"Because I am the fire,
And when there is nothing left to take,
I will be finished."

That there is a line from a poem I wrote here for my EE friends, that reflects a difficult phase of my life, a phase of fading love and sudden loss.

But the photograph above it was an unexpected gift from nature.

See, when we go out into the wild, we have the opportunity to experience life and death at some of the most fundamental levels.

It is ironic that daredevils, seekers of challenge and thrill, the tempters of death, perhaps are the people on this earth who love life the most.

People who see the light of day and the darkness of night for themselves. The darkness isn't always where we think.

When we go into society there is no guarantee of reward, unless we are prepared to deal with people and help them.

But when a person leaves the box, escapes the boundaries of what society considers normal to experience the larger world, the result is transformative.

It is a rejuvenating process, and the more we come to love our natural environment, the more stimulating it becomes.

When we seek the highest challenge, we often obtain the purest pleasure in life. There are not too many people who have both the chance and the foresight to go out into the wild expecting to be educated there.

The experiences we have in this state are not quantifiable in terms of money and time. They are worth infinitely more.

So often we are concerned with the work we are doing in the world, and not the work that the world is doing in us.



Sometimes we have to stop what we are doing and let nature take its course.



We have to let nature speak to us, and that can't happen when we are trying to control everything in our lives. We have to become watchful enough to catch the moments when the universe is shining through, and very often those are moments in which we are still.

We are so conditioned to believe that we do not belong in this world, that nature has no room for us and can't support us. That is such an evil lie, told by a dying system.

There is endless bounty wherever people and nature come together in harmony.

Where nature is concerned, we should never assume that it is incapable of supporting life.

Oh joy! Thank you for being you.



Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

~ Robert Frost

Thank you, dear Christine.

Yesterday there was a very interesting visitor to the bridge where my fishing journey started.

At first i thought maybe two men were standing on the railroad tracks watching me fishing. Then it looked more like a vehicle when the object turned broadside. I realized when it stepped down into the river channel that I was looking at a moose.

It had no antlers but was probably the largest wild animal I'd ever seen up close. Maybe 120 feet away. Unfortunately it was raining and the phone was stowed in a plastic bag.

We have not made a writeup about my visit to Spiritwind, i was sort of a stress case up there due to news back home, but we did get to see a local whitetail doe eating apples out of a box right outside the window.

But i was too dumb to use phone camera, they stuck on SD.

...

Rain is beautiful and yesterday was beautiful. . It's just a little bit tougher to share photos.

I ended up scaling a pretty steep and muddy hill outside a state park on hwy 12, to avoid the camping area. A man wearing black clothes stood by the river down there for a while and i was traversing the facing hillside on deer trails like some sort of wild animal. Lol

Nature is amazing... it demands the improbable and we find ourselves dismissing the impossible in favor of slightly better options, and surviving.

And a delightful visit it was Miss Naga. And that poor dear deer. She came back, unbeknownst to us, and ate the entire remaining apples in that box. My stepson was the next visitor and as we were walking around two days later, him and his dad were pointing at some poop on the ground, speculating that it might have even been bear. So I walked over to look and saw a trail from the box leading into the woods. I recognized immediately that the deer had gotten the runs from eating all the apples. I hope she is okay. I would never have guessed she would came back and clean up every speck. Normally their poop looks quite a bit like the goats, except when they have eaten something that makes it all stick together like a blob sort of. I know, strange subject, but it's good to know what out there, pooping in the woods, LOL!

Yep, you got to experience cold showers, going potty in a bucket, and freezing your fanny off at night because I didn't realize we could use the furnace. I promise not to do that next time. You were a trooper though, despite the unsettling news. Anyone would have been stressed out over that.

And you got to hear and see our resident blue jay. His lady friend is hanging out now. For those of you who don't know, blue jays mimics the sounds of other birds. And they can get downright demanding about leaving food out for them. I love it though, animal kingdom right out the window.

Love your pictures of the river. Next time I'll take you down to Chain Lakes, just down the road. Maybe bring your fishing pole.

That was not your fault, lol. Even tho im about 140 lbs, im still kind of chubby n bulky.

The potty almost flipped over once because of my angle of attack. I had a panic attack that got worse in the shower because I'm literally afraid of the cold.

Later i discovered that we do have the ability to wash our hair and other parts without totally freezing. None of that was because of you or your place.

It's really because I have reached a stage of dependency on convenience that removes the ability to use judgment and take care of oneself.

The experience was healthy, and I was very inspired by your buildings and ability n willpower to maximize something that starts out small only to grow later.


It was a money where our mouth is moment for me. Realizing the difference between parroting sustainable living and actually living it.


Thank you @@

P.s. about the deer poopoo. It may have been too many apples. But i saw a lil devil baptizing some of them with dirt about 1/2 way thru.

Lol kids

I'd love to see the lake but I'm going to replace some of my hooks with panfish ones and barbless. If there islife after death i sure hope fish just reincarnate and not haunt the anglers. Cry lol

Here's hopefully a pic of a moose crossing a river in Alaska.



The moose I saw here in SE Wa was much older and heavier than the one in that photo. It crossed from the same direction although my actual vantage was distant.

Eek and wow.

Fort Walla Walla is worth seeing although it is small. The Audubon trail is magnificent, in that although the orchards are buried and neglected, the paths often take viewers right past apple trees that still bear fruit.



There are so many deer this time of year. It is like watching people flee a war. They certainly do love the apple trees and have definite preferences for sweeter, and flavorful apples.

My dad told me once that it is the bucks who drop the more solid #2s and for some reason the females mostly pellets. It seemed to be a consistent mix around the trees.

Of course, the cleared out areas of the park are also pretty. Unfortunately i found a clearing with some evidence of a coven...



... dancing footprints in circles and bones, also a few other strange things.



Right at the edge of this clearing was a huge tree just like in Pan's Labyrinth. .. so creepy back in there. Eek wild witches in groups lol.

But after that, a peaceful scene:



They came out later to cross from one wood to another :