The Frost has Come

Last night I went down to the prairies by the Meramec River, just before sundown. The temperature was 50f as the sun was setting. I noticed the deer were not coming down from the ridges to browse as they usually do. The stillness was deafening. By twilight, the temperature dropped like a rock to the upper 30's and the prairies prepared for the coming frost. The rapidity of the temperature drop was amazing. Unless you live in a den underneath the prairie grasses, it would have made for a very chilly evening. The deer are no fools!

The "Fairer Sex?"

It has been a mild summer here in Missouri, and with recent rains and a spectacular find of Chicken of the Woods fungus I resolved to hunt more summer wild mushrooms. During the warm weather mushroom season one can be rewarded with shaggy mane, oysters and corals.  These white mushrooms stand out starkly against the green and brown forest backdrop. They're rare - and tasty!

Shortly after dawn I headed into the LaBarqe Creek Conservation Area. This three-mile trail loop has yielded white summer mushrooms in the past, and my expectations were high. I tuned my eyeballs to see white blazes through the sweat, gnats and endorphin haze. I hadn't walked a hundred yards before finding a small, dainty white coral mushroom sprouting from the side of a dead log. Eureka! "It's going to be a good shroom hunt" I told myself.

As I headed deeper into the area I kept seeing white blazes on the ground. But excitement and anticipation soon turned to disgust. Each white blaze was a clump of toilet paper thrown directly on the ground. These were not "#2" field latrines, mind you, just pee spots. Not a single turd was found. No effort was made to bury or disguise the refuse. In most cases these bathroom breaks were within 5 feet of the trail. Only occasionally did I find a spot over 20 feet from the trail. For the next hour the scenario repeated itself, dozens of times over.

Pardon me if I jump to conclusions. These are female human field latrines. Males rarely if ever use toilet paper to clean up after urination. My disgust turned to outrage quite easily when I considered that most females who might be inclined to explore a high quality area such as LaBarque should be a cut above the rest.  At least, they should be environmentally mindful enough not to litter. No, this was the handiwork of slobs.  I even saw several "patches" of pee paper where it was obvious the spot was a multiple-use "pee party." Again, jumping to sexist conclusions, I never see fellas going off to the bathroom together.

My preconceptions of nature-wise and resourceful outdoor ladies frequenting this area with reverence and respect crumbled before my prefrontal cortex. These weren't ladies at all.

Slobs piss on the trail. Slobs litter. Slobs pretend to commune with nature. Is it really that difficult to get off the trail a bit, and scoop a little leaf mast over the toilet paper or better yet put it in a baggie and cart it out?

Ghosts of Crescent Hills

For over ten thousand years people have been quarrying high quality Burlington chert from the hills around my home.  It has been transported throughout North America and was worked into Clovis tools long before the Great Sphinx was a dream. The Crescent Hills Quarry District was one of the primary sources of tools for the Mississippian Mound Civilization. Workers transported bifaces and finished tools down the Meramec River to the Mississippi/Meramec Confluence where trade with the Mound People took place.  Trade stone was transported by foot northward to the Mississippi/Missouri Confluence where it was destined for the Great Plains and the Great Lakes. The almost pure white, vitreous, easy to flake Crescent Hills Chert was legendary among the indigenous people of North America.

The quarry district is listed in the St. Louis County National Register of state historic sites as “address restricted, Crescent.” The finest and most exposed quarrying evidence is along the West Tyson County Park spur of the Chubb Trail.  Here, one can see literally hundreds of pits dug out of the steep hillsides, and piles of lithic flake and quarry artifacts piled ten feet deep. The size of the operation was massive by today’s standards. Two miles downhill of the quarries is a prairie complex along the Meramec River.

At dusk along this ridge I can almost feel the spirits of tens of thousands of humans making their way to the prairie camp for dinner and stories. There would be fish in abundance, smoked venison, acorn and nut breads and juicy blackberries to name just a few menu items. Today the knowledge of the past allows me a glimpse of how it must have been. Amazingly very little archaeological work has been undertaken in this area. As I bushwhack down the hillsides from the quarries, avoiding the Chubb Trail, I have found bifaces on the ground near seeps and springs. The area is littered with scrapers and stone tool work just waiting to be found.

I ordered a reprint of a book from the Missouri University Library that is one of the few archaeological studies of this area.  My hope is to gain further insight into the nature and location of ancient habitation in the Crescent Hills. If I’m lucky, I may receive tiny gifts of wisdom from the people who came before.

Squirrel Pipe from the Davis Site, near Crescent Hills

More about the Davis Site near Crescent Hills

Return of the Fern

A reflection on the giant fern and its antithetical yet brief encounters with humanity.

Recent analysis of sediment core samples extracted from the North Pole reveals a planetary history previously unseen by humanity. At one time, about 55 million years ago, the Arctic Ocean was a warm ocean. Carbon dioxide levels were high, and the Earth was hot.

The Arctic, and the entire planet, was covered by giant ferns and plant life. The carbon dioxide levels were very good indeed for the ferns. Plant growth exploded.

Over millions of years, the ferns continued to grow, die, and accumulate in layers of peat. Layer after layer of ferns piled up and compressed, removing the carbon from the atmosphere and raising the oxygen levels until the ferns no longer thrived. The Earth cooled. The Arctic froze. The layers of ferns, now containing the planetary storehouse of carbon, became fossil fuel. The carbon was trapped in coal and oil.

The increased oxygen levels were very good indeed for humans.

A mere two hundred years ago, humans started digging up the coal and burning it to warm their homes and fuel their factories. Human growth exploded. The carbon in the coal was released into the atmosphere and the Earth began to warm rapidly.

A mere one hundred years ago, humans started pumping up the oil and burning it to warm their homes, fuel their vehicles, and grow their food. Human growth again exploded. The carbon in the oil was released into the atmosphere and the earth continued to warm.

A mere twenty years ago, humans realized the Arctic was melting. The Earth was getting very warm. The oceans were warming. The carbon had all been returned to the atmosphere.

In a mere fifty years, the Earth will once again be hot. The Arctic will be a warm ocean. The Earth will no longer be suitable to sustain humans. Mankind will pass away.

But the carbon dioxide levels will be very good indeed for the giant ferns.

Copyright 2013, Cecil X. Nixxon

Law of Threes

Law of Threes

A Brief Piece on Terniary Coincidence 

Cecil X. Nixxon

Uncle Harry died. That sick kid on Walnut Street went, too.   And now the mayor. They say they always come in threes. That’s because they do. They always come in threes.

Two down, one to go.  Third time’s charm.  Three sheets to the wind.  Three strikes and you’re out.  Three on a match, someone’s dead.  Deadly cold, it’s a Three Dog Night.

Horny as hell, like a three-peckered billy goat.  Three wise monkeys: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.  The three Wise Men.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu.     Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.  Three roots below the World Tree are the Three Levels of the Universe.  That three-headed dog guards the gates to hell.  Moe, Larry, Curly.

Solid, Liquid, Gas.  Length, Width, Depth.  Red, Yellow, Blue.
Electron, Proton, Neutron.  And, Or, Not.  The Third Planet from the sun, with a Crust, Mantle, and Core.  Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.

TLA: Three Lettered Acronyms.
AOL, IBM, FBI, CIA, BBC, ATM, CGI, ERA, RBI, IED, VGA, USB, SUV, WWW.     WTF.

They always come in threes.

Your survival depends on your knowledge of the Law of Threes:

• They say a human can live without air for three minutes.
• They say a human can live exposed to the extreme elements for three  hours.
• They say a human can live for three days without water.
• They say a human can live for three weeks without food.
• They say a human can live for three months without love.

They always come in threes.

Glassberg Conservation Area Winter Walk

Here's a new Missouri conservation area opened October 2012:  Myron and Sonya Glassberg Family Conservation Area on the outskirts of St. Louis.

Winter visit, February 24, 2013

area sign at entrance lot

at the beginning of the trail

old roads with asphalt base

creek

Buder Lake - 3 acres

1 mile trail loop around the lake

stocked fishing lake

icy little fall