Aha! Nature Mystery Uncovered!

I guess the reason I haven't been able to identify the type of hawk that lives around here - the one's that I've seen circling together in gigantic (i.e. 50+ members) groups - is because it's not actually a hawk at all, but a black vulture . There is also a huge turkey vulture population here as well. Interestingly, these populations seem to be specific to radford, VA in particular . Saturday has been proclaimed official "Vulture Day" in the city and there are all sorts of planned day-long festivities. We are actually considering getting up REALLY early saturday morning to watch them emerge and listen to lecture from one of the RU biologists. There was a lecture on vultures last week that I had hoped to attend. Now I'm sorry I missed it.

I love learning new stuff like this!

Nominee: Worst Idea of the Year

Here's the most singularly, spectacularly stupid idea i've heard all year:

• China is building a freaking road up the side of Mt. Everest

New River Valley Notes

Tin roofs. I had heard of them, but until living here, had never actually seen them. They are very odd (but, as I'm beginning to learn everything in this place is a bit *odd*). And a little ugly, if practical.

I thought by now I would have some concrete opinions about this place, but I find myself oddly ambivalent and UNopinionated. I remain surprised and pleased by how sunny it is here. It's rained exactly twice since we've been here. Mornings are always foggy - maybe from living right next to a sizeable river? - and then it burns off to reveal sunshine. It's like the complete polar opposite of Pittsburgh.

Our cellar-thingy (it's basically a disgusting dirt cave under the house) is, as I horrifyingly learned last week, INFESTED (seriously, seriously infested) with about a trillion Very Very Nasty camelback crickets . Am going on an aggressive and desperate house hunting mission to get us out of this dump. Assuming we stay.

A Few New Home Things

I'm still mulling over my thoughts about this place. But I will say that I feel here more like the proverbial fish out of water than I ever did in Iowa. And until now, I really didn't think that was possible.

Turns out that the groundhog that met a sad, pickup-truck-collision demise last week is not, in fact, the groundhog living under our porch. I feel a little relieved about that. My students had me feeling really guilty that I'd somehow sent out the *go-away-now-intention* that it had picked up on and that I was, in a roundabout sort of way, somewhat responsible for said dead groundhog. I did have a little talking-to with him yesterday - feel oddly like it's a "he" - told him that if he didn't choose to relocate voluntarily, we were going to have to make that choice for him. I can't explain why, but I get a sense that he is a stubborn and brazen little groundhog who is quite happy where he is and has no intention of leaving. At least animal control here participates in a trap-and-release program! That is a relief.

Urban Nature Writing

A student in my summer nature writing class sent me the link to a really fascinating article called "13 Ways of Seeing Nature in LA," which I highly recommend. The full article is in 2 parts:

• Part 1
• Part 2

I am definitely going to add this as required reading for our segment on urban nature. Good stuff!

More Thoughts on Place, Specific Ones

Speaking of nostalgia...

In Googling something yesterday, I ran across a couple of online photo albums of some guys' trip to Mt. Whitney, a trail which begins where I lived and worked in Sequoia National Park, and continues through the park's backcountry along the High Sierra Trail. Seeing those photos makes me remember exactly why that place was, is, so amazing to me. Naturally I feel compelled to share (some of the photos are duplicates, but they're all worth looking at!):

• First album and trip journal
• journal with photo links;

Incidentally, this is the view from the porch of Bearpaw Meadow Camp , where my brother worked for several summers. imagine getting up and being able to look at THAT every morning!

Also incidentally, nearby is Precipice Lake , subject of a slightly-obscure ansel adams photo titled "Frozen Lake and Cliffs, Kaweah Gap" . During many years it never even thaws out enough to see the truly astonishing colors . I have a photo I took of this same lake in 1992 that, not to sound boastful, is way better than the pictures i found on Google!

Sigh.

Some Thoughts on Place

Amusing interaction:

Me: Poor M [one of the few co-workers I like]. As I was jumping up and down sharing my news of getting to quit, she told me that her partner got into Duquesne Law School, and she'll be stuck here at least another four years.

J: That sucks. She's not a Pittsburgher, right? Isn't she from Pennsyltucky?

Me: Um, 'scuse me?

J:[holds up right hand] Yeah, you've got Pittsburgh over here, [holds up left hand] Philadelphia over here, and [gestures wildly with both hands] everything else in between, Pennsyltucky.

Me: [falls down laughing] HAHAHAHA!

J: Hmmm. I suppose now we're moving to Virgintucky.

Seriously, though, I was musing on and talking with J. about some of the things we were discussing in LJ recently. I was meditating on just what it is, specifically, about particular landscapes that makes them un-appealing to me, why I prefer certain places over others. And J. said something really insightful, something that really gets at the heart of the issue, in light of his trip to VA, his initial impressions that that place, while pretty, just doesn't *do it* for him.

And here is the common thread: The places that don't resonate with me seem to not do so because they're disturbed landscapes. It's definitely not exclusively a geographic issue, not that I can only fully appreciate Western Places (though those are clearly my favorites). Because I can adore say, the NJ Pine Barrens, the all-too-few-remaining longleaf pines of GA, the murky swamplands of FL. No, often the places that don't feel *right* to me are degraded landscapes. Western PA has bazillions and bazillions of trees and forests, but they're all forests that have been clearcut, probably several times. Iowa has been completely leveled and cleared of its lovely, prairieland to make room for corn and soybean and corn and soybean and corn and soybean crops.

Maybe I have an overly-romanticized attraction to pristine places, native places, landscapes that do not bear the obvious mark(s) of human impact. Maybe I'm stuck on this notion of "wildness," whether that be here or in the South or someplace out west.

I'm sure this whole idea could use a LOT more meditation, that this is only one small part of the larger picture. but it's interesting to have isolated something more concrete than just a sense impression, a feeling.

In Other News

J. actually made it to Virginia this time around (he asked not to be routed through Philly, as we're convinced that place is jinxed!). My intuition, which I trust very little anymore, is murmuring that they're going to offer him this job. Other, more concrete signs are pointing in that direction as well. These folks have been REALLY, REALLY complimentary and overwhelmingly enthusiastic (almost to what felt like the point of gushing at times) in all their dealings with him. The faculty member who was showing him around yesterday was obviously working hard to *sell* this place to J. and he kept saying things like, "If you decide to take this job..." J. is almost wondering if there are even any other candidates for this position at all, if this is just one of those formality interviews where they just want to make sure he doesn't have two heads or something. Or, if there was another candidate (who surely has interviewed by now), that candidate did have two heads.

As to the place itself. Well. Here's what J. told me his impressions were:

1) It looks exactly like western Pennsylvania. Trees. Lots of them. Small hills.
2) There's not much there besides the school(s).
3) Tt is very very very remote and isolated. VERY.
4) Every tenth descriptive word out of J.'s mouth was *hillbilly*

That sort of isolation scares me. a LOT. If I'm that alone and isolated here, I can't imagine what it would be like to live in a place where there literally were very few people. When I was younger in my college and post-college days (and yes, when I fancied myself a hippie - shut up! ;-)), I romanticized the notion of living the country life. In the middle of nowhere. In a pretty place. But as I've gotten older, I realize that that is definitely not something I'd much like the reality of. Sequoia, much as I loved it, taught me that it's not much fun being two hours from anything. Even when I lived in Brookdale, CA (population 1063), Santa Cruz wasn't very far away. And I know that I wasn't in love with the idea of everyone knowing everyone, as was the case there.

I don't mind living a bit out there, but I need to have *civilization* very nearby. That is NOT going to happen in VA. But, we aren't really going to have much of a choice, I think. Besides, this would be a good career move for J., a good stepping stone to something else. Better than a community college position would be.
Especially now that we talked to our friend B. the other day, whose thoughts about Lancaster, CA were: "It's pretty much Bakersfield. Only slightly less crappy." I've been to Bakersfield :-(

I am curious now to hear more about something L. said the other day: I've always had a very idyllic impression of Virginia.

Care to elaborate? See, me, I've always had a really, well, to use J.'s word, hillybilly impression of Virginia...

The Rafter Has Lost It's Tom!

I guess I missed this email from the Chatham campus security on 3/19 (emphasis mine):

"We have had reports that our large male campus turkey has been attacking students and staff (he’s the one with the blue head). Unfortunately, this is turkey mating season and he has become very protective of his territory. We are going to have him relocated at the earliest possible time (hopefully this weekend). In the meantime, please try to avoid him and try not to antagonize him. Usually shouting or firmly hitting him with something will chase him. Also, don’t hesitate to call security if you are afraid to pass. They will run off this feisty feathered criminal for you.

The good news is we finally probably have the name for our coffee shop – The Wild Turkey Café."

How sad. It sounds like he was head of a pretty big group (called a "rafter," in case you were curious about the post title; though you can call it a "flock" too I guess, but that's not nearly as interesting). I wonder to where he's been *relocated*? I also wonder if turkey relocation efforts are about as useless and ineffective as, say, black bear relocation efforts?

Of Place and Words

I just ran across this anthology of Ohio writers that looks really interesting. Looks like it's a collection of place-based writing, by several people whose other work I admire a great deal (I didn't realize some of them were from ohio originally - I associate them with other places). I'll definitely have to pick this one up. Might make a good gift for other Ohio folks too.

J. and Z. also gave me this brand new book about the redwoods that I'm looking forward to reading. Some reader reviews have suggested that Preston focuses too little on environmental issues and too much on the "adventure" aspect of some of the people he profiles, but it still looks really intriguing. Ihen, I shall have to, as J. says, "Get my Appalachia on" in terms of reading about the area to which we'll be moving.

Oh! and thanks again to L. for sending me those excerpts from that John Daniel book. I'm going to use the "Among Animals" chapter in the nature writing class this summer! I'm having a terrible time planning the nature & environmental writing syllabus. There is just too much to potentially read. Too much that all feels utterly significant to include. It's a real struggle to choose what to leave out. I want to include everything!

Decisions, Decisions

I have no idea what books to use for my Craft of Nature & Environmental Writing course this summer. the big anthology I planned to use, S. is using now, which isn't that problematic, BUT another faculty member is using it in his lit class now as well. So there's a chance that some of those students who are enrolled in his course would take mine this summer and be stuck with the same main text. And that's no good.

I don't like any of the options. I'm probably stuck with the Norton Book of Nature Writing (those Norton anthologies give me bad undergraduate flashbacks I tell you...). It's comprehensive, but that's the issue. It's too comprehensive. The true "contemporary" nature writing section doesn't start till about 500 pages in, and that's the part I'd rather focus on in this course. I just don't know what to do.

I have ideas for *supplemental* readings, but what a huge amount of work, scanning them and getting them all online in Blackboard. Not to mention that I scribble up my own books like crazy (FYI: If such personal notes bother you, you might not ever want to borrow a book from me!), so I probably can't copy anything from most of my personal library. If I don't order books like, yesterday, the bookstore manager is going to kill me.

I did, last night, solicit some feedback from some current (and future) students in that class about my idea for a field trip to see pennsylvania's largest nursery colony of little brown bats at Canoe Creek State Park near Altoona (about 2 hours from Pittsburgh). I guess that single colony is up around 25,000 and there's several hundred endangered Indiana bats too. The students thought it sounded like a really fun idea, and I've been meaning to do this for the last seven years. I just discovered they have a batcam! .

Another animal-not-bat-related note: With the recent rains and the upcoming warm temperatures, I'm guessing this could be prime viewing weekend here for the yellow-spotted salamander mating. I was going to include a link, but oddly, there's not a single related link to this annual phenomena (if any local folks want directions, let me know. it's REALLY cool). Or maybe that's not so odd after all. I mean, they're just salamanders, right?

When I mentioned the possible bat field trip (which would probably mean an overnight, since it's so far from here), J. got all jealous and said: "I want to see the bats too!"

Feeling Rant-y

Watched the most profoundly stupid Nat'l Geo special on dolphin attacks the other night. I just don't get how people can be so stupid when it comes to dolphins, how anyone could think that it is a *safe* idea to go swimming around in the water with them. Because they can do tricks? Because they're so intelligent? Because they *appear* docile and gentle? Hello people: they are PREDATORS. Not cuddly, sweet, domesticated pets. Why are you surprised that they bite? That they can be aggressive? That they occasionally are provoked to attack? Duh. funny thing is that J. put the show on as background noise while I was grading midterms, not realizing I would become interested (and incensed!) and would be distracted from my work.