Showing posts with label environmental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Sunny October Saturday
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Geocaching
Geocaching, Found It!
Geocaching is a fun sport, or activity, or lifestyle. Did you know there are about one million hidden signature logs or little treasure boxes all over the world, which you can find using a Global Positioning Satellite receiver? When you find one, you log your visit and sometimes (if the container is big enough) you take a trinket and leave a trinket. Here I'm showing that geocaching will melt your hair if you do it at noon in the Summer in the woods. Its good exercise and uses your creative sense, because these are often hidden in very good camoflaouge. (Camo, as I like to say since it is hard to spell. )
Children especially love it. Last week, we took a friend's daughter who is about 8, geocaching in downtown Tahlequah. Several people wanted to know what we were looking for as we circled around and around a park bench downtown. We were looking on the underneath side of the bench for a magnetic little micro-sized keyholder-type container. But we guessed wrong about the size. It turned out to be just a teensey lil bolt-sized magnetic log to sign, and we were off about the location too.
Some of the best geocaches are big hefty ammo boxes hidden deep in the woods, where you have to hike and there are no trails. We call it bushwhacking. We lunge thru the greenbriars, startle the deer, watch for the snakes, roll over the big rocks, climb the cliffs, and whatever else it takes to navigate the terrain. We like the woods, and this gives a purpose to our trek. We lap up the exercise and the activity away from our desks. And as we go, we have a sense of adventure and accomplishment. We've found about 175 geocaches and we have hidden about 15 geocaches in different places for others to find. We've helped about a dozen people go geocaching for the very first time: Gail Ross, Sara Cordle, Ed & Terri Fite, Ray Goldman, Katy & Josh Brinkley, Terra Bellamy & Family, and others.
About the treasure: Sometimes the best geocaches are only published to premium members at geocaching.com because those are the more serious geocachers and they don't want "muggles" to stray upon their boxes and loot the treatures for trade. When you take something from a box, you have a duty to put in something for trade which is of equal or greater value. Some of our best trades have been for a picture from the grave of Jack Kerouac, gold coins, pretty feathers, and gear like caribiners, insect repellent wipes, coozies, bungee cords, etc.
Read some of our adventures by searching for "Fluffy & Friedrick" at http://www.geocaching.com/ . We encounter snake dens, rock climbing tasks and more.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Invitation to Nature
It is the twelfth hour before this event, but it is the first chance I've had to invite folks. Tomorrow from about 10 to about 2 at Looney Preserve, you are invited to join some of who are getting together to think about some things about nature. We are tossing out ideas about what would be included if there were in the Greenway of the Cherokee Ozarks, stretching from I-40 to 412 and surrounds.
Looney Preserve is between Colcord and Jay on SH10, I think. Well, you'll see some balloons or streamers and maybe a sign referring to The Nature Conservancy. It cuts back hard to the South, so look carefully if you are coming from the South. Go down that road and you will find it.
Here is a story about how I found it the first time. I was coming home from a Court appearance in Jay. Storm clouds blew up and it began a torrential rain, as I was driving SH10 going South back toward Tahlequah that morning. Beside the road was a haggard-looking man with a big burlap bag. I thought he must have been picking up cans. The weather was severe, and I gave him a ride. I told him I'd take him home, and he directed me to the Looney's house. He said he'd been a journalist or publisher and for some reason I think it must have been of a local paper. He was about my age... or within ten years either way. It wasn't that far, but by the time we arrived there, the rain had subsided and it was humid and sunny-- one of those sudden Spring freshets that pass thru. He invited me in to meet his parents. I was fascinated with the beauty of their modest place, with bird feeders hanging from the trees and went in. His mother and father were there-- quite old and it seems spry, in a light-filled sunny room, reading or piddling around.
They were the Looneys. I later learned that they were reputed conservationists, but it was obvious by the way they took care of the birds. This fellow told his parents that he was out picking mushrooms and had gotten caught in the thunderstorm and I'd brought him home. He told me about a cool cave there, and asked if I'd care to see it. That day, the rain had made a place impassable and I was in courtroom attire: a suit and leather shoes but didn't mind getting my feet wet although we couldn't go in. On the ground he picked up an arrowhead and gave it to. He said he had knapped it and had left it there on the trail for finding. I thought that was kinda cool.
Before long, I had to get back on my way home. Maybe I spent an hour there altogether. When I got back to my office, I joked that I had been waylaid by mushrooms which kidnapped me and took me thru a time warp. But my law partner, Mary Barksdale, and our secretary/paralegal was accustomed to me ambling off the career path on some unplanned adventure such as this from time to time. I had only wet shoes to corraborate my adventure. I always had happy thoughts about that special natural place where like-minded people lived, that I had met in an unlikely way.
Here is a note about Mr. Looney's passing from 2005:
Murray L. Looney was born July 20, 1914 and Died May 29, 2005. That just states 'when' he lived, not how he lived. Murray was a gentle man. He is one of the founding members of the Central Oklahoma Grotto and was an excellent caver. He was the equipment manager for the group and would rework a carbide lamp for you if you managed to mangle yours into inoperability -- with a smile and an eye twinkle.
Not that he couldn't get a bit irritated at times of supreme human dumbness, but then who wouldn't? Murray was husband to Mary Looney, who preceded him in death in 1989, and stepfather to Nick -- also gone now (1999) -- and Joe. I've asked Joe to write up a piece for the newsletter, so I'll not step on personal toes and wait for his erudite words.
Personally, Mary and Murray greeted John and me with open arms in 1973. We were relative neophytes to caving and absolute greenies to Oklahoma caving. Our interest matched their passion and we stuck with the COG family quite happily. Murray managed all the grotto equipment, while Mary managed the people and FOOD! It was Oklahoma Caving at its best.
Always thin, Murray would be one who could slither through the cracks and is, I believe, only one of two people ever to have made it out the Texas Entrance of Nescatunga Cave. This is something no one wishes to do. There is nothing nice about that passage -- it just had to be mapped and Murray was half of the two-person mapping team. And, just so you know, Mary was NOT the other half!
The graveside funeral service was held at Row Cemetery, just north of Colcord in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Joe Looney spoke of Murray's life and accomplishments and the group then regrouped at the Farm for reminiscences and repast. The Farm is the retirement property (paraphrased) that was Mary and Murray's dream retirement home which they shared together for 10 retirement years before Mary's death. The cave resurgence is in the front 'yard' and the water from the cave flows all year round providing a blissful murmur. The two-bedroom home is well maintained ...and will become a nature cabin for conservation groups, available by reservation -- soon. Submitted by Sue Bozeman
So on Saturday May 22nd come if you can, and perhaps it will also prove to be a magical experience as it was for me in 1985 or 1986.
Looney Preserve is between Colcord and Jay on SH10, I think. Well, you'll see some balloons or streamers and maybe a sign referring to The Nature Conservancy. It cuts back hard to the South, so look carefully if you are coming from the South. Go down that road and you will find it.
Here is a story about how I found it the first time. I was coming home from a Court appearance in Jay. Storm clouds blew up and it began a torrential rain, as I was driving SH10 going South back toward Tahlequah that morning. Beside the road was a haggard-looking man with a big burlap bag. I thought he must have been picking up cans. The weather was severe, and I gave him a ride. I told him I'd take him home, and he directed me to the Looney's house. He said he'd been a journalist or publisher and for some reason I think it must have been of a local paper. He was about my age... or within ten years either way. It wasn't that far, but by the time we arrived there, the rain had subsided and it was humid and sunny-- one of those sudden Spring freshets that pass thru. He invited me in to meet his parents. I was fascinated with the beauty of their modest place, with bird feeders hanging from the trees and went in. His mother and father were there-- quite old and it seems spry, in a light-filled sunny room, reading or piddling around.
They were the Looneys. I later learned that they were reputed conservationists, but it was obvious by the way they took care of the birds. This fellow told his parents that he was out picking mushrooms and had gotten caught in the thunderstorm and I'd brought him home. He told me about a cool cave there, and asked if I'd care to see it. That day, the rain had made a place impassable and I was in courtroom attire: a suit and leather shoes but didn't mind getting my feet wet although we couldn't go in. On the ground he picked up an arrowhead and gave it to. He said he had knapped it and had left it there on the trail for finding. I thought that was kinda cool.
Before long, I had to get back on my way home. Maybe I spent an hour there altogether. When I got back to my office, I joked that I had been waylaid by mushrooms which kidnapped me and took me thru a time warp. But my law partner, Mary Barksdale, and our secretary/paralegal was accustomed to me ambling off the career path on some unplanned adventure such as this from time to time. I had only wet shoes to corraborate my adventure. I always had happy thoughts about that special natural place where like-minded people lived, that I had met in an unlikely way.
Here is a note about Mr. Looney's passing from 2005:
Murray L. Looney
July 20, 1914 - May 29, 2005
Murray L. Looney was born July 20, 1914 and Died May 29, 2005. That just states 'when' he lived, not how he lived. Murray was a gentle man. He is one of the founding members of the Central Oklahoma Grotto and was an excellent caver. He was the equipment manager for the group and would rework a carbide lamp for you if you managed to mangle yours into inoperability -- with a smile and an eye twinkle.
Not that he couldn't get a bit irritated at times of supreme human dumbness, but then who wouldn't? Murray was husband to Mary Looney, who preceded him in death in 1989, and stepfather to Nick -- also gone now (1999) -- and Joe. I've asked Joe to write up a piece for the newsletter, so I'll not step on personal toes and wait for his erudite words.
Personally, Mary and Murray greeted John and me with open arms in 1973. We were relative neophytes to caving and absolute greenies to Oklahoma caving. Our interest matched their passion and we stuck with the COG family quite happily. Murray managed all the grotto equipment, while Mary managed the people and FOOD! It was Oklahoma Caving at its best.
Always thin, Murray would be one who could slither through the cracks and is, I believe, only one of two people ever to have made it out the Texas Entrance of Nescatunga Cave. This is something no one wishes to do. There is nothing nice about that passage -- it just had to be mapped and Murray was half of the two-person mapping team. And, just so you know, Mary was NOT the other half!
The graveside funeral service was held at Row Cemetery, just north of Colcord in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Joe Looney spoke of Murray's life and accomplishments and the group then regrouped at the Farm for reminiscences and repast. The Farm is the retirement property (paraphrased) that was Mary and Murray's dream retirement home which they shared together for 10 retirement years before Mary's death. The cave resurgence is in the front 'yard' and the water from the cave flows all year round providing a blissful murmur. The two-bedroom home is well maintained ...and will become a nature cabin for conservation groups, available by reservation -- soon. Submitted by Sue Bozeman
So on Saturday May 22nd come if you can, and perhaps it will also prove to be a magical experience as it was for me in 1985 or 1986.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Avatar, The Movie
Saturday, Friedrick and I had a fun date to Fayetteville, where we saw Avatar in 3-D and ate at Fayetteville's most acclaimed Asian restaraunt, Taste of Thai.
Mike Pinkerton, Stilwell Pharmacist, and I were in first grade together, in the classroom of Mrs. Duvall and intern Delores Sumner at Cheorkee Elementary in Tahlequah. He owns Stilwell Pharmacy now. He couldn't put into words why I should see Avatar, only, "YOU JUST GOTTA." I had been pushing that movie to the back of my list for a couple of reasons. It is cold winter, and thus the convenient movies are the ones on Pay Per View. Pay Per View costs less, too. That was a fact not lost on me as a woman newly out of work. Never before have I been a housewife or full-time artist. I've always had a demanding, more-than-40 *real* job outside the home mostly. Besides, I couldn't get over the fact this movie was an animation. I'm a computer geek from back in the days when a Radio Shack TRS-80 had 16k of ram and you programmed all morning to finally play pong on a black and white TV. And Friedrick is a gamer, so I'm weary of animation because it seems too clunky almost always.
All I can say is "WOW!" The animators in this movie have done a credible job of creating a seamless fantasy world of beauty with lots of causation and insight about nature. There's a long history of movies themed around travelling in and out of different realities. Avatar does something different though. Everything happens in just one world. So, as in Wizards and Lord of the Rings, the action takes place with animated characters and model real warriors in one spot. One of my fave movies from the 1990s was Ferngully, and Avatar has some commonalities with that simple, sweet storied film.
There's another timely theme: Wes Studi plays the (animated) Na-vi Chief. It sort of delighted me to hear some Cherokee words in the movie. I think they were describing the stream of exterminators coming for them as "Uktena." That is a Cherokee cultural concept--- a simple way to talk about it would be a huge giant snake. A cool thing about Cherokee is that there is a lot of attitude or worldview in each speaker's conversation. To call it an Ukten when a stream of troops is marching in to kill you, is to bridge a huge culture gap in the thinking of people.
(Here's an aside: Cherokees, like a lot of indigeous peoples who survive at least somewhat intact (albeit, assimilated to survive) have groupthink. Its a way of looking out for each other and valuing the good of the whole group. Cherokees aren't too tuned-in to being the Chiefs of various things. Cherokees are mostly about getting stuff done together. THAT'S all I'll say about that.)
Anyway, this movie does a breathtaking job of lining up indigenous people against global capitalism-- a faceless ideological opposite which is an enemy too nebulous to take-on except vicariously thru its shock-troops. Is it fantasy? I'm sad to report no. This conflict is playing out in Brasil and Venezuela, where forest tribes are facing venture capital projects about drilling for fossil fuels or clearing rain forest to plant plantations. It isn't even a new story. Indigenous people have been giving way to evolving social darwinism since hegemony began.
More about that, some time. See this movie, Avatar. See it because it is fanciful. See it because it will make your heart ache with unkept promises. See it to remember what heroes are like.
Mike Pinkerton, Stilwell Pharmacist, and I were in first grade together, in the classroom of Mrs. Duvall and intern Delores Sumner at Cheorkee Elementary in Tahlequah. He owns Stilwell Pharmacy now. He couldn't put into words why I should see Avatar, only, "YOU JUST GOTTA." I had been pushing that movie to the back of my list for a couple of reasons. It is cold winter, and thus the convenient movies are the ones on Pay Per View. Pay Per View costs less, too. That was a fact not lost on me as a woman newly out of work. Never before have I been a housewife or full-time artist. I've always had a demanding, more-than-40 *real* job outside the home mostly. Besides, I couldn't get over the fact this movie was an animation. I'm a computer geek from back in the days when a Radio Shack TRS-80 had 16k of ram and you programmed all morning to finally play pong on a black and white TV. And Friedrick is a gamer, so I'm weary of animation because it seems too clunky almost always.
All I can say is "WOW!" The animators in this movie have done a credible job of creating a seamless fantasy world of beauty with lots of causation and insight about nature. There's a long history of movies themed around travelling in and out of different realities. Avatar does something different though. Everything happens in just one world. So, as in Wizards and Lord of the Rings, the action takes place with animated characters and model real warriors in one spot. One of my fave movies from the 1990s was Ferngully, and Avatar has some commonalities with that simple, sweet storied film.
There's another timely theme: Wes Studi plays the (animated) Na-vi Chief. It sort of delighted me to hear some Cherokee words in the movie. I think they were describing the stream of exterminators coming for them as "Uktena." That is a Cherokee cultural concept--- a simple way to talk about it would be a huge giant snake. A cool thing about Cherokee is that there is a lot of attitude or worldview in each speaker's conversation. To call it an Ukten when a stream of troops is marching in to kill you, is to bridge a huge culture gap in the thinking of people.
(Here's an aside: Cherokees, like a lot of indigeous peoples who survive at least somewhat intact (albeit, assimilated to survive) have groupthink. Its a way of looking out for each other and valuing the good of the whole group. Cherokees aren't too tuned-in to being the Chiefs of various things. Cherokees are mostly about getting stuff done together. THAT'S all I'll say about that.)
Anyway, this movie does a breathtaking job of lining up indigenous people against global capitalism-- a faceless ideological opposite which is an enemy too nebulous to take-on except vicariously thru its shock-troops. Is it fantasy? I'm sad to report no. This conflict is playing out in Brasil and Venezuela, where forest tribes are facing venture capital projects about drilling for fossil fuels or clearing rain forest to plant plantations. It isn't even a new story. Indigenous people have been giving way to evolving social darwinism since hegemony began.
More about that, some time. See this movie, Avatar. See it because it is fanciful. See it because it will make your heart ache with unkept promises. See it to remember what heroes are like.
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