Heated discussion

Colorado’s Snake River – still icy and swift. (© image)

Black bears, red foxes and ground squirrels – Oh, my!

Well, you know what they say: “If you can’t take the heat, get outta….”

So we did.

There should be a summer mandate to chill anyway.

Multiple reasons.

Happy to report there’s still snow on the upper elevations of the Rockies. (Just ignore that drift of smoky haze from the Canadian wildfires.)

Despite the haze. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills…” Yep, that works…must have read and pondered too much William Wordsworth as a child? (© image)

I always feel deprived if denied a summer trip to the mountains.

As a kid we always stuffed an amazing amount of stuff into the old car and headed out within hours after the last day of school.

No fancy dude ranch or resort, though. Accommodations included: An heavy green canvas 4 person floorless tent that was actual WW II army surplus, along with wobbly canvas sling cots with wooden cross legs that were rarely set up even (Just sit down carefully and be cautious about rolling over at night.) Oh, if a skunk wanders in during the night, just be still and pretend he’s not there – he’ll do the same for you.

All this fresh air – and sooo many long walks. It’s nap time, right, Mom? Please? (© image)

Roughing it, but it was cheaper and cooler than staying at home.

(And there was something to write about for that annual fall essay: “What I did on my summer vacation”.)

Iron skillet over a camp fire or the small green camp stove (You had to pump it up before lighting the burner with a long match) to serve up whatever fish was caught that day, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly, tuna, and bologna sandwiches for lunch. But one of the best parts was Brother and I got to eat sugar cereals – like Tony Tiger’s Frosted Flakes – in the box – just open on the dotted line and pour in the milk. No dishes to wash!

Yes, we had milk. It was carefully situated floating among the block ice in a metal RC Cola branded cooler box – which rode between campsites in front of my back seat in the car. “Oh,” they all said. “You’re the lucky one! It’ll make your seat area cooler!” Right. Not buying the winning-the-lotto proclamations, but with a towel draped over it, it was slightly cool from metal cooler condensation and offered a flat ledge for legs.

Our car had no AC – or radio – which was not a big problem.

We could loudly belt out songs like “Purple People Eater” (along with arguments whether it ate purple people or was purple itself), Charlie on the M.T.A. (This song terrified me so much I refused to get on the subway when we lived near Boston) or, “Sixteen tons“, or “Ahab, the Arab“(Gotta love that camel) or the parody “Gitarzan“along with other Ray Stevens songs with multiple character voices like the hilarious “Along came Jones” .

Actually I should say, Dad and I belted them out. Mom hoped no cars were close to hear or pretended not to know us. Big brother usually lost interest and went back to reading a book. There were also the normal kid songs like “Bear went over the mountains”, and “99 beers on the wall”( a real time consumer, but don’t know if we ever really made it to the last one on the wall though). As the day wound down, Dad would sing some of the real old fashion hymns from his childhood. Songs that seemed in perfect context in the great outdoors: ones like “I come to the garden alone…” (Raised religious, but not really churched. A big difference). 

The big picture. (© image)

(People as a species seem to muddy up things once they clump together – like assuming it’s OK to stab wind turbines all over the coastal waters – for their own selfish human “needs” despite the harm it does to other species and occupants’ habitats. Yep, it’s not enough of a mess with what has been done on land, let’s thoughtlessly – without real understanding of consequences – clutter and litter up other places. The ocean and sky dwellers thought they were safe when humans lost gills and the ability to wing it.)

Accent color provided by nature.(© image)

Summer blog posts seem to drift along like lazy summer days.

This was supposed to be a short one – and perhaps it is.

Just checking in from a break and escape.

(You can just read medical journals and new treatment trials for so long without needing to running far far away…)

Amazingly sweet smelling purple flowers. (© image)

Hank, of course, was first in the car ready to go. 

He was all in for sniffing out the bear that went over the mountains. (And some actually had. Bear alerts were posted on trails…the trails I vetoed.

We just enjoyed the brushy areas at a distance.

Besides the mountain streams are running high and fast with still melting mountain snow.

Now you don’t see that everyday. Have to wonder if the tiny village has a treaty or a serious bear warning system. Looks far too much like a Candyland treat. One of the Bear-seen-here-very-recently signs was directly across from this. It couldn’t be a tourist trap bear photo bomb staging site, could it? (© image)

That’s enough of a chill for now. Well, it’s never enough, but will have to do for now.

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

Here’s something which might intrigue. It is too related! Invoking melodies from the Sound of Music and mountains’s own music: “Different areas of the brain activated depending on the structural complexity of music/language” (McGovern Medical School study)

“Mom do we have to go? My coat is made for this cool place.” (© image)

Somewhere there is always chill around. Only a matter of searching it out. Yes, that is snow on the higher elevations. (© image)

 

---

Discover more from Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.