Petrified Logs in Petrified Forest National Park © 2008 Bo Mackison

Buy Hydrocodone Online Overnight So how much would one of these logs cost if they were for sale? Well, we’ll never know, because they aren’t available for purchase. They are located in the National Park.

https://www.wjsmithconstruction.com/general-contractors-winterville-nc/ ~~~

Buy Ambien Online Overnight In response to a Marcie’s question in the comments below, here are some facts about petrified wood that you might not know:

https://www.wjsmithconstruction.com/general-contractors-greenville-nc/ Petrified wood is permineralized wood (as in permanently mineralized) and it is a fossil from a family of trees now extinct in the Northern Hemisphere. The trees are still found in a very few places in the Southern Hemisphere. During the Late Triassic Period – 248 to 206 million years ago – this Arizona desert region was tropical. During seasonal flooding, trees were swept into sandy river channels, and then periodically buried by layers of gravelly sand and volcanic ash.

https://www.parolacce.org/vaffanculo/ The ash, which is a source of silica, permineralized the buried wood, replacing the wood with silica. Red iron oxide and pink manganese deposits added coloring in the fossil. Voila!

click Petrified wood, of course, didn’t occur overnight. The ocean receded over 60 million years ago, and the wood gradually turned into mineral fossils. Awesome stuff, this geology.

How to Mentally Survive Cold Weather

Glenwood Springs Pool

Buy Valium Online Without Prescription Glenwood Springs Hot Springs Pool © 2008 Bo Mackison

This is my solution to the arrival of challenging weather. Today it is rainy, not cold, but just rainy and a bit gloomy. So whenever I look outside, I visualize one of the places we visited when we were in the West and Southwest earlier this fall. I have lots of variety – I can imagine standing on the trail winding through the red rock formations in Utah, or feel my feet planted in the desert surrounded by saguaro cacti in Arizona, or imagine I am relaxing in these steamy pools, surrounded by the Rockies.

And what amazing pools they are. I’m not sure it’s the place I would like to be in the middle of summer vacation, but on a cool and cloudy Sunday evening in October, it was a grand experience. The water is supplied by the mineral-filled Yahweh Springs, the water so hot at 122˚F that cold water needs be mixed with the spring water to make it a balmy 90˚in the large pool and a relaxing 104˚ in the therapeutic pool — which is smaller, but still the size of a typical community pool. Three and a half million gallons of mineral water run through the pools every day.

Originally built in 1890, the Glenwood Springs’ Hot Springs Pools have seen their share of celebrities. Al Capone, Titantic-survivor Molly Brown, and President Teddy Roosevelt have all been satisfied visitors. I was happy to share the same experience, and today I’m remembering the splash of the hot water and how all the weariness from a 10 hour travel day seemed to melt away.

Now I plan to use those memories to wipe away the weariness of inclement winter.