The moon is coming up behind the aspens. It is as big as a pumpkin and as orange. The winds are cool, the stars are like electric light bulbs. I am just inside the doorway, with my turtle-shell lamp burning so that I can see to write this.
Something is moving beyond the second hemlock. [My hawk] Frightful is very alert, as if there are things moving all around us. Halloween was over at midnight last night, but for us it is just beginning. That’s how I feel, anyhow …
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George, p. 97
Tag: the natures
Winter
Don’t see the mountains on the horizon yet? … Look closer …
Don’t Throw Your Fossils in the Garbage
“Shark Teeth Found in City of David Baffle Archaeologists“
“[S]omebody in ancient Jerusalem, shortly after the legendary reign of King Solomon, collected mineralized shark dentition from the time of the dinosaurs” … and then threw them in the trash.
An Arizona Bigfoot
So, it turns out that Arizona has its own version of Sasquatch. The Mogollon Monster got my attention because the Mogollon are a tribe that plays a major role in the plot of People of the Silence, helping to bring down the civilization centered in Chaco Canyon. MM, however, does not feature in that book.
Botany: Lupine
Here is some Silvery Lupine (Lupinus argenteus) I photographed while hiking atop Wetherill Mesa in Mesa Verde, Colorado. It is probably so named “because of the silvery sheen to the leaves in a certain light.”
I noticed that it bears bean pods:
Good thing I didn’t try to eat these, because according to FalconGuides’ Central Rocky Mountain Wildflowers, “Lupines have poisonous alkaloids concentrated in their seeds.” (page 32)
Camping at Mesa Verde
It rained on us … but not much … after all, this is the Southwest!
Out of Babel Books 