woodland tenants.

Bone pile, Wyoming.

This is a photo of a twelve foot tall pile of elk and mule deer antlers, skulls, held together by balance and barbed wire. Rachel, Matt, Brian and I passed it on our way to Yellowstone National Park...of course we had to stop to gawk.

A mule deer skull had fallen from the pile, we took it as an omen to put her in the back of our car to keep us safe while we slept in Walmart Parking lots and rest areas. We named the mule deer milky and parts of her would flake off like dandruff when she was handled. It may sound silly, but I think she kept us safe.

On that trip we encountered a deranged truck driver who asked us if we had loaded guns while he drank our beer and intimidated us at our Oregon campsite. I was afraid he was going to kill us. At a Walmart in Idaho I walked past a man wearing a navy hoody, he glared at me and then ran away. Minutes later a police officer told me a man fitting that description had shot someone and they were on a hunt for him.

When the trip was over Brian took her home. Milky later perished in a fire. Milky died for us and the experience made me understand why caveman painted bison on their cave walls, sympathetic magic is a powerful thing.

snow job.

obligatory snow post.

Well, its my first winter in Iowa. Everyone Iowan told me to dread the snow. I told them to not worry about me because,

"aww, schucks. I've driven in Illinois winters for years. It can't be THAT bad."

You can't compare a Chicago winter to a rural Iowa winter. And this snow and ice and sleet has humbled me. On Tuesday morning we had a storm come in from Nebraska, Tuesday night a storm blew in from Illinois (or vice versa). When those two storms met in the middle they fought a mighty fight. The winds blew a powerful 45 mph, about as fast as a thouroughbred horse. The snow came down and down and down eventually laying twelve inches of powder. Then the wind and the snow worked together to make tremendous white mountains and drifts. Sadly, it was not packing snow and no snowmen were made.

It was a fantastic feat of nature.

The snow locked me indoors and i got the day off work...paid. Porch cat tried to beg her way into our home by sitting on the window sill by the t.v and meowing...when she slipped off the edge of the sill and disappeared from my view I felt sorry for her. I let her inside and she slept happily by the space heater all day. I could feel kittens in her tummy, spinal chords and heads, it was kind of gross.

the end.