Monday, May 12, 2014

Nature's Olympian - The Jumping Meadow Mouse -1

     Henry David Thoreau wrote in his 1841 journal "A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the ears and makes life seem inexpressibly serene and grand." 
     Thoreau loved his days at Walden Pond and each spring I marvel as he did at the nighttime sounds of spring and summer.  The serenade begins.  The woods, fields and wetlands abound with music.
     Three weeks ago in mid-April we in southern Michigan were still living with cold and snow and now as of May 12th, the green leaves are emerging on trees and Spring is bursting at the seams.  For the last three days beads of sweat have run down my face as I raked up the leaves of autumn and prepared the garden for tilling.  It is warm, muggy and buggy tonight.  No longer can I sit outside in silence, but now I must endure the highly explosive duck-like quacking calls of thousands of mating frogs and can hear the humming of thousands of immature mosquito wings.  Nature's vampire of the night struck blood on my arm and now we have five itchy months to endure the ladies seeking a blood meal for egg laying.
     The Chorus frogs are uttering a rapid series of "it" sounds with an increasing tempo and pitch as the warm nights thunder showers approach.  The males chirp with glee to attract a female and soon after mating the cheerful sounds will wane.  We Michiganders wait all winter and it was longer than usual just to hear the sweet singers at night and within a span of three more weeks the rites of spring cease.  By July, all the newly metamorphosed froglets will leave drying ponds and take up life in the foliage near our windows and trees will provide more local music on muggy evenings.
     A bunch of small red, orange and black Painted turtles are basking in the bright sunshine soaking up radiant heat.  The warm heat felt good after a long winter's nap buried in deep mud.  As water warms they surface and forage for a mate and food.  In another month they'll be sampling succulent strawberries - the nibblers of night.
     Even the snakes are beginning to emerge from hibernation.  Heard some neighborhood boys scaring some girls tonight with snakes they found near a pond.  The squealing girls brought back memories of my youth when I threatened to tie my sister to a post and burn her at the stake when playing Cowboys and Indians.  Captured she stood atop a bushel basket and when I tossed down the wood she tipped the basket over and beneath was a six-foot Blue racer.  She fainted and I got my bottom warmed and grounded for a month.
     I've seen past sawdust piles covered with sunning Garter and Watersnakes.  Looked like chocolate dripping down the sides so thick with serpents.  The Garter is daytime and Water snakes are nocturnal, but both will bask and soak up the sun's rays during daylight hours.  They lay motionless on rocks and logs in the Rogue River.  The first warm days the snakes head for water, because that where they can find a mate and food; frogs, toads, salamanders and insects.  Meadow jumping mice prefer the wetland settings to.  The wetland is a veritable buffet of tasty food.  They are bent on moving around looking for food or predators.
     Male Meadow jumping mice are beginning to stir, too, but unlike their counterparts, reptiles and amphibians who hibernate during the winter in mud and decaying aquatic matter, they dig deep tunnels and live below the frost line.  After a 7-8 month nap they surface to resume life topside.
     Meadow jumping mice are the Rip Van Winkle's of mousedom and believe it or not, these jumping mice cuddle up with Rat snakes for body warmth and the snakes will make no attempt to eat their bed partners when shacked up in hibernation chambers.  Nocturnal water snakes feed upon these mice.
     Generally male meadow jumping mice emerge from hibernation the first week in May.  Saw one already and some young White-footed Deer mice in my flower boxes.  Nearly scared me to death this morning - all those twitchy noses sniffing the air and wondering if they should leave.  The meadow mice love the moist fields and marshes since they favor high humidity areas, however they frequent brushy fields and cherish living beneath the delicate waterside flowers known as Forget-Me-Nots, which just so happens to be Alaska's state flower.
     Startling a jumping mouse causes human hearts to flutter.   They sport yellowish sides with brownish backs, a white belly with long tail and big feet.  They highly developed hind limbs are for jumping long distances in a single bound.  They themselves measure 7-10 inches long, the hind feet measuring up to one and a half inch long.  They are often referred to as the Jumping Jacks of mousedom.  They are guaranteed to really make you jump over the moon, should you beam one with a flashlight on nocturnal walks at night.  They disappear almost like magic - faster than a speeding bullet.  No it wasn't Superman, but a jumping mouse that can cover 10 feet in a single bound and run  8 feet per second.  (to be continued).

Dandelion - The Yellows of Spring - 3

     Dente de lions.  That's the French name for the most plentiful yellow wildflower in the Midwest and southern Michigan has waving fields of Dandelions and Mustards.  The word Dente de lion means the "tooth of the lion" because of the lobed and jagged basal toothlike leaves that range from 2-16 inches in length.  Each slender stalk bears a single flower, which fruits with its own parachute for flight.  When cut with high powered mowers they shatter easily and the fruit sails upward 10-12 miles as long as the humidity is below 70%.  Above 70 the fruit falls back to earth sometimes thousands of miles from its origination.
     The dandelion is a favorite of children who love to blow the seed heads or bring mom one of spring's first bouquets, but to husbands the sight of just one dandelion flower in their weedless lawn - well they become beasts.  Dandelions can bloom anytime between April and November, but when seen the bright yellow heads can be seen swaying on breezes and releasing their fruit.  Warm spring days children and adults like to walk or run barefoot across lawns, but beware of honeybees collecting nectar.
     Dandelions are similar to Bananas.  Both are yellow and its truly amazing how every conceivable part of dandelions and Bananas serve a useful function today.  Nothing is wasted and all make many valuable and delicious food items.  The leaves of dandelions plants attract gourmet cooks from around the world.  Tender young leaves are worth more than $3.50 per pound because the greens are high in vitamins, A, B, and D including minerals.  The leaves of bananas when ground and mixed with cotton makes fine stationery.
     Englishmen and Irishmen love to eat dandelion greens in salads and dandelion wine is a spring tonic used to purify the body.  I bet it was better tasting than what my grandmother taught my mother when I was young.  At the first hint of spring out came the bottles of cod liver oil or Watkin's Beef, Iron and Wine tonic.  I hated that tablespoon full each morning, but then again I hated spinach, too, but it sure isn't as unsavory as broccoli.  Yuck!
     When wine is made from the flowers it is a light yellow color with a pungent odor, but when the entire plant is brewed it makes a palatable beer.  That's if no herbicides were applied anywhere near the plant.  The rites of spring begin in earnest with the first flowering dandelions, but in some parts of the world, the dandelions are steeped in traditional folklore and superstitions.
     In Silesia, which is a district of northwestern Czechoslovakia and southwest Poland, the people gather on Midsummer's Eve to collect dandelions to keep witches out  of their communities.  We have them in America, too.  In the United States we have many warlocks running around with poisonous spray guns to kill dandelions sprouting up from crack in driveways.  In another instance I met private gardener who quit his job because the homeowner, his boss, decided not to follow application instructions and applied triple strong herbicide to kill dandelions beside his home and killed 24" diameter oak trees and gave some stubborn dandelions a stronger dose on driveway cracks and then disaster struck.  A severe thunderstorm caused the herbicide to leach and run down to his 60-acre lake killing all his beautiful flowering water lillys and all lower form of life; frogs, minnows, crayfish leaving the lake barren.   Never use a herbicide even if there is a chance it'll rain.
     Dandelions are an amazing flower.  You don't need to listen to a TV meteorologist to forecast the weather.  If dandelions open in the morning sun it means "fair" weather.  Remaining partially closed means "chance" of rain and if buds remain closed by mid-morning it will "definitely" rain so bring rain gear or umbrella.
     You know you can tell if a couple is married just by studying their habits in a car or truck.  Before marriage and after for about a year they will snuggle close.  When the honeymoon is over they sit apart, but did you know that in America a young woman can predict her future by blowing the fluffy seeds off a dandelion stem.  Legend has it that one deep of breath and blowing all the seeds away indicates she'll never have to file for a divorce.  She can also measure the depth of her sweetheart's thoughts about her, by the amount of remaining fluff left.
     Without a wrist watch any person old enough to read can tell the time of day with a fluffy dandelion head.  The correct hour will be the number of puffs it takes to blow all the seeds away.  Give those sunny dandelions a break and enjoy the fields of swaying yellow flowers on a breeze, but where a dust mask when cutting mass fluffy seed heads.  If the honeybees can love them so, too, can you.  The mustards, marsh marigolds, trilliums and many colors of violets have replaced the grays, tans and white snow.  Enjoy the yellows of Spring  2014.
    

Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Yellows of Spring -2

     Yesterday, spring officially arrived in southern Michigan.  Spring arrived with a crash, boom window rattling thunderstorm touched off by a warm front moving north.  I threw open the bedroom window and took deep breaths of fresh rain fragrances.  As I traveled to church, the skies were clearing - the dark gray scud clouds scurried west while an angry dark sky moved east and then the sky opened to beautiful blue.  What a glorious way to start a new day.
      After some light cleaning I had just exited the church and was sidestepping all the worms and night crawlers on the asphalt when along an island curb there was a solitary yellow dandelion.    Although beautiful in the bright sunshine it was blooming just to lift my spirits.  I find nothing wrong with dandelions.  Whenever they bloom they put the yellow in spring wildflowers, the first to great me at the start of a new spring day.  I love to see the swaying yellow heads bobbing on a breeze, but not everyone shares my love enthusiasm for dandelions. 
     Shucks I missed my chance to put that yellow head under Pastor Ken's windshield wiper.  He's a lot like "Mickey" from an old time oatmeal advertisement.  He seemingly hates dandelions with a passion.  He loves not the beautiful sunshine flower God created.  I can't help it that my halo flickers.   
     Seldom do I use the word "hate" because it leads one to violence.  Never should man learn to hate something so bad he feels he must kill it and that goes for a beautiful flower that God created.  Ken like millions of other dandelion haters boil when they see young children pick up the fruit heads with attached parachutes and  blow the seed heads apart.  Shattering, they drift up into the sky and disappear out of sight going where only God knows where they will land.  If the humidity of the day is less than 70% they can rise to 65,000 feet and can circle the globe.  That's 10-12 miles up and when the humidity rises above 70% they fall back to earth.
     We all have our hangups.  I dislike mice and rats only because I've had bad experiences with them when I raised rabbits for food.  Rats are notorious for killing baby rabbits.  My wife is terrified of spiders, my sister hates snakes and dyslexic or Downs Syndrome children are easily frightened by even butterflies and bee's, wasps and other flying insects.  All humans have petty hangups and many have wondered why on Earth did God create them?
     Those who dislike Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) don't understand that just because they see yellow head doesn't mean you should spread herbicides all over the lawn to control one plant.  It not only kills the dandelion, but thousands of beneficial worms and crawlers that keep the lawn aerated to accept water. 
     Big "D's" are members of the aster family, but I think its ridiculous when men of faith try to destroy one of God's most beautiful flowers used in food production.  The dandelion is not native to North America - it is from Europe and it was brought to America by the Pilgrims as a food source, such as, salad greens, tea and for honey production.  The pilgrims deliberately brought dandelions into the Midwest to increase food for bees.  Thousands of honey bee hives were lost this past winter.
     In America, yes dandelions are seen as weeds in lawns or gardens, but it depends on where you live.  The tender leaves when mixed with other green salad leaves are delicious. Older thick leaves are boiled like spinach or collard and other green vegetables.  Whether fresh or cooked they are a rich source of vitamins A and C and who doesn't like honey.  Boiled flowers make dandelion wine, yellow dye, the roots red dye.
     Native American Indians once loved dandelions for they learned how to make dandelion-leaf tea.  Some Indians made tea from the roots as a tonic for heartburn.  Another brew from the roots acts as a diuretic brew for the treatment of liver ailments.  Every part of this flower or plant can still be harvested for beneficial use.  That's if it hasn't been treated with herbicides for its destruction.  Killing dandelions is not the end of them, its the beginning of an even bigger problem.  Whether living or dead they exude Ethylene gas that discourages other weeds and grass from sprouting underneath them.
     Well, like you I must stop and go to work.  Wish I could write all day, but my body would sag too much, besides I love to eat.  Watch for "The Yellows of Spring - 3." 

   
     

Friday, April 25, 2014

Dandelions - The Yellows of Spring - 1

     "Spring... makes everything young except man," said Jean Paul Friedrich (1763-1825).
     Who would have thought that 251 years later (2014) he was accurate in his assumption.  Just the sight of a single bright yellow Dandelion flower in a sea of manicured green grass can turn a man's hair gray before summer.  He'll waste much green money fighting this pretty weed flower that has so many cheerful and useful purposes besides trying to kill it, because he wants the perfect lawn - no weeds.  Man gets his dander flying faster than a speeding bullet and wants that beautiful flower eradicated from his eyesight.  One perky flower is all it takes for herbicide men to start spreading weed killers to appease the homeowners disgust.
     To children the tall yellow flowers are picked and presented to mothers - the first spring bouquets of their love.  It's the only flower children can rightfully pick without being scolded.  Mom's should put them in a flower vase and not empty peanut butter jars.  A dandelion flower keeps mom young, too, when she's been cooped up in the house during our longer than normal winter. 
     Spring finally arrived in Michigan on April 23rd in the bright afternoon sun with the blossoming of Forsythia flowers. Our 114 inch snowfall is but a bad memory of a hard winter of numbing cold and deep snow.   Before I continue I'm going to let George Santayana, the Spanish-born philosopher and poet who spent many years at Harvard (1889-1911) and Oxford explain what sets in motion "Spring."
     When Santayana came into a sizable legacy, he relinquished his post on the Harvard faculty.  His classroom was packed for his final appearance and Santayana in true passion did himself proud.  He was concluding his remarks when outside the window he saw a Forsythia beginning to bloom in a patch of muddy snow.   His speech stopped abruptly.  His eyes were fixed upon the yellow blossoms and he stooped down and picked up his hat, gloves and walking stick and walked towards the door.  There he turned around and said, "Gentlemen," he said softly, "I shall not be able to finish that last sentence.  I have just discovered I have an appointment with April."   It's called Spring.
     Albert Einstein, the German-born physicist was teaching class when he spotted a bright Forsythia blooming outside the classroom window.  He stopped lecturing on mathematical formulas just long enough to pick up his hat and coat, opened the window, turned around and sat on the window ledge and bid his students goodbye.  He had a date with Spring. 
     I guess sometimes we've just got to act a little bit crazy and stop our merry-go-round lives and enjoy the sights and fragrances on the first day of Spring.  It makes mankind act irresponsible, but it resets his course for a new beginning.
     As the warming sun increases ground temperatures new Dandelion greens are appearing and bud formations are setting, and I say, "Oh, the perils of men spotting shark tooth Dandelion greens in his perfect luxury lawn."  He knows what will happen.  His blood boils at the first sight of yellow.  
     Wow!  Homeowners go practically insane and as nuts they'll expound volumes to the herbicide men that what they apply isn't working.  What most men don't understand is that there are three different species of Dandelions that bloom from April to November and no other weeds will grow next to it.  This weed exudes ethylene gas that discourages other weeds from growing next to them.  Kill them only lets other undesirables take their place if they don't remove the plant.  It's a vicious cycle to keep a lawn of green in Spring.
     The "Yellows of Spring" are here and that includes Daffodils (Lent Lily), Tulips and Marsh Marigolds (Elkslip-favorite food of elk-only), Forsythias and Dandelions (Priest's-crown).  The later is the scourge of over obsessive men like our Pastor VanderWest who dislikes, I should say, hates the most beautiful flower God created.  I've been known to pick a Dandelion stalk with flower and place it under his windshield wiper.  I just can't help myself.  My halo still flickers.  If he were a cat his back would bristle at the sight or feel of a Dandelion flower under his feet. (to be continued).

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

One Pair of Hands - In Memory of Keith Eadie

       Keith Eadie of Rockford, MI had one pair of hands, but had no eyes to see.  He could play an acoustical guitar for those in the audience attending the Tuesday mornings "Country Gospel" in the Rockford Ambulance Barn community room.  Although blind he could play just about any song with the exception of Ghost Riders in the Sky as sung by Sons of Pioneers and Planet Texas by Kenny Rodgers.  These were my favorite songs and it wasn't that he couldn't, but he loved pick n' playin' classic old country and gospel songs.  Keith's sudden death from a massive heart attack in early February stunned his friends young and old.
       You see, Keith was a member of the Rogue River Band.  He, with George Rollenhagen, Ray Eadie and Deb Eadie and associates traveled around playing music at various venues each week.  Like most musicians they had to practice songs before they raised roofs.  His mother, Karen, drove him around to various musical functions and Keith sat in his chair and enjoyed the Sunday evening concerts down in the Rockford Park near the dam.  A church member saw him sitting one night and they invited him up to play a tune on one of their guitars.  His blind white stick he carried on his waist, but on a hot night in July 2013 the lead guitarist came off stage and led him by the arm to the stage.  Keith always wore a smile no matter what he was doing and he always would welcome you to wherever he was pickin'.
       Keith was an approachable man and quick to crack a smile or joke.  It was a sad couple of weeks after he passed away, but Keith loved the Lord and he enjoyed what little of life he never saw.  I didn't know much about Keith, but a few evenings I sat beside him in the park and he never complained about his lot in life.  He was always upbeat and thankful for good ham radio and musical friends.
       He was happy serving the Lord and providing music to anyone who would sit down and listen.  He had one pair of hands to play the guitar and mandolin.  Often times he wore both instruments at the ambulance barn and for Flo's Country & Gospel Jamboree just south of Big Rapids in August 2012 & 2013.  He played nearly every song for nearly four hours along with up to 24 other guitarists, mandolins players with accordions and harmonicas all joining in the musical celebrations of life. 
       It was quite the show hearing this many musicians playing together.  The country gospel music flowed out across Rodgers Pond and Dam across the road and no doubt the sound carried down the Muskegon River valley several miles.  He could sure pack away the food and musical notes.
       One Tuesday morning several weeks after his death the Rogue River Band and associates were playing "One Pair of Hands" when at 10:08 a.m. the wind stopped to visit.  Nobody can see the wind, we could hear it and we can see the effects the winds footprint leaves on grass, sand, trees, but especially water, window curtains and yes, even doors. 
       The ambulance door opened wide to bright sunshine and Ray Eadie said, "Welcome" and in walked the spirit of Keith who came to visit.  I'd like to think that Keith came inside to visit his old haunt to check up on the gang that listened to his music for years.  He walked down the aisles looking into the faces of those he never saw and he saw they were happy.  He was raised up on the wings of eagles.
       Seven minutes later at 10:15, the door opened again, but only half way.  His spirit scooted out, but returned at 10:55.  The door opened wider and the third time I closed it.  It'd be nice to think he found his old friend Ron Pine, who was the band leader for many years.  Ron died several years ago.  Maybe their spirits walked down opposite aisles and noted they had indeed left footprints for others to follow and were born to ride the winds of eternity and then at exactly 11:08 a.m. the door gently opened and they left knowing the band lives on in their memory.  Both were riding the winds of time "On Happy Trails."
       Both are now resting in "One Pair of Hands."


       


Thursday, January 30, 2014

Mark Twain vs. Abe Lincoln

       Mark Twain (Sameul Langhorne Clemens -1835-1910), the American humorists, writer, lecturer and steamboat Captain on the Mississippi River and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) shared something in common.  Both were plagued with bad dreams about impending tragedies.
      Mark Twain always kept pen and paper on the table next to his bed.  Often he woke in the middle of the night to jot down something in his dreams.  His best ideas for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin originated from bed, but his dreams carried messages that were not always pleasant, but still he wrote one down in particular.  You could say he had a  prophetic dream one night that caused him great anxiety and concern.
      In the dream he saw the body of his brother Henry Clemens laid out in a burial casket with white flowers on his breast with a single red rose in the center.  Mark was terrified and was convinced that he was dead, but reality struck with great relief. 
     He had a dream he couldn't shake - something wasn't right.  It wasn't.  Had he a premonition in his sleep about an impending tragedy about to happen.
     Twain the following day received a telegram that said his brother was killed inside the boiler room of a steamboat near Memphis, Tennessee.  Twain traveled to Memphis and found where his brother reposed.  He stood in front of the casket and to his relief there were no flowers.  He sighed, the dream was only half true.  Suddenly a woman appeared at the door and walked towards the casket carrying a bouquet of white flowers with one red rose at the center and laid it on Henry's breast.
     Was his dream a warning about his brother's destiny.  Was he visited by an angel in his dream to prepare him for the imminent loss of a family member.  Was this prophecy or just coincidence.  He wasn't sure.
     When Twain was born in November 1835 Halley's comet streaked across the dark night sky.  His dreams suggested he would die when Halley's comet returned in April 1910.  As the comet with a 500-mile long tail blazed across the night sky Mark Twain did indeed die in April 1910.  Did he have a premonition when he would die?
     Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) experienced the same.  Although born in a log cabin he self educated himself and became a backwoods lawyer and at age 36 (1847) entered Congress as a Representative from Illinois. Fourteen years later (1861) he became President in one of the most turbulent and violent Civil War - state against states to abolish slavery once and for all.  Like many before him who walked the halls of the White House he couldn't escape bad dreams, the emotional feelings that something bad might happen.  His destiny was being written in his sleep and he talked about the dream he had to several others.
     In his dream he was walking through the silent White House toward the sounds of sobbing.  As he walked into the East Room he was confronted by the sight of a catafalque (coffin) covered in black.     He as if in Spirit form asked the guard on duty who was dead? 
    "The President," said the soldier.
     Lincoln and Twain had premonitions about their destiny.  They didn't alter their lives.  They stayed on track, but it is sometimes difficult to stay on that path and not change course when thinking about our demise.  Premonitions are warnings about the destinies of ourselves and others.  When tragedy strikes - we don't know, but we should pay heed to the perils of man.
     Yesterday I had just finished my blogs on Bigfoot;  Living Legends in North America when a premonition struck.  Looking at all the sticky notes taped to the bottom of my iMac I stared at a blank screen.  Lots of names and telephone numbers, but one in particular seemed to have a heart beat and I had a premonition earlier that morning he would call when I finished my blog, the phone would ring.  It did.  Almost instantaneous the caller ID confirmed it. This was my first contact with the man.  Premonitions come and we can't escape.  The emotions and feelings are real.
     Prophecy, coincidences, forewarnings or destiny?
     We all share a common destiny whether good or bad, saved or sinner, religious or evil.  We are responsible for our own ultimate destiny.
     When was the last time you had a bad dream?  Think about the premonitions in life.  We can't escape bad dreams.  They are an part of our living destiny. 

  

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 9

       I chose not to tell you where I saw the Sasquatch for protection of a living legend.  I don't desire to see a throng of people descending on the scene hoping they spot a Sasquatch.  I have great respect for some individual friends living along that road and do not want to cause any accidents.  They don't need trespassers.
       Like you I'm interested in Bigfoot sightings, too.  Before writing this true blog I was curious about the Menominee, Michigan sightings.  Watched 10 minutes of the Finding Bigfoot episode, but fell asleep during a commercial.  Rats, but I could find the story Online and again the trailcam photo was grainy and blurred.  It was taken by a professional hunting guide on his own property or was it a cell phone photo?
       Supposedly the man with the 80-acre farm shot the fuzzy image of what he believes was a Sasquatch standing in his woods.  When I studied the photo with magnification - funny I see a trespassing hunter standing in a camouflaged parka in the shadows under a dark tree canopy hoping not to be seen.  The photo shows slender legs -- not the massive muscular contour associated with Sasquatches.  The photo reveals no particular massive buttocks or legs below the knees - straight skinny legs. 
       That's how I saw it - Ranae doubted it was a bonafide Sasquatch, too.  "Rejected!"
       Unfortunately we can't read the minds of anyone who saw the Sasquatch.  Don't underestimate what people saw.  It was real to them.  The "Finding Bigfoot" team listens to people who have seen a Sasquatch or Cryptid species.  They try to get the information out so they know where, when and how to proceed for filming of new episodes.  This is Hollywood attention without Hollywood actors.  It a re-creation show.
       Now my friends use stationary game trailcams lashed to trees along deer and game trails for their pleasure studying what comes onto their property west of...  They can catch trespassers, too!
      Their cameras take amazingly clear photos - sharp details - on dark overcast days and under cloudy daytime skies.  They took excellent photos of me passing by while riding an Exmark mower.  Takes me 3 hours to mow their lawn and I've had silver (gray & red) foxes and deer, even an escaped South American large monkey and escaped 5-foot Australian kangaroo run past me traveling at 12 mph over the lawn.  The monkey jumped onto my roll bars late one evening - nearly scared me to death.  What a hoot!
       Anything is possible in Michigan.  If a trailcam under trees can take sharp photos of me passing by, why so many other fuzzy images of Sasquatch.  Quality of cameras might be different, but many photos are taken in low light areas - things taken in dense shadows beneath canopy tree cover   - shows distortions.
       Finding a Bigfoot remains illusive, but I know they exist because I've seen it in action - in the flesh just like so many other folks.  Remember God created all Things - mysteries of Earth yet to be discovered.  There is no excuse for killing a Sasquatch just because the FB team can't produce a visible photo.  They do the right thing and don't carry guns to kill a Sasquatch just for the glory of proving the legend is real and hopefully they don't find a human inside a gorilla suit pretending to be Bigfoot.  Don't be like the Texas man flapping his gums about killing a Bigfoot.  Don't supply his pockets with blood money.
       Hunt yes, but don't be afraid of Sasquatch. 
       Because the Finding Bigfoot Team haven't spotted or found the lair of Sasquatch approach this reality TV show with a possible mind.  It may take many years of failed attempts to locate and uncover the truth about the mysterious sightings all across North America. 
      Impatient humans can't get instant gratification.  Just because they seek doesn't mean you shall find.  Seek and you shall find takes on a different meaning when searching for Bigfoot.  It's not a sure thing.
       Lest I forget - shame on those who support a $10 million Sasquatch Bounty to prove they exist.  America doesn't need impatient renegade felonious killers besmirching legal and lawful gun owners.   
       What gives Sasquatch hunters the right to kill them for their thrill and profit?
       Killing a Sasquatch only heightens a reputation as a cold blooded killer.  It'll haunt them for the rest of their life and may drastically alter their planned destiny - the scum bucket murderer.
       The Texas man purposely planned the premeditated murder to line his pockets with blood money or is he just saying he killed a defenseless living legend -- or is this a fraud, too.  Guess he just wanted all Sasquatch lookers to know he had no law enforcement authority; license or permits to kill it.  Just a selfish desire to let others see he made himself judge, jury and executioner of a living half-ape, half-human intelligent creature (hominid).
       My inquiring mind would like to know from Bigfoot researchers, "Do Sasquatch hibernate or do they go south to escape the freezing cold and snow like snow bird humans?"  We don't hear of sightings in the winter months?"
       "As hominid creatures would they hibernate in caves or mountain shelters buried in snow?"           "You have much better chances of photographing a Sasquatch than winning the PCH sweepstakes in February 2014." Odds of winning originally were 1:300,000,000 times 100 additional sales mailings trying to collect enough money to support the $1,000,000 a year forever - now that's .....  when they super size entry numbers and try to lessen lessen odds of winning -- not increase.  But dream on.
       You decide if Sasquatch a.k.a Bigfoot is real or science fiction borne of fertile figments of overactive paranormal imaginations?
       A clear photo would be priceless.

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 8

       "Have you ever seen a Sasquatch in Michigan or anywhere you've visited around the world, but afraid to tell?"
       Michigan like the Northwest has many sightings each year, because of its dense Boreal forests and swamps only fit for bears, wolves and yes, mountain lions where men don't usually tread.  The mountain lion in the Upper Peninsula was baited by two poachers from Bay City, MI who shot and killed it to prove it existed.  Jerks.  Michigan DNR thought it was a young one trying to establish a territory.  The men were too illiterate to use a camera - a gun is faster to kill an endangered species in Michigan.  They gained a reputation for killing a mountain lion.  The last one killed in the Lower Peninsula was near Cannonsburg, MI in 1884.
       Michigan has many wilderness areas, the perfect habitat for Sasquatch.  Water is within six miles of anywhere with the exception of the Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan and the Grand Marais Dunes off Lake Superior.  Without carrying water in the dunes on a hot summer day you might die of dehydration, but both dunes offer dense forests of dark shade, too.  A person never knows when they might spot a wandering Sasquatch.
       I have lived in Michigan my whole life and never saw a Sasquatch until late August 2013.  I've seen two separated by three days at approximately the same spot and time of day on the same county road.  At first I thought it might be a person crossing the road northeast of ... (town not listed) to preserve the species, but no houses or driveways along that lonely stretch.
       I was driving west approaching near the crest of a large hill when 500 feet ahead I saw behind the smaller distant hill a massive dark figure crossing behind and just below the hill crest.  It had a dark massive wide upper body, square shoulders, with no apparent neck, just a large head and big swinging arms.
       It surprised me coming at a fast gate out of a standing field of tall green corn and crossed the road with a loping stride (slight bob) and disappeared into a dense gully before I could come to a stop to investigate.  Only saw from the waist up.  It was moving fast with a 5-6' step.  I couldn't stop to gawk since it was just over the crest of the hill and I might cause an accident - rear end collision.  The gully led down to the creek valley (in Michigan we call them game funnels).  We have lowland protection. 
       Not once mind you, but saw two two different evenings, (opposite directions) the sun hadn't set yet.  On the third day I had to break eastbound for three deer hauling the freight across the road.  Common occurrence in Michigan.  We kill each other. 
       They were trailed by a Sasquatch traveling the same direction (north).  It narrowly escaped certain death when it appeared suddenly from the same cornfield and if I'd had been two seconds or less faster it would have been stuck to the grill of my new truck.  I could have killed this walking legend instantly at 55 mph upon collision.
       I know what my flash eyes saw and mind's eye recorded for flashback nightmares, but this time I saw the creature instantly at the same spot.  My heart rate doubled instantly.  Couldn't mistake the loping massive size of upper hairy body, wide head and long swaying arm gate.  I stopped several hundred feet beyond - it startled me and I could feel and see my neck veins beating hard.  I turned around and slowly went back for a look see.  Nothing.
       A week later I was driving this same stretch of road when off in the distance another car was headed east with its headlights on low beam, then snapped on and off several times the high beams and began swerving into my lane.  When I came over the smaller hill (same spot) from my two previous sightings the car was stopped in my lane.  The driver was outside and he dancing wildly.  The trembling man stood at front of car motioning the size of what crossed the road as he approached the scene (tall and massive).  His body language showed definite excitement.
       A week later I asked an acquaintance if Sasquatch exist and he told he met a visibly shaken man who claimed he saw a Sasquatch crossing a hilly road east of...  When someone else sees it at the same spot described I knew my mind was sane.  I kept my sighting secret until I had reasonable proof someone else saw it, too.  No paper photo - except a mind's eye photo. (continued)
      

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 7

       Bobo no doubt loves to scream and mimic a Sasquatch.  Some nights he sounds good and other screams not so much. No practiced continuity. Any screams returning at night could be foxes, coyotes, wolves and mountain lions protecting their territory or trying to hone in on Bobo's screams or on smaller game animals distress calls.
       Screams from bobcats, lynx and mountain lions on dark nights afield can make the human skin crawl on the most experienced hunters or anyone close enough to hear them.  Animals know the difference between humans and predators.  Rabbits when caught by coyotes or owls scream so loud they sound like a young human child or baby being tortured.  The screams from a Sasquatch wouldn't be any different - the type of scream is only understood by them - not man.
       If ape-men do exist they can hear the FB screamers chatting afterwards like chipmunks on steroids.  The only reason the team stays were it was reportedly seen or heard is because ape-men are like humans and they take the same routes and it could be a place where it'll appear again.
       Sasquatches in America have done an amazing job remaining hidden from man despite their sudden unexplained appearances.  I don't believe I've ever heard someone say they repeatedly saw it twice in one week?  I must be an anomaly for I have seen a Sasquatch twice in three days.  Not now, read on to find where I buried my sighting.  I'm getting better at baiting, too.
       As I understand Sasquatch inhabit dense forests, brushy canyons and cross roads and highways of lesser travel many times in early evenings.  They favor brush to brush near corners that interconnect woodlots and dense fence rows where if seen it can disappear fast.  They inhabit watershed areas where water and shelter offer security and abundant food:  meat and vegetarian matter.  Humans and animals require the same.
       What I find incredible is that with all the advanced digital thermal photography and GPS we can't get a good clear photo.  The photos are so blurred and grainy.  Surveillance cameras have been around from the Civil War days, but we still get grainy, fuzzy images of bank robbers and Sasquatch sightings.  The Texas' man's photo of the Sasquatch was blurred.  Why?
       Try the lack of sunlight - shadowy visitors.  Sasquatch are smarter than man.  Hiding to them is an art!
       Could it be the individuals were nervous see a living legend in their midst?  Could it be shaking hand movements the cause of fuzzy photos?  Scared, huh?  If you doubt and continually rub your eyes, but can't shake the image branded in your mind's eye maybe you should get a CAT Scan or MRI before you announce to friends, family and the FB team you saw a Sasquatch.  (continued)

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 6

       Finding Bigfoot searchers seem to enjoy snapping twigs and thumping trees believing that this is how sasquatch communicate with each other.  As an experienced woodsman I can attest that branches  crack and fall to the forest floor for seemingly no sound reason.  Trees snap, too, long after storms pass.  Brittle or stressed trees by drought also snap. 
       Let the Sasquatch snap sticks and small saplings, but if man does so as hunter everything for a half-mile knows a predator lurks and they take warning.  Disturb any birds or woodchucks they know exactly where you are.  The bigfoot group also use infrared or thermal imaging cameras, but they seriously need to upgrade and carry some listening devices, too.  Human ears aren't that great for listening.  The idea all they have to do is hike into remote areas at night and break sticks, thump tree trunks and scream heebie-jeebies ranks right up there as fanaticism or many marbles short of fully loaded mind.  Different yowlings followed by chuckling humans must cause the Sasquatch to run away.
       The two groups of two tromp around on dark nights and talk too much amongst themselves.  The hills are alive with their jocularity.  The fragrances of BBQ rib smoke spill into the forests, up valleys, over mountains ridges, but human body odors carry on the same winds making it less likely they will encounter a Sasquatch for the TV cameras.  All filming made for TV audiences (why so many think the show is bogus or fraud.  Who says the ape-men can't smell them?  To hear humans they probably listen to nature around them and go the opposite way.
       Most eyewitnesses claim the creature appears to them in low light areas, the shadows and appear as half-man, half-ape standing 6-10' tall with a massive forward leaning body, with heavy buttocks, legs and arms that sway.  The massive head seems to have no visible neck.
       Now just because the Finding Bigfoot team hasn't found or seen one means pessimists like Ranae find it difficult to believe what saw.  But, didn't you once believe in Santa Clause?  Just because you've never seen him come down the chimney, expand the fireplace and pop out doesn't mean he never existed.  That's the principal behind Finding Bigfoot.  You've got to become a possibility thinker and give Bigfoot a chance to redeem the legend as real or hoax.
       The idea you can walk thru dense forests and brush talking at night with a wandering dog is the way to never find a Sasquatch.  Snapping a photo of one is the fastest way to prove that Finding Bigfoot isn't a fraud or just Hollywood entertainment.  Just realize there may be different species of Bigfoots in your area, but at least don't kill them to prove they exist.
       God created everything on Earth and He ultimately gave ape-men enough smarts to outwit more intelligent humans.  Voices at night cover great distance - beyond human ears - sound carries miles across the landscapes.
       The tandem screams are not the same pitch and any self-preservationist Sasquatch know its probably a pesky human trying to mimic their language.  The listen for returning echoes and if by chance hope to hear a Sasquatch answer.  Dream on.  If chickadees and Tufted Titmouses (birds) can't be fooled by human tunes why shouldn't a Sasquatch not know who is real.
       During each episode the audiences at home sitting around the TV intently listen and then one softly says, "Did you hear that?"  They point the thermal imaging camera in the direction they heard something only to see deer, goats, coyotes and mountain lions, etc., then they bait us and cut to a commercial like TV meteorologists with, "In a few moments we'll give you the latest weather information you need to know." (continued)
      

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 2

       The Apache Indians of Arizona and many Indians of the Great Plains and Northwest forewarned incoming settlers 165 years ago to beware of Sasquatches living in remote or wilderness areas.
       People saw glimpses of the ape-men   - a sneak peak to see they are real and not just make believe.  When seen by present day humans they have the tendency to disappear like ghosts knowing when time to flee and where to elude humans.  Mysterious sightings of them spread like wildfire amongst inquisitive humans.  Many see, but don't report the sightings.  Too many are afraid of what they don't understand that man isn't the only intelligent being on Earth.
       Where-ever ape-men or cryptids appear their body is covered in thick coarse hair of brownish-red.  Sasquatch appear as half-human and half-ape standing upright on two massive legs  while cryptids stand on two skinnier toned legs, the body less massive.  Females are reportedly shorter standing about 5' tall with an estimated weight of less than 300 pounds.  Males sasquatch range from 300-800 pounds.  Wherever sasquatch appear they are bulky, except for the Cryptid species people saw in 2012 near Houghton Lake,  Michigan.

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 5

       Only a fraction of humans are mean and nasty to their own kind.
       Both ape-men names (Sasquatch or Bigfoot) are interchangeable by location and where sighted by Michigan folks in 2011-2013.  People who saw them lived around the eastern fringe area of the Dead Stream and Haymarsh Swamps.  People have heard the terrifying screams on dark nights and these yelp areas are not for the faint of heart city dwellers and are hostile environs to ever the most professional hunters. 
       Michigan is prime Sasquatchie or Cryptid habitat - thick Boreal forests similar to Northwest environs.  Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Michigan share the most frequent sightings.
       With all of our technological advance in electronic surveillance devices such as infrared and thermal imaging camera photography, the Finding Bigfoot team hasn't found much positive physical evidence except for a few footprints from past sightings. 
       Some are many years old almost to the point of being credible sightings.  People are afraid to confess what they seen until prodded by BF researchers.  Some have never told friends or family members for fear of ridicule.
     Many BF town meetings reveal many people have accidentally seen or glimpsed a Sasquatch.  Until asked by the team they refused to tell friends and family out of fear of being cast as many loose nuts short of a full brain.  Each person who has seen a Sasquatch tells of their own experiences with passion in their voices.  Most sightings are along isolated less traveled roads which thick brush environments exist.  The can appear and disappear into the brush like Autumn mists.
     While I give the Finding Bigfoot team much credit for attempting to find a Sasquatch what I can't give them is a good grade on prowess hunting skills from my advantage point as an experienced outdoorsman, woodsman and big game hunter.  Most camouflaged game hunters move silently and stealthily to escape recognition.  Men wearing Hawaiian cut-offs?  Oh, my!
      God gave animals and ape-men fine tuned ears to hear man.  Hunters don't go around snapping sticks nor talk loud, since sound travels beyong human hearing over great distances on still, dark nights and not just down the valley, but miles out of human ear shot.  A fattening moon makes it harder to find them with LFIR.  Lose the wandering dog, too.  It's mountain lion food, man, too.

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 4

       "I only killed one," said the Texas man. 
       Who made him the center of the universe?
       He reported purposely planned to kill a sasquatch by nailing several several pork ribs to a tree, then after gaining its trust shot it in the head with a shell from his big game rifle - 30.06.  He self appointed himself as executioner and killed it to prove it exists instead of waiting for the next legal episode of Finding Bigfoot.  He had no permission from authorities or law enforcement agencies to kill an ape-man.  His plan is to let a taxidermist prepare it, then parade the body around the country in a box charging people for seeing the corpse.
       Bad idea!  Here we have a blood-thirsty money grubbing killer extorting money out of spectators and gawkers to prove its real.  Many angry 8emails he's gotten and a whirlwind of legal troubles.  His reputation is that of a glory hunter for profit.  He's what folks would call a 'scumbucket hunter not worth a twit'.
       Why the need to kill a Sasquatch just to prove the legend of Native Americans was correct?  It wasn't harming anyone.  It's about robbing others - namely the Bigfoot show he declared was fraud.  His blood trophy will make him rich, but don't get me wrong he's in a heap of trouble from DA's.
       I don't need to see its body.  I already know they exist.  I've seen one twice in one week, but you'll have to keep reading to hear about my parallel stories.
       I once watched a fiction movie called "Explorers."  It's about three young boys who did lots of daydreaming in school, but built a computer driven carnival scrambler encased in garbage cans metal.  The space craft ran on electromagnetic energy (inertia).  They wreak havoc at a drive-in movie theater and drive a law enforcement helicopter cop crazy with their creation.  The  boys are summoned to leave earth by beacons drawing them into outer space and are swallowed by an alien spacecraft.  The two alien teenagers were joyriding around the universe to discover what life was like on Earth.
       One boy asked the girl alien why they didn't come down to earth, the girl alien pointed up at their screen and said, "Look what you do?  Such hostility!"
       It was circle vision showing all the hostilities man creates on earth; wars, riots, pestilence, muggings, robberies, killings, natural disasters, etc.
       "We could never be friends - earthlings (humans) kill what they don't understand."
       A big alien show up with one hand shaking and slapping its big fat belly, one hand shaking his fist with angry gestures and expounds volumes of angry space jibberish for fit to print all the while aggressively thumping his giant foot.  The alien kids try to explain why they swiped (stole dad's family vehicle).
       One boy asks, "Who's this?"  The giant dad goes beserk.
       The other poor boy says, "I know!  It's their father.  You swiped your dad's craft?"
       The boy's father acted the same each time he lost his job and got drunk - aggressive and abusive to mother and son.  The alien kids replied, "But, but, but we only wanted to explore the universe pop".        
       Even through a science-fiction movie people throughout the world perceive what others they fear to be hostile people - beware of different humans and hominids.  Isn't it any wonder why North America's large hairy hominid creatures called Sasquatchs or Bigfoots keep such a low secretive profile around hostile humans?
       Next time we will travel, too.
      
       

Monday, January 27, 2014

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 2

       Bigfoot is a hot topic these days, but did you know the Apache Indians of Arizona and Indians of the Great Plains and Northwest warned incoming settlers 165 years ago to beware of the Sasquatch living in remote or wilderness areas.  They've probably been in North America and Canada for thousands of years.  The difference between past and present is because the human population exploded.
       People saw glimpses of the ape-men - a sneak peak to see they are real and not make believe monsters created by Hollywood.  When seen by present day humans the Sasquatch disappear faster than the rising mists in forests knowing when to flee and where to elude man.  Mysterious sightings of their exploits spread like wildfire amongst inquisitive humans.  Many see, but don't report sightings.  Some humans are afraid of what they don't understand or are afraid of what friends and family might think should they talk about seeing an ape-man lurking in the shadows.
       Wherever ape-men appear their bodies are supposedly covered in long, thick, coarse hair of brownish-red and appear to be half-human, half-ape standing erect on two large feet standing from 5-10 feet tall.  Females are shorter standing about 5 feet with an estimated weight of 300 pounds.  Males sasquatch are more massive weighing 300-800 pounds.  They are known to be very bulky, except for the slender Cryptid that startled people near Houghton Lake, Michigan.

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America - 3

       Ever seen a Sasquatch? 
       The males are reportedly huskier and taller with heavy muscular arms and legs.  They lope along, but the pace is faster and strides much longer than man.  These mysterious ape-men appear in the vicinity of the most unsuspecting people who live on the fringe of wild and and vast Boreal forests and rugged mountainous terrain.  They appear to inhabit places where they can quickly disappear.
      Color of hair, too, depends on region where it lives in America - the northwest including Oregon, Washington and Canada's British Columbia; the hair is tinged with green algae from being damp by constant humidity and rain forest type habitat.
     These ape-men inhabit the wildest and most unexplored regions of the world in many different countries.  In North America we call them Sasquatch a.k.a Bigfoot 6-10'; Australia (Yowies - 3-7'); Russia (Almas 6-10'); China (Yeron 6-10'); and Tibet (Yeti 10-12') commonly called Abominable Snowman.
     In America Sasquatch can appear like magic or with unheard stealthiness of deer, but they can even appear on the outskirts of towns.  They are inquisitive of man and can get close, but they show no aggressive tendencies, but appear curious of human chatter.  As humans that's what we're good at "yakking."  Sasquatchs have learned to live for the most part unseen with man so why can't we live in harmony with them?  Humans are supposed to be more intelligent and respectful of other forms of life.
     The Russian government for many years didn't let searchers or eyewitnesses talk about their mysterious creature called "Almas" for fear of ridicule from Americans.  Doesn't matter because the ape-men are being seen more frequently, because  the Earth's human population is increasing. 
     Prying eyes and minds are fascinated to know more about the cryptid sightings.  Ape-men habitat ranges from the thickest forested lowlands to the steep canyons of mountain ranges and to the tops of the world's highest mountains.  They remain secret and elusive, but we here more and more about them lurking near houses or wilderness cabins, but no recorded hostilities to humans.
     An yet, there have surfaced rumors that a young hunter looking for big game in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, was accidentally surprised by a young sasquatch and being excited with others in his hunting group tracked it down and killed it.  Adult sasquatches in the area screamed in bloody terror upon the young one's death so loudly it frightened them into running in the opposite direction fearing their lives.  They returned with other hunters to the killing site, but found no body.
     What would be your reaction if someone hunted down and killed your son or daughter just for the thrill of proving they were strange?  It is unlawful and illegal to kill anything beyond the specific game of purchased game licenses and permits.
     In a nutshell they simply tracked the young sasquatch down and killed a living legend -  they murdered it for the excitement of it all for thrill and glory, but didn't have a camera.  The remaining sasquatch got angry.  People wonder why the ape-men shun human contact and remain secretive.  Sasquatchies are not killers, but we know humans kill each other over petty things.
     Intelligent humans kill what they don't understand like the Texas man who's been bragging he killed a Bigfoot so everyone should stop looking for them, because he shot it in the head near a campground. 
     He brags, "What's the big deal?  I only killed one!" 
     

Bigfoot: Living Legends in North America -1

       Do you believe Bigfoot exists or are they figments of fertile human imaginations?  As intelligent as humans are we Americans have a sensational appetite for mysterious Sasquatch sightings.
       Each week the "Finding Bigfoot" team comprised of Matt Moneymaker, Cliff Barackman, Bobo Fay and Ranae Holland give Americans and worldwide audiences the latest Sasquatch sightings and investigate such claims.
       It's a spectacular travel log of sorts showing the beautiful scenery of where they've gone to explore, search and film exciting episodes of Finding Bigfoot for TV's Animal Planet.  They meet interesting people from all walks of life who find them just as curious.  Some impatient people claim the show is more fraud, but it is non-fiction reality.  They continually hope, and I said hope, to visually see or find some physical evidence to prove the ape-men (hominids) exist.
       The FB men are optimists, but Ranae, the woman field biologist, is the pessimist that doesn't always believe the photos or impressions of what others have seen.  These "hollerin' Bigfoot researchers and explorers are passionate of the quarry they hunt with night vision technology and infrared and thermal imaging cameras and not lethal guns.  They get nervous when being stalked by mountain lions or wolves.  Wouldn't you?
       Ranae's father as I understand believed and hunted for Bigfoot, but Ranae is suspicious of the sightings.  She's the "doubting Thomas" of the team, the disclosure of different perspectives of what she hears from eyewitnesses.  Is the sighting fake or real?
       The team travels worldwide listening to excited people who are first-hand witnesses to having encountered or heard strange vocalizations they didn't recognize or understand within their own neighborhood.  The strange howls and yelps in the dead of night caused their skin to crawl, but it is the sight of them that intrigues them more.
       Some were surprised by the wild ape-man's sudden appearance in desolate dark shadows near thick Boreal forests.  No matter how grainy or distorted  the photos appear from trail cameras, the facts in the minds of believers remain ever vigilant.  They saw the ape-man with their own two eyes.  In the flesh stood or squatted Bigfoot.
       Only trouble is, the younger generations want to see a Sasquatch instantly as in right now.  It's the "now" generation.  Well life doesn't happen on demand.  No instant gratification hunting for Bigfoot.  Life may not be fair so get used to disappointments or live a life of misery.  We can't have everything instantly.  Got to work for what you seek, but there are some who will try even if it's illegal.  Bad decisions today may cause your life to be a train wreck in the future.
       The human mind of believers won't let them forget when and where they saw Bigfoot, the Sasquatch of North American Native American Indian legends.