The Future of America

We've all heard it said, "a picture is worth a thousand words". A picture or a scene can evoke a myriad of emotions. If you don't think so, just think about how you feel when you look out over a brightly colored fall landscape, or see Old Faithful for the first time.





Sometimes, emotions are more difficult to put into words than the visualization of a scene or picture. It is fairly easy to describe a scene or picture just by saying or writing what you see. But to describe the emotions of that scene or picture are different for every individual and therefore very personal. To some, tears might be shed, and others might just think, "oh, that's nice".





It seems, the older I get, my emotions play a much more important part in my day to day life than it used to. For example, on Monday I was driving down a road I had never been on. It was a back country road in an area I was covering for another inspector. Now, two things happened in fairly rapid succession. The first, a wolf ran across the road in front of me, much to my surprise. I knew it was a wolf because it was much to large to be a coyote. That brought me out of my gravel road boredom in a hurry. The second, came rather sudden also. In fact, I was glad I was the only one on the road at the time. I hit the brakes so quick, anyone following might have run into me. I pulled off into a field road, got out of my vehicle and just stood there in the road staring. The scene is very ordinary, but the emotion it evoked brought tears to my eyes. I then remembered I had a camera with me. This is what I saw.

Like I said, very ordinary.

The flag and its condition is what brought all my feelings out. I felt I was looking at Americas future, if we didn't do something to change the direction this country is heading.

Here is what I felt when looking on this scene.

The flag holds a two fold representation. Torn and tattered, it represents the destruction of our constitution and freedoms. Wired to a branch, which is then wired to the dilapidated wood structure, represents the few who valiantly try by any means to preserve our freedoms.

The old derelict farm machine represents our economic and industrial downfall.

The untilled earth and the weeds growing all around represent the unwillingness of the people to work, and leach off those who do.

Maybe you won't see what I saw. That's OK.

What emotions does it bring to you?

Island Park Fun and Beauty

On July 31st, Lyle and I had the opportunity to go do some playing. We hopped in the pickup and just started driving. We had no idea where we would end up. In conversation it came up that Lyle had never been to Cave Falls. So that is where we made our first stop. It was a little sad that such a popular land mark in the southwest corner of Yellostone Park had to be put on a no access (to the cave) basis because of falling boulders from the cliff above the cave. The cliff can be seen on the left side of the falls, and the cave is located at the bottom of the falls. Pictures could be taken from inside the cave, of the falls, in the past. I hope they make it accessible again.

Our next stop was up near Mesa Falls. While driving, I told Lyle about an old railroad tunnel in theat vicinity. He had never heard of it, so we naturally had to make a stop and hike down to it.

This picture is the first glimpse of the tunnel as you round the bend in the trail.

When the tunnel came into full view, it became painfully obvious we would not have the opportunity to walk through it. Jolene and I had walked through it several years ago. Now when you look at the following picture, you can see a timber had fallen some time in the past and they have fenced it off to public access. When we walked up closer, we could see a cave-in had occured about half way down the tunnel. I guess after 102 years, the timbers had to rot out at some time.

We could still walk around the canyon side of the tunnel to the other end, but the journey through the tunnel would have been more memorable.

By this time we were getting kinda hungry, so we made tracks to Ponds Lodge and had a hamburger for lunch.

From there, I decided to take Lyle out Shotgun Valley road toward Spencer. About 11 miles out this road is where an old gentleman lives that we had done work for in the past.

Just a few miles past his place, we turned off the main road and started back up into the mountains to the north. The road was rough, winding and steep. The higher we got, the more beautiful it became. Near the top, we came to an area covered with wild flowers, the most prominent being the Indian Paintbrush. There were acres of flowers to be seen. All the wild flowers at the lower elevations were already past the blooming stage. Up here it was absolutely glorious.

In among all these flowers, I noticed one I had never before seen. It was the most unique flower in the whole area and when I got home I had to find out just what it was. I picked one to show the wives, hoping it would last long enough to let them see the whole blossom. What I didn't know, is the toughness of wild flowers. The one I picked had a bloom and two buds. When I got it home, I put it in an glass of water, and the other two buds blossomed during the next week.

After spending some time up on top, we decided it was time to head home. But no trip would be complete without a stop at the Frost Top in Ashton for a root beer float. Then home and the computer. I had to know what kind of flower I brought home.

It took several hours of searching web sites and pictures, but I finally found out it is a "Meriposa Lily". Sometimes, because of its shape, it is called a three petal tulip. I think meriposa lily suits it much better.

TTFN

In Between

I love the time in between sunshine and rain. The air smells so fresh and clean, and the colors are bright and beautiful. Saturday was one of those days. I just had to get out with the camera and spend some time enjoying the "in between". I had seen this old shack many times in my travels around the area doing inspections and thought it would possibly make a good subject for a photo at some time. Like my previous post, the sky was absolutely spectacular with dark clouds contrasting against blue sky. And with the help of a polarizing filter, the blue sky was darkened and the clouds detail became sharper to increase the dramatic effect of the setting. The shack sits off the road about 50 yards surrounded by roads and tilled ground and crops. By composing carefully, I made it look as though it were in the middle on nowhere. Just the shack and broken down fencing.

Montana History

In October 2008, Carlene and I had the opportunity to go to Montana with Pauline, Norms wife. We were taking a U-haul trailer load of stuff to Helena for her son Dan. After meeting Dan and his family and lunch (chinese) in Helena, we started home. The route took us through a little town called Boulder and past a little country church several miles south of town. I have seen that church in my travels from Chinook to destinations in Idaho my entire life. I even took some pictures of it in the early 70's. It was always a landmark for me. This time was different. Never have I seen that church, as near as this old man can remember, under the conditions as that afternoon. I just had to stop and break out the camera.

The church was built in the early 1880's by Irish settlers, and is one of the oldest in Montana that is still in original condition. The only thing different from the last time I saw it is the "In memory of" statue, the historical monument and the fence. Oh, the grave yard has grown some also. It was just a wonderful day to take some marvelous pictures. The overcast as seen in the picture, didn't last that way for much more than 15 minutes. I was lucky to get there and see it as shown.