I'm Still Here

Well, it's been longer than I had hoped since my last post. My activity had to slow down just about everywhere for awhile because of a few problems. Let me explain by telling you what happened on my last short hike. This should be a lesson for anyone to watch your health closely before doing any outdoor activity.

Most of you already know that I've been struggling to get back to my old everyday self since a car accident some months ago. I was thinking exactly that when I was finally able to go hiking two days in a row. That first day felt a little tedious for some reason, but I didn't think much about it at the time. I was just happy that I had been out.

I was a little disappointed when I got home because my camera didn't cooperate that day, giving me some very bad pictures. It turned out that I had some of the settings wrong from some previous experimentation. If you think the pictures I have in this post look bleak, you should see the bad ones. So I decided that more pictures was good enough reason to go back out a second day.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go out again, but I felt okay before I left so off I went. But when I pulled my truck into the parking lot of the nature park I could sense there was something wrong. I felt tired and my heart just wasn't into the whole thing this time. That's when I wisely decided I'd make this trip a little short. I'd see how it went when I got out there.

You long time readers know that I was out at these places all winter long last year with no problem. But this time it just felt colder to me than I thought it should. I walked only about 2/3 of the way through the park and decided I should go ahead and turn back. I just couldn't shake that tired feeling.

Then about halfway out I began to feel strange. All of a sudden I couldn't catch my breath and I was beginning to get very dizzy. I decided to stop so I wouldn't fall over. So I leaned against a snow covered park bench for a few minutes. I began to feel a little better so I methodically, but quickly, made my way out of the park to the warmth of my truck. There were no further incidents that day.

I decided when I got home that I would wait at least a few more days before I went out again. I thought maybe it was from breathing in too much cold air though. But then that evening came another problem. Another dizzy spell, but this time I was in the house. Not good. This hasn't happened since right after the car accident.

That wasn't the end, or the worst. I woke up in the middle of that night feeling a pain in my chest. It felt full, like there was air trapped in there. This has happened to me in the past, long before I ever started really enjoying nature. It was just stress before, but this hurt worse than ever before. I thought this was probably the same, but it did hurt quite a bit more. I waited there in my bed for a few minutes, and the pain began to lessen. I went back to sleep.

The next day I still felt a little bit of pain. It now felt like those old days when I felt a similar pain from stress. I had another scheduled doctor's appointment in a few weeks so I decided to do something then. The pain stayed with me off and on the whole time. Even though I was lucky, I should have gone to the doctor much sooner.

Well, yesterday was finally my appointment. Upon hearing my story, the doctor ordered an immediate test on my heart to make sure things weren't worse. Luckily the test results came out fine. I have to say I was a little worried. The chest pain turned out to be stress caused by all the problems from the accident.

I let stress get to me very easily, which is why I began my love of nature. Nature soothes that stress for me. I used to have similar problems until I found places to go and be alone with nature. But I haven't been able to do much of that for awhile now. This has not been a fun time for me at all.

So that's my story. Even though I was lucky, and my health has been monitored very well recently, for the most part, this should remind everyone to be careful before doing any outdoor activity. Check with a doctor. I'm not that old, and I'm reasonably healthy other than a bump on the head, but I still have problems sometimes.

And now that I got that out of my system, I hope I can move onto more cheerful things for my next post. See you then.

Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature!

Those Crazy Humans

He's back, the man behind the mask! If I remember correctly, I promised a few pictures from my latest hike. Well, here they are! The only problem is that I think things have changed quite a bit since then. Everything got warm and all the snow melted. I would have been out there, but it rained almost the whole time.

But I had a different reason for these pictures I have here today. Look closely at the two animals out there on the ice. Yup, they're people. Some of you long time readers know I don't really like taking pictures of people, but I have a reason for it this time. Perspective.

You might have to click the pictures to really understand, but this man and boy show how big this forest out here really is. I've shown pictures of this spot many times before, but none have ever shown the huge size of this place like these do. Go ahead and compare all three and you might see what I mean.

Before I continue, I want to mention to any of you who are interested that part two of my Demon Hunter horror fiction series is up at Rat Tales. It's titled "In The Mirror". This series will be a long one, and it's just beginning. I wasn't joking a couple of posts ago when I said writing this was literally giving me nightmares. I actually had to pause in the middle to take my mind off of it. Keep in mind that I know the full story. I'm really hoping that other people will eventually think this story is as good as I hope it will be.

Anyway, back to my little nature story. Humans prove to be even more skittish than most animals when they see a camera. Even though I was really kind of far away from them, these two must have detected the attention I was giving to them, because they decided to climb back up that hill behind them soon after I began taking pictures. The squirrels aren't usually any faster than they were.

And here's a more usual picture of the lake. I've shown you this view many times from all seasons. If you click on this one you can see the two wild humans far in the background. I never zoomed in too close because I wanted to make sure their privacy was protected. Other animals don't usually seem to care so much about that. They just don't want to be eaten.

We're so different from other animals in so many ways, and so similar in others. But do you know which ways are which. We do things like drive cars. No other animal does that. We wear clothing. I don't think any other animals do that. We keep other animals as pets and livestock. No other animal does... uh, wait a minute. Amazingly enough, there are other animals that do that! Go over to Nature Center Magazine to find out about it!


Nature Center Magazine - Ants love nothing better than to protect, groom and even raise aphids, scale bugs and bark lice. And why? They want the "milk" that they excrete which is called honeydew. Ants will also protect their new found friends, carrying them around in their jaws similar to a mother cat and her kittens.

Flynn The Conqueror

Hello. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Flynn. But I'm sure you've already heard of me. I'm famous all over the world. Every squirrel knows who I am. I'm their hero, fantastic Flynn. I'm the daring superstar who performs feats of bravery like no one else ever before!

Maybe you human giants don't know me quite so well, yet! Just to give you an example, That guy Indiana Jones aspires to be the human version of me. He gives a good try, but he's not even close. I bet he never rode on a dog's back before! That was an amusing little stunt that I did on my off time.

And I'm sure you've seen me on your primitive television at one time or another. I sometimes like to go and run around on the playing field at your sporting events. It drives you giants crazy but it sure is funny sometimes. Just think of all of those giant sports players chasing me around and around! They never catch me though. Never!

Oh, you probably want to know exactly why I'm here today. Well, there is this strange guy you all know as Ratty. I've been seeing this weirdo in the forests for the past few years. He wanders around taking pictures of all the animals, and a few other things. Last year I thought it would be funny to run right up to him and pose for a few pictures. That got old, so to really freak him out I stole a camera from some giant's attic and decided to do it right back to him. You wanna see?

Here he is looking highly surprised at the sight of me standing there with my own camera! He was just strolling along when I popped out there and began taking pictures of him! Take a look at him! That guy is a strange one. He actually walks around out there with a mouse costume on! I know a few real mice, and he is no mouse. They would be highly insulted! I gotta admit that it's kinda funny though.

Just think of what all you other giants think when you see him! You'd run away as if you saw a squirrel with a camera or something! I know you wouldn't want to meet him in the woods! And you don't know how many of my fans were just rolling on the ground laughing when he saw me standing there waiting for him!

I thought he was going to run away. But then he looked at me for a second and yelled some gibberish at me about not taking his picture because he was too embarrassed to be seen in a rat suit. You think he was embarrassed? You should have seen the poor squirrel that fell out of the tree because he was laughing so hard! That's something to be embarrassed about!

I'd stay a little longer and tell you a few stories about my favorite subject, me, but I know that I need to keep it short. I told that kook Ratty that I wasn't going to share these pictures of him, but would you keep these to yourself? I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this. This was pure gold!

I'll say goodbye with one last note. I'm sure you giants will be seeing me soon. Whenever a squirrel gets into your house, it's me. If one of us runs right at you to scare you, it's me. It's not because I'm a bad guy. It's because I'm a daring adventurer. You will soon become one of my many adoring fans, just like the squirrels and everyone else. See you soon!


Nature Center Magazine - Did you ever wonder if humans were the only creatures that could laugh? Well wonder no more! Apes giggle like humans! That's our Cool Nature Video for this week.

Squirrel On A Pole

So now you know. It was the dead tree all along. Not only did this make what I hope was a fun little game, but it also has a story to go along with it that's at least slightly amusing. The squirrel you see in this picture is very high up on that tree. Squirrels go up trees all the time, but this time it's a little bit different.

I have now brought you three previous posts from the same place and time as this supposedly innocent little squirrel. Yesterday was the game of the Hidden Squirrel. That's him. About ten days ago was the story of the Happy Hungry Squirrel that was one of many that were being fed by passers by. Over at Nature Center Magazine I put up a video of squirrels having a knock down drag out fight from the same day!

Before I actually tell you why this squirrel is up there on this dead tree, let's see the results of the game, and who won.

As you can see, this is a copy of the same picture from yesterday's game. This time I have circled the area where the squirrel is hiding so you know where it is. This picture isn't of the same good quality as the one from yesterday, so if you want to get another close look at the squirrel in the picture, you can see it there. It is quite visible. I checked.

You may have your doubts about how easy the game was this time, but to remove those doubts I want to announce that we have one winner of the game. Yup, one person was able to at least make an excellent guess. And who is that person? Drum roll please!

Bemused26

From her comment it sounded like she only guessed, but what a great guess it was! So right after you're finished here, go take a look at her blog and leave her lots of nice comments. Maybe you might even want to join her followers list. I was one of the first on that list.

On to the story. I'll try to keep it short.

Okay, when I walked over to this area of the mass feeding of the many squirrels, there were food frenzied squirrels running around all over. They were happy. They were fighting. They were running away! One such squirrel was this little guy who was doing all three.

This angry little varmint grabbed as many seeds as it could and ran for its life! It ran right up this tree to safety. But that wasn't the end for this little beastie. No! He perched up on top of this giant tree stump and growled and chirped at any other creature that dared to walk by.

And when he finished the seeds that he had taken with him to his lair up in the sky, he ran right back down the side of this tree and fought his way to more of that beautiful bounty of seeds. This is obviously one smart little squirrel. He was soon back up on his perch, growling and screeching at all comers. And that's exactly why he is up there.

Now considering the game from yesterday a little more, and to be fair to the rest of you who chose to make a guess, there were dozens of squirrels running around all over the place. So there may be squirrels hidden all over that picture. I checked your guesses and didn't find anything more than ol' Rocky, there on the tree, but there may be many more little sneakers in that picture.

So that's everything. A squirrel. A link to a cool blog. A story. And a lot of nonsense to go along with it. See you on the other side.


And now here's something we hope you'll really like!

Nature Center Magazine - Copas isn't a moose, but he likes horses a lot. Is that close enough? Come on over and see what he's discovered in the state of Louisiana!

Joan Young Day

Today I want to join in and celebrate Joan Young Day. Today she is going to be the first woman to hike the full length of the North Country Trail here in the US. This is a huge accomplishment for a hiker, especially one who is the very first. Follow the link above to find out more about this great event.

Now, who is Joan Young? Many of you already know the answer to that. She is our friend Sharkbytes. She is maybe the greatest hiker I know. I consider myself a hiker, but I'm just an observer compared to her. My hikes are always short ones that even a beginner can do, but hers cover over half the width of the United States.

I'm going to try to keep the rest of this post short so this is more about Sharkbytes today. She deserves a lot of credit for what she is about to do. There is more about all of this over at Nature Center Magazine. And you can visit My Quality Day to congratulate Sharkbytes yourself.

Congratulations, Joan. You have inspired me and many other hikers to go farther and farther. Thank you!


Nature Center Magazine - We have a very special Nature Site Of The Week today honoring Sharkbytes and her blog My Quality Day. Go on over to take a look. Then give Sharkbytes a visit to congratulate her for her huge accomplishment.

KISS Alive 35

Now on to my second of three posts of the day. This one doesn't contain any pictures, because my camera wasn't with me. I went to see a KISS concert Friday night. Some of you aren't interested in this part, but some of you asked about it, so I'm going to tell a little bit about it. I think just about everybody has heard of KISS by now, they're the rock band with the painted faces. They've been around since the early 1970s. They have never left, and now they have a new album and a tour.

This was actually a very historical event Friday. Our Cobo Arena is going to be torn down in the near future, and when the guys in KISS heard about it, they made sure they got here in time to be the last group to have a concert there. You see, Cobo is very important to them. Even though they are not from Detroit, it was our where they first became a hit. And they actually recorded their first album "KISS Alive" right there in Cobo. There is a picture of the crowd from there on theback of that album.

Okay, so how was the concert? It was fantastic! A Kiss concert is more than just a rock concert. It's music and rock theater at the same time! This is a very complete show, and you come away from one of their concerts feeling completely satisfied every time. They put everything they have into one of their shows.

But what happened at the show? What made it great? Well, the tour is called KISS Alive 35. It's been 35 years since they made their KISS Alive album, and they have devoted a whole tour to it. That means that this Cobo concert has been even more important. They are celebrating this huge hit album by playing a show consisting of exactly the same songs as the ones on that album.

In the middle of all of this, Gene Simmons proceeds to breath a big fireball into the air. After the set of songs from that old album, they come back for the longest encore you've ever seen. Then to start off another of his songs,Gene flies into the air and up to the top of the arena to sing one of his most famous songs.

He's not the only one with a few tricks. Paul Stanley rides a cable to the back of the arena to sing one of his songs from the middle of the crowd. The guitar player, Tommy Thayer, shoots fireworks from his guitar during his solo. The drums move in all different directions, while drummer Eric Singer is still drumming away, and even singing a few songs himself.

Then to end the show, they play a song that's near and dear to the hearts of this Detroit crowd. Actually this song was inspired by the city of Detroit itself. They end the show with the song "Detroit Rock City". Everyone goes home happy. It was the very first show of their American tour, and we all got to say goodbye to Cobo with KISS!

Now check out the third post so you can see who gave awards to The Everyday Adventurer!

Angry Ratty

I am going to do something a little different today. This post is going to be a little bit on the negative side. There is some fun too, but I was more than a little angry when I took these pictures. This anger may be justified and maybe it's not. I'll explain what happened.

I was coming home from a happy trip to one of my nature parks, and I found five animals together waiting for me. If you look in the pictures you'll see an adult deer and her three fawns. There was a fifth animal, a chubby little woodchuck, happily grazing along with the deer, but it left before I got the pictures.

Normally the fact that the woodchuck ran away would be no big deal, even though I would be disappointed about it. But the woodchuck ran away for a reason, and that reason wasn't the fact that I showed up. It was driven away on purpose by somebody else.

As soon as I got out of my truck, with my camera in hand, I heard a loud bang from somewhere off to my left. It wasn't a gunshot or anything like that. It was just one of my jerk neighbors trying to frighten these animals away when they saw me with my camera. I looked but I never saw who did it. I'm sure it was on purpose.

I don't even know these people but I know how they behave. Not everybody here is like that, but several are. They're the same reason I don't keep anything outside the house. I hope I'm mistaken about this or just overreacting, but sometimes you just get a feeling when something is on purpose. And I'm writing this post to get rid of my anger.

...There. All gone.

Luckily the deer weren't frightened at all by the noise. The interesting thing is that I suspect these are the same deer I saw a few weeks ago early one morning at a nearby nature park. If they are the same, they've traveled farther than I thought they would, but it wouldn't be surprising. I hope this deer family gets where they're going safely. And I hope I get to see them again one day.

How's that for an adventure? Angry Ratty. Grrrrr!

Magical Deer

Yesterday I went back to the park where I was talking to the park official last week about the poison ivy. By coincidence I met her once again. I was just entering the heart of the park and I met her as she was on her way out. I never asked, but she must check this place at least once a week, maybe more.

We talked for a few minutes and she told me about a few deer she had seen a ways back. She told me last week about one she saw too, but I never found it. This time was very different. Not only did I get to see the three deer she told me about, but I also got some good pictures so you can see them too.

I just happened to see some movement off to my right, so I stopped to look. I'm getting pretty good at doing that now. At one time I never would have noticed this movement, but now I stop and turn at every little thing I see in the forest, just like the deer I saw this time when I turned to my right.

It's strange, but if you stay very still while looking at a deer it will stare right back at you for a good long time. I got several pictures that looked just like this one of this first deer. I was even able to change a few settings on my camera and zoom it in for a closer look. The deer barely moved.

It's often a rough decision to break this hypnotic spell with a deer. You know when you do it that the deer might run and you'll never see it again. As I had this one under my evil spell, I noticed another movement to the right. I turned to see not one, but two more deer moving around near this first one.

Of course, I still had this one right in front of me, so I turned back to get a few more shots, and my worst fear had begun to come true. The spell was lost and the first deer moved behind the trees. All hope wasn't lost though.

In this last picture you can see how easy a deer can make itself invisible in the forest. Look very closely. The deer is there. It's spying on me through the green of the forest. It's almost magic in its ability to hide right in front of you. Invisible!

The second deer didn't seem eager to come out so I could see it very well, but I have some excellent pictures of the third deer. I'll have to wait until another post to show some of those to you. I don't do this to treacherously make you wait through a cliffhanger; I only do it so I can save space in order to bring you posts for many years to come.

YEAH RIGHT! The next part of this post comes tomorrow! Mwaahahaha!

Poisonous Plants

Something I have wanted to talk about for a long time is poisonous plants. Since I started hiking I've been looking for a common plant around here called Poison Ivy. I know generally what it looks like, but positively identifying it can be difficult sometimes.

The plants you see in these pictures could be poison ivy or they could be another plant called boxelder, which is actually a non-poisonous tree and is also common here. Every picture I see confuses me more. As far as I know, young boxelder trees resemble poison ivy more than any other non-poisonous plant.

As some of you know, I can get confused trying to identify certain plants. That's not unusual for anyone though. Most people would not be able to tell the difference between these two plants. There is one very easy way, but I don't recommend it at all. If you touch poison ivy you'll end up with a very bad rash in about a week. The boxelder is safe.

While I was visiting one of my favorite nature parks yesterday, I was talking with one of the park officials I happened to meet on the hiking trail, and the subject of poison ivy came up. She told me that the place was just full of the stuff, especially right next to where we were standing!

She pointed out a few of the plants beside the trail, identifying them as poison ivy. One of my pictures here is one of the plants she pointed out. She also mentioned the boxelder trees and how confusing it could be. So why would anyone take a chance and leave the trail in that area?

This is one of the main reasons I tell beginners to stay on the trails. That includes your kids! I once saw a boy that actually rolled around in unidentified plants on trails like this. I tried to stop him but his parents were ignorant about such things and only thought it was funny, so I could do nothing further. Hopefully he was unhurt.

If you want some really good information on poison ivy you can go to this link. It also shows pictures of poison ivy, boxelder, and other plants that have been confused with poison ivy. Places like this, along with some of the park officials I've talked with, have helped me get a better understanding about these plants.

Speaking of the park officials, if you happen to be at a place where they have people like this working there, they may have some very valuable knowledge to share. If you're polite, you can learn all sorts of things from them. I had a great conversation with the woman I met yesterday. She even told me the best place to find deer in the park this time of year.

I hope this story teaches you something. Also, are there any of you who might know more about poison ivy? I'd really like to know if these plants are the real thing. Any of you who don't know, don't touch them! I know I won't.

A Day In The Forest

It was a dark and rainy day, and I was walking around the forest in my favorite nature park. The rain didn't really get in here under the trees, so it was a good place to be. The rain freshened up the air and gave the forest a quiet dampness. I was happily taking in all of my surroundings when I saw something up ahead.

It was a little boy and his dad walking in my direction on the path. As soon as the boy saw me he ran ahead of his dad yelling to get my attention. "Excuse me! Excuse me!", he yelled urgently. He must have been only about five or six years old.

When he got up close to me he begged, "Can you tell us how to get out of here! My dad doesn't know where we are! I think we're lost!" He seemed really scared and not at all confident in his dad's ability to navigate these trails without some outside help.

As this was all happening his dad calmly caught up to him, and we greeted each other. He didn't seem all that lost to me. We were both amused by the little boy's anxiety. We both knew he would find out soon enough that his dad could get him where they needed to go.

As they were getting ready to go on their way, the dad stopped again and asked me, "Oh, can you tell me, is there a lake in here somewhere?" I told him it was up on the right, and all he had to do was keep going straight until he saw a path that was moving in that direction. After a little talk of fishing and talk of the rest of the park, they were on their way. And so was I.

I resumed my enjoyment of nature, and my picture taking, through the rest of the park on this dark but peaceful day. I saw nothing particularly unusual but I still had a good time. Just as I was leaving the forest I heard the little boy's voice yelling behind me again, "Wait! Wait! Wait!"

I turned around and there he was in the distance running towards me again. The trail curved around so the end was obscured by trees, and his dad was nowhere in sight. I waved and then stopped for him. When he caught up to me, I asked him what was wrong.

"We're lost! Can you get us outta here!" I asked him where his dad was, and he said he was still back there. I smiled to myself, knowing it was still the same as before. I told him he should go back to his dad before he began to worry about him. But he was having none of that, so I started walking with him back into the forest.

It was right then that his dad called out his name. I told the little boy to yell back to let his dad know where he was, so he yelled, "I'm right here!" After a few more seconds we found his dad and I turned around to leave. The little boy stopped me still insisting they were lost, and begging me not to leave them.

He said, "Can you help us find the parking lot? My dad doesn't know where it is. He's lost and we've never been here before. Will you show us how to get outta here?" I said to him that I was sure his dad was smart enough to find the parking lot, and then I pointed in the right direction to show him they weren't lost at all.

It didn't convince him one bit, so I walked with them out of the park. The man told me he just recently discovered the place, and asked me a few more things about it. We talked about the park, the trails, and nature in general the rest of the way to our cars. The little boy was happy to be back in the familiar surroundings of civilization, and we all went happily our own way.

Interview With The Adventurer

I am pleased to announce, as my post for today, that I have been interviewed at one of the top sites on the internet for blogs that talk about nature. Today my blog, The Everyday Adventurer, is the featured blog of the week on Nature Blog Network. This is something I've kept silent about for a short while now, but I've wanted to tell you all.

I'm going to leave a nice link at the bottom of this post. Please follow it to my interview, and then come back when you're finished and let me know what you think. My comments section is, as always, open and waiting for you. I would like you to please read this interview. I would like you to do that very much.

I'd like to give a special thanks to Wren of Nature Blog Network and Wrenaissance Reflections for giving me this honor and for being my interviewer. And I'd also like to thank you, all of my readers, for your support. Now please, go read the interview!

Featured Blog: The Everyday Adventurer

Who Is Ratty?

Who is Ratty? That is a short but very complex question. Some of you have wondered about it, and some haven't thought about it at all. Most of us use pseudonyms here on the internet. This one is different though. Ratty is a legend. Ratty was a hero. Today I am Ratty, but I'm not the original. Ratty was my uncle, and Ratty was my best friend.

I said this was a pseudonym for me, and obviously it wasn't his real name either. I use it here on the internet, the same as any of you use yours. It was his for a much more interesting reason. I didn't just take his name for just any old reason. I did it because I guess I'm also the one who gave it to him. This is going to take some explaining, because it's a very different kind of story.

This story starts when I was only a baby. And yes, although it may sound unusual, I do remember back that far. One of my few remaining memories of my favorite uncle was when he used to bring me piles of change. I used to drop the coins down into the cracks of my grandparents' front steps. It was a fun thing for a little kid to do, and he didn't mind at all.

It was around this time that my uncle was drafted into the army, and into one of the worst wars in our country's history. He became a tank driver, which sounds like it would be a pretty safe job in a war, and it was. He used to send me pictures of him standing beside the tank. One of them showed where they had run over a land mine. The explosion created a huge hole in the ground. The tank was mostly undamaged.

One time, when his tank was in for repairs, he volunteered to go on a rescue mission. My grandpa told him never to volunteer for things like that. He did anyway. They went to rescue some wounded soldiers. They were given a kind of truck that was known for not having any protection at all. This time it was the truck that ran over a land mine. My uncle didn't come back alive.

I was only a little older than two years old at this time. I didn't understand the concept of death yet, so my mom decided not to take me to the funeral. There also wasn't any real way to tell me about him yet. It was about this time that I received a visit from somebody. It might sound strange, but the visitor was my uncle.

I still remember that day. My mom and I were in the kitchen, and my mom had to go down to the basement for something. The back door was open, but the outside screen door was locked. I watched as my uncle came up the stairs of the back porch to the door. I told him that I would go get my mom for him, but he said not to do it because he was in a hurry, and the one he came to talk to was me.

I don't remember much of the conversation anymore, I was only a few years old after all. I do remember that he told me he would be back. My mom came up the stairs soon after he left. After she asked me who I was talking to, I told her it was my uncle. He was her younger brother.

To this day, my mom tells me she heard me talking to somebody up there. She had her hands full, and was frantically trying to get upstairs. Even back then, kids shouldn't talk to strangers. I knew that very well, but he was not a stranger. My mom knew I was telling the truth as I saw it, and that I must have known who I was talking to. Besides, there was nobody there anymore, not even outside.

Shortly after this happened I made a new friend. He was a kid that was a little older than me. He told me his name was Ratty. I knew him for a long time, and we played together the way little kids do. There was one time where I was teasing my new little brother with a worm, and Ratty took it from me and covered it up so my brother wouldn't be afraid anymore. I learned a new lesson.

This whole time, my parents just assumed that I had an imaginary friend. Lots of little kids have them at some point. At the same time all of this was happening, my grandma had the idea to put pictures of each family member on one of her living room walls. For my uncle, she used an old picture from when he was a little kid. It had been packed away for several years, and nobody had seen it in all that time.

When we went to visit my grandparents, I immediately noticed that picture. I identified it as my best friend Ratty. I was much too young to have ever seen this picture before. Nobody else knew what to think of this, but they most likely dismissed it as the imagination of a small child. Wouldn't you?

I continued to play with my friend, but through the years his visits became less and less frequent. They finally stopped shortly before I started school. He still occasionally visited me in my dreams, but it just wasn't the same.

Was this all only the imagination of a child? Or was it something much more special? I don't have that answer for you, because I simply don't know. I do know that it was all real to me, and I still remember everything, including his face.

So, who is Ratty? That was Ratty. I use this name to honor my uncle, and my best friend. Thanks Ratty. I'll never forget.

The People Of The Forest

Today I have a little surprise for you. I'm going to break character and tell you a little secret. It's something that you might not expect from me from the things I've been telling you. I probably should have talked about this before, but I've had more fun holding it back. What is this secret? The secret is...

The people of the forest. Who are they, these people of the forest? That's an easy one. They are the people that I meet on my everyday adventures. Up until now I've told you how mean and angry I get when I see other people roaming around my peaceful forest paths. It's the truth, but not the complete truth at all.

The real truth is that I like seeing other people out there sometimes. Really I do. For all of you city dwellers, and for some of you who aren't used to a city, there's something I need to explain. While you're in the middle of a city most people are extremely rude to each other. If you live in the country it's not the same as in a busy city. I don't know why that is, but it just is. Not all of time of course, but most of the time.

It's a completely different experience in the forest on a hiking trail, than in a city. It's like being in the country. Most of the people you pass by give you a friendly greeting. Almost never in a city. In the forest we all have something in common. The love of nature. Sometimes people will excitedly stop me with a story of the animal they just saw, or some other interesting thing that happened.

On the place I go to see the nesting goose, there is retired man who I frequently compare pictures with. We show each other what we have collected on our cameras for that day. I met him shortly after discovering the goose. We don't say much else except for our talk of nature. He once told me that the city there has been trying to buy the land to make that nature preserve for twenty years. It just opened last fall.

Yesterday while I was walking through the forest, I saw a group of people standing on the trail. They were all looking up into the trees. A few had expensive looking binoculars. The rest had really good cameras. I noticed one guy carrying a camera with a lens that was as big around as my arm! It was almost as long. These people were obviously bird watchers.

I smiled to myself as I walked by, because I've been telling all of you that I have to sneak up on any animals that I photograph, and I'm getting pretty good at it. I do it because my camera is just a point and shoot digital camera. With the camera that guy has, there shouldn't be any bad pictures. Half of mine turn out blurry!

With all of those fancy cameras, no wonder there are so many beautiful pictures on the internet! I'm still happy with my humble little camera though. It's fun to develop my sneaking skills. I've also had to develop a few skills to make the animals like me a little bit. Sometimes they get angry with me for tricking them, but it works well enough.

Right after seeing the animal fight I told you about yesterday, I walked around a bend and saw a woman with a very small little girl. The girl couldn't have been older than three years. The woman looked to be her grandmother. The woman was teaching her about the forest in a special grandmotherly way. It made me smile.

When they saw me coming, the little girl looked up with a little bit of fear in her eyes. That's the usual reaction to me from little kids. I was already smiling, so I gave the little girl a wave, the kind you do for small children. The grandmother smiled at me. The little girl looked shyly towards the ground, the fear still in her eyes.

I walked past them and on my way out of the trails towards the parking lot. When I got there the parking lot was very full. I liked that. More people should experience nature. It's good for them. It's good for us all. I got in my truck, and went home happy. I talk to a lot of people at those nature parks. Even more since I wrote most of this story.

One final note on this. I'm sure you've noticed that I have no pictures of any of these people. I've said in the past that I don't really like taking pictures of people. For one thing, I think they spoil nature pictures when they're in them. For another, most people feel like that little girl did when there's a camera pointed at them. I don't want to scare any animal more than necessary, not even the human kind.

Make sure you come back tomorrow. I have something very special for you. I'll give you a clue. Who is Ratty?

The Craziest Animal

Today I went to the nature park a little later than I've been going recently. I decided to go in the evening before it really started getting dark. I kind of wondered what the animals would be doing this time of day. Would they even be the same animals?

I found out that a few of the regular animals were still there. Most of them were nowhere to be seen. I also noticed that there were types of animals that I usually don't see very much of. In fact there was one kind in particular that were roaming the park in large groups. There were several of these groups of animals.

I've mentioned in past stories how geese make a lot of noise and cause a ruckus. These animals were even rowdier than geese. As a matter of fact they were actually bothering my favorite nesting goose. They were gathered around her and scaring her very much. She was huddled over her eggs when I went to see her. I didn't take her picture because I was just checking to see if she was okay.

Before I got to her I found out something about these other foolish animals. When I found them hovering around the poor defenseless goose, I stopped near them. They were so mesmerized by the goose that they didn't notice me there at all. I wanted to protect the future mother, so I decided to make my presence known.

I looked at the crowd of animals that were ignoring me, and I calmly lifted my camera in their direction. As soon as the camera came up, the animals turned in my direction. The goose was now forgotten. They didn't seem to like my camera one bit.

I've seen squirrels run from me, and birds would scatter at the sight of me, but these creatures all decided they had somewhere else to be when they saw my camera. They immediately left the goose alone and even fled the area! No, they did not like my camera at all.

I'm sure many of you have already guessed what kind of animal these were. They were people of course. People are the shyest animals of all. Most of them want no part of the business end of a camera. Just remember, your camera can either make you feel like a freak, or it can be a frightening weapon of justice for the defense of an innocent little animal.

The Florida Dragon

Before anyone reads my post for today, I'd like to give a little warning. This one is kind of shocking and maybe a little horrifying. If you're unprepared for that sort of thing, you may want to stop reading now. It's still PG rated, but you may not like what you read. I may get chased all the way off the internet for this one. Remember that it's only a story, and the word fiction means it's not real. So, with all that said, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

Fiction Friday

I thought I could get away with it. I really did. I know it was an evil thing to do, but I couldn't resist. The moment when I first saw it, I knew I just had to have it. But how could I get it?

Nothing short of starting a war would wrench it away from it's rightful owner. That's when I began stalking the squirrels. It was a complicated plan, but I was sure it would work. I had no idea things would go so terribly wrong!

My confession will come right after I show you the awful depth of my crime. Before I give you my explanation of just what exactly I'm talking about, let me show you how truly ungrateful I've really been.

A few weeks ago The Retired One went on a vacation trip all the way to Florida. She happily shared her story with us all on her blog. Knowing that I liked dragons so much, she innocently told me that she brought a dragon she found there back to Michigan as a pet.

Little did she know that I was immediately jealous, and I plotted to steal her dragon from her. I didn't know how I was going to get it, and I knew it wouldn't be easy. That's when I began to devise my evil plan.

The only way I could get it from her would be to trick her into giving it to me. I announced that I was stalking the squirrels, knowing it would anger them. Then I declared war on them to escalate things to the breaking point. The ill tempered squirrels quickly struck back, taking over my blog, and trapping me in the comments section.

A few of the more skeptical readers sided with the squirrels, and a few other kind souls offered me their sympathy and help. The Retired One was one of the latter. As I was sure she would, she offered to send her new pet dragon to save me. I didn't need any help because they were only little squirrels. I did need that dragon though.

After I easily escaped, I waited for the dragon to show up. When it got there, I convinced it to stay with me by giving it all the squirrels it could eat. My evil plan was a great success. I stole her pet dragon! It was all mine! Little did any of us know what the dragon really wanted.

Even though Mr. Nutz was now happily distracted by his fine new acorn, there was still the matter of the Dark Jedi Squirrels to contend with. They didn't care about acorns. All they wanted was revenge. I had to stop them from chopping me to bits!

As they began to move towards me, I quickly told the dragon to protect me from them. They tried to fight, but the dragon swallowed them whole. It then turned its attention to the rest of the squirrels.

It was a massacre! The squirrels went running in every direction, with the dragon right behind them! It was scooping up squirrels left and right in its powerful jaws! Only a few of them got away. I've now heard reports that some of them ran all the way to the other side of the world!

As the vicious dragon came back, looking completely satisfied with itself, it glanced up into the tree where Mr. Nutz was still sitting, happily munching on his acorn. The dragon then lunged towards Mr. Nutz! I didn't see what happened, but when the dragon dropped back to the ground, all I found of poor Mr. Nutz was his combat helmet.

After devouring most of the squirrels, including the poor dupe, Mr. Nutz, the dragon told me it was very thirsty. I was happy to oblige because I didn't like the way he was looking at me, so I told it about the frozen lake. Little did I know that the dragon had a plan of it's own.

When we got to the lake, the dragon used it's fire breath to melt the whole sheet of ice covering it, in the process freeing all of the other evil dragons that had been trapped under the ice. I watched horrified as hundreds of them flew into the air. What have I done?

They won't stop with only squirrels. We're all in danger! They're free, and it's all my fault! That's my story. That's my awful confession.

Oh, I almost forgot. I have a message for The Retired One. Uh, since I lost your dragon, here's the pink combat helmet you wanted. I had to paint it that color. I don't think it belongs to anyone anymore, so you can have it.


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Guess Rose's Animal

My friend Rose Ragai over at My Life Is My Choice has a new little game on her very excellent blog. It's a good game. It's called Guess.... Who Am I?. She can't get on the web right now, but she can post new articles. Her only feedback right now may be comments, so play her game and leave a comment.

Tattershall Castle Lightning Rods

I found another lightning rod that I'll show you today. Well, I didn't exactly find it. It was sent to me all the way from England by my friend, and fellow adventurer, John from English Wilderness. He knew I've been looking for this type of thing, so he decided to do me a favor. Take a look at his site. I know you'll like it.

These aren't just one lightning rod. They're a series of lightning rods that protect the top of Tattershall Castle. The castle is a tourist destination in Lincolnshire. There is even a website with official information. Here's a link to it: Tattershall Castle

There are three doors at the bottom. When you enter the one on the left, you'll see a spiral staircase that leads to the top of the castle. I like spiral staircases. The second goes down to the basement and the storerooms. And the third, which is close to the middle of the castle, enters right into the great hall.

On the top left tower you can see a pole sticking up. It's actually a flagpole, not one of the lightning rods. There are lightning rods on each of the towers and on the three chimneys in the middle. These towers look smaller compared to everything else, but they look huge when you see them closer.

This is a closeup of the three chimneys at the middle of the castle. I told you they looked bigger when you see them closer. You can get a good look at the network of lightning rods from here. Here's a little better description of the castle from John, since he's the one who was actually there.

"The castle is about 40m high. There are 5 floors, plus the roof and a walkway around the battlements. Tattershall Castle was built in the 1440s by Lord Cromwell. Most of the windows have pictures in stained glass.

There's a lightning conductor on each of the chimneys and each of the towers. I followed the conductor as far as possible. They connected together and eventually disappeared through a wall.

There's some really old graffiti in the castle... Most of the dates are from the 1800s, but I spotted a few from the 1700s and a couple from the 1600s. 1642 was the oldest. I looked up the chimneys, but didn't find anything interesting."

Cheers,

John

That was some interesting stuff! It's fascinating to me to know that someone from as far back as 1642 would write graffiti on the walls. I don't think we'll find very much English graffiti here in America from that far back. Maybe a little from the 1700s and 1800s.

Here's a closer shot of one of the chimneys. You can get an excellent look at what the lightning rods look like in this one. These lightning rods aren't fancy, and they aren't meant to be. These have a very important purpose here.

These lightning rods are on this castle to protect it from lightning. They don't need to look good for that. They are serving this important function so that the castle won't be damaged. This castle looks to be the highest structure in the area, so it's probably struck by lightning frequently.

This last photo is of one of the stained glass windows John told us all about. If you click on the photo to get a better look, you can maybe make out the words that are written on it. It's okay even if you can't. The glass is beautiful nonetheless.

Well, that was a little bit of a different kind of adventure for today. This should show you that you can have great adventures wherever you are, whoever you are. All you have to do is go out and claim the world as your own. So many of you already do this. Others of you only need to step outside. Things like this are waiting for you there.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to have another special adventure, so Friday Fiction will be canceled for this week. For those of you who have enjoyed it, don't worry. What I hope to have tomorrow will be just as good. I'm telling you, I laughed out loud when I found out about it. Talk to you then.


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Help Find Rainfield's Bird

Rainfield over at MyJourney has a picture that he took of a bird. The only problem is that the bird seems to have done a disappearing act. Check out his site and see if you can find it for him. Leave him a comment and let him know what you think. Here's the link to the post: Where Is My Bird?

Jerkweed Pod People

Fiction Friday

Most people think these pod plants are just everyday, ordinary, common milkweed, but that's not what they are at all. I know what they really are. These plants are something called Jerkweed. If you don't believe me, just keep reading. I know part of the story, but the rest is only known by them.

These plants don't originate on the planet earth. They came here a long time ago, from a galaxy far far away. They traveled through space looking for just the right planet to infest. They needed the right creatures to feed off of. They finally settled on a small blue planet known as Earth.

I know! I was shocked too when I first found out. These plants settled here, but no one knew what they were. Everyone thought they looked kind of strange. But being curious creatures, we humans were very interested in them. We thought they were kind of fascinating. Little did we know of the sinister plot of these alien beings that would soon hatch out of these pods.

These aliens planned on transforming into the shape of the dull creatures that inhabited this planet. They didn't take long to decide to appear to be human. Humans seemed to be very gullible creatures, so the aliens thought it would be very easy to take over.

From each of these jerkweed pods, a little three inch tall jerk is going to hatch. So with each pod comes an evil little jerk. Their plan is to be so annoying that the humans will surrender one by one. If the little jerks survive long enough, they will grow to actual human size and become big jerks.

You still doubt me? I know you've seen them! Have you ever been happily driving along in you car, and then look in the mirror and see another car that's driving behind you way too close? That is an evil jerk! They are also the ones driving behind you and honking their horns constantly. As a matter of fact, it's the evil jerks that invented the car horn.

If you've ever been to a movie theater and some obnoxious person was talking loudly over the movie, you know who it was. No, not you! It was one of the evil jerks! They laugh too loud and in the wrong places, and make a general nuisance of themselves. They are the ones that insist on throwing popcorn! Evil, evil, evil!

There is other generally jerkish behavior that you see them do every day. This behavior can be just about anything annoying. It's too numerous to list everything here. If they can intimidate you just a little bit, it nourishes them. If they can annoy you, they consider it a tasty treat. If they make you angry, they think they have won!

These jerks are everywhere. Did you ever wonder why you had one very mean teacher in school? What about the boss that is always giving you a hard time? We even recently had a US President that was one of them. I won't say which one. You can figure it out pretty easily.

I know that all of you have seen these jerks out there. What kind of jerkish things have they done around you? What was your reaction to them? Don't always try to confront them directly. They even have the government on their side. We just might be doomed.

Are you convinced now? You've all seen them. If you can still deny that the evil jerkweed pod people exist, are you one of them? I'm taking a great risk revealing their evil plot. I face the potential wrath of millions of jerks.

I bet you now realize why we call people that do irritating things jerks. It's all because of these jerkweed plants from outer space, and the pod people that come out of them. Pod Person is of course the politically correct term. If you call them jerks or jerkweeds, you face a potential lawsuit.

That's my story. If I still have another post tomorrow, then that means I was able to withstand the relentless onslaught of the evil jerks. If you never see another update here, then I was just another casualty in the war with the jerks.

I'll talk to you tomorrow. I hope.


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