The Mountain has become a no-complaining zone, much to my liking and relief. So when the Heeler woke me up at 2am Tuesday morning asking to go outside, there was no grumbling to be heard.
Liberated from such cavilling, then, I was wide-open to whatever presented itself at that hour. As you might expect, I found it in the night sky.
I put Smudge inside once she’d finished her business, then came back out to gaze.
A waning crescent moon, which had risen less than an hour earlier, remained hidden behind The Mountain. The result was the blackest sky I’ve seen here in weeks, full of stars visible only on nights like that.
I was looking west, maybe 40° up from the horizon, at the precise moment that a meteor streaked south-to-north across the sky. Right place, right time. It blazed brighter and its trail was longer than anything I’d ever seen, almost horizontal.
I’ve been watching the sky since I was eight years old. I’ve seen the Northern Lights, the Milky Way, solar and lunar eclipses, shooting stars, planetary alignments and more. It took 60 years of stargazing before the heavens gifted me with that spectacular meteor yesterday morning.
And I would’ve missed it if I’d been pissing and moaning about taking Smudge out at 2am.
(Yeah, I made a wish.)
I’ve talked before about how different the natural world is in Ozarkansas, compared to the mixed-hardwood forests of northeast Ohio where I learned to love the outdoors. Terrain and geology. Flora and fauna.
The biggest difference, I think, is the level of awareness required when navigating relatively wild places. I mean, when I was coming up, our biggest concern was poison ivy. Stinging nettle ran a close second.
‘Round here, we have a longer list of wild things that can make you cry. Scorpions, for example. Wasps the size of a rifle cartridge, the sting of which has been described as “blinding, fierce, like a running hair dryer has been dropped into your bubble bath.”
And on a bad day, with equally bad luck, there are wild things in Ozarkansas that can kill you. To be specific, four species of venomous snakes. Black bears generally aren’t a threat to humans, but mountain lions, though far rarer, are less predictable.
I walk these woods knowing that all of the kill-you and make-you-cry animals, save one — the cottonmouth water moccasin — are here on The Mountain. I’ve seen many of them with my own eyes. Others I’ve captured on my trailcams. The rest have been sighted by one or more of my neighbors.
Which brings me back to the subject of awareness. Beyond obvious precautions — long pants and sturdy footwear, even snake boots or gaiters — is a simple watchword.
Don’t pick shit up.
If you see a “pretty rock” or something else on the ground that you want to examine more closely, don’t just reach down and grab it. Kick it with your boot first, or turn it over with your walking stick.
Around rock formations (which is pretty much everywhere), watch where you step. Don’t put your hands someplace you haven’t seen with your eyes. Before you sit down, take a good look at where your ass, feet and back will be.
It also helps to learn and understand animal behavior. Knowledge is power.
Ozarkansas isn’t forbidding or dangerous. There’s nothing to be “afraid of” here. Other regions of the country demand lots more caution than this place does, but it sure is different than what I was used to.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable