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March 31 That Dam Fence ![]() March 26, 2003 Don't Kurtiss and I look smashing in our waders? I Imagine this photo in Black and white. With out beards and funny pants we could be loggers in the north woods, circa 1832. It is so good to be home. For those of you who don't know, I have been gone for a long time. I left Thanksgiving day, drove all over the place with stops in Albany, Northampton, New York City, Charlotte (on the day of the first ice storm), New Orleans, Padre Island National Seashore (I'll have to include a photo of that), Dallas, Lawrence Kansas, Amarillo (snowed in), Albuquerque, Flagstaff. I returned to the east just in time to head for a protest in D.C. Then I was in Northampton for two months working at a factory making plastic tubes. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() December 17 and 18, 2002 Padre Island montage And now I am home. When I left, I was thinking, "Man, am I lonely. Boy, does it suck being up here and taking it all for granted." Toward the end of my small odyssey, I had some clarity. I missed my home. I was having dreams of quiet aimless days, ready to be filled with activity. Now that I am home, I feel that was just right. It is hard to describe generally, and in words all of the aspects of how I and a lifestyle in Number four fit together. One example: Kurtiss and I went for a walk the other night. The stars were incredibly bright, ( "like they are every clear night here, and I never bother to notice or appreciate," I think.) Then I realized it is knowing that the stars are there, and I can go see them, it is living in the more raw and natural world on a daily basis, that bring a calm over me. There is a holistic happiness that seeps into me. If I don't appreciate the stars every clear night, I appreciate that they are there every minuscule moment of the day and night. Example two: That Dam Fence Where else in the world can you get work like this? Slogging around in the muck, late march, up to you chest, pounding stakes. With not one structure or hint of human habitation in sight. Kurtiss and I donned our waders to build this triangular fence in the water, to protect a culvert from beaver blocking. The beaver perceives the road as an imperfect dam, when he hears the water rushing through the culvert. So he goes to dam in. The idea here is that as he stars to dam the flowing water, he is forces farther and farther from the running water, until he gives up. Again words do no justice to the feeling of being out there working. Underwater crew work is only enhanced as underwater-winter crew work. ![]() Finished Fence with cloud reflection ![]() Over and under water, the fence bends to keep those eager beavers from getting under, and the rocks hold it down. ![]() Culvert View Peace, Mixim Oh and I forgot the view from the work site. That is what I always forget, but also never forget. ![]() Little Beaver Lake |