Mother Nature's Quite A Lady

Beside a singing mountain streamWhere the pussy willow grewWhere the silver leaf of mapleSparkled in the morning dewI braided twigs of willowsMade a string of buckeye beadsBut flesh and blood needs flesh and bloodAnd you're the one I needFlesh and blood needs flesh and bloodAnd you're the one I needYoutube: Johnny Cash - Flesh and Blood* If anyone can find that video from The Man, His World, His Music where Johnny sings this song to June on their couch, let me know. That video can probably cure a few diseases.

To Build A Fire

Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland. It was a steep bank, and he paused for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was nine o'clock. There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun. This fact did not worry the man. He was used to the lack of sun. It had been days since he had seen the sun, and he knew that a few more days must pass before that cheerful orb, due south, would just peep above the sky-line and dip immediately from view.- From Jack London's short story, To Build A Fire (1908)MP3: Witchcraft - Walk Between The Lines

Future House Farm

Future House Farm is one of Cold Splinters' favorite blogs. Kelly and Meg live in a house outside of Philadelphia and have converted their backyard to an organic farm with loads of vegetables and a few chickens. They both have 9 -5 jobs and they're not experts, so they're learning as they go along, which makes the blog so damn enjoyable. Kelly on their newly built chicken tractor:

*Have you ever heard the sounds a chicken makes when it eats a really fat grub? Imagine someone eating a raw steak with their mouths open. It may not be as loud, but yeah, it's nasty. I just have to remember that the slurping makes the eggs taste better. Shit, that doesn't help at all.

Their trials and tribulations can be found here.

On the shore of a lake in the great Granite State

We spent our July 4th in New Hampshire at the mighty Lake Winnipesaukee this year. (The Native American name Winnipesaukee means either "smile of the Great Spirit" or "beautiful water in a high place.") After a day of swimming, wiffle ball, and death defying stunts, we took a 9 p.m. light speed boat ride to catch a glimpse of the fireworks. Daniel laid back in the bow and took a thousand pictures of the show while the rest of us yelled, "grand finale" over and over and ate New England clam chowder. His half hour vow of silence paid off. Enjoy his wonderful out of focus kaleidoscope set here.Dark soundtrack:MP3: Human Bell - Hymn Amerika

The Last American Man

I listened to the This American Life with Eustance Conway last night before going to bed (it focuses on Eustace and his brother's journey across the country on horseback) and decided it'd be a good idea to post this again. Read this book if you haven't already. It's really wonderful.Before Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the ubiquitous Eat, Pray, Love, she wrote a fantastic book about a guy named Eustace Conway called The Last American Man. Conway is a naturalist who moved out of his house when he was 17 years old to live in a teepee. From there, he bought a plot of land in North Carolina that he named Turtle Island and has been living the "old fashioned" way ever since.There's mountains more to the story than that, but the interesting part of this book is how Gilbert focuses on Eustace the person, not Eustace the mountain man. The Last American Man is not about what tools Eustace uses to make a barn or how Eustace catches the squirrels that he eats for dinner. The book is a sad chicken and egg story about a guy's exile from his family life and the modern world and his extreme love/obsession of a forgotten way of life. Eustace is one of the most incredible, brutal, and intense men you'll ever read about. His story reminds us of how difficult it is to simply go into the woods and "live off the land." There are papers to be signed and lots of money to be made...Eustace on This American Life (I highly recommend listening to this)Eustace on The Today ShowMP3: Gillian Welch - I Had A Real Good Mother And Father

bee-hind

As you may have heard, there has been an epidemic devastating our country’s bee population for the past few years.  Billions of have died, leaving scientists and apiculturists struggling to keep a population that pollinates 80% of our fruits and vegetables alive.Back in the news this week, it seems that we may be a step closer to understanding the root of Colony Collapse Disorder, leaving yet more questions than answers.  A mathematician even weighed in on the op-ed page of the Times this week.Here’s hoping that it gets sorted out soon.For further reading: check this fact-filled piece by one of the best environmental journalists in America, Elizabeth Kolbert.

Horse Girls Of The World

This weekend, while smelling mounds of lavender and staring at the Atlantic Ocean on the Northeast tip of Long Island, we got to talking about horseback riding and the secret life of a horse obsessed teenager. The life of a "horse girl" is full of horse books, horse camps, horse movies, and competition, but it mainly consists of constant horse daydreaming and overt attempts at making horses part of everything you do on a day to day basis.Well, horse girls of the world, your time has come. I'm SURE you've already done this and you're looking at me like I'm 100 years too late, but try it anyway. Turn off your Black Stallion DVD for just one minute and head on up to New York's Museum Of Natural History to check out the Horses exhibit and find out how nature's most majestic creatures shaped our world.MP3: Belle and Sebastian - Judy And The Dream Of Horses (From LADRI)

Paul Bunyan

We've been thinking about summer camp a lot as of late and, when we were young, we went to a great gem of a place in Bemidji, Minnesota for four straight years in a row. There's a big ol' statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji (pictured above) and, according to Wikipedia, that ain't the only place with such a shrine. Paul and Babe statues reside in Brainerd, MN, Westwood, CA, Del Norte County, CA, St. Ignace, MI, Ossineke, MI, and Eau Claire, WI. There are a bunch of other places that have statues of just Mr. Bunyan, but without his sidekick, what's the point?

Sugar Sugar

Everglades National Park is one of Cold Splinters' favorite places on Earth and yesterday was a historic day for the park. The nation's largest sugarcane producer agreed to sell all of its assets to the state and go out of business. Florida will pay $1.75 billion for United States Sugar, which will turn over 187,000 acres north of Everglades National Park in the next six years.Governor Charlie Crist announced, “I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, the people of Florida and the people of America — as well as our planet — than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration.” Crist also called the deal "as monumental as the creation of the nation's first national park, Yellowstone."The New York Times says, "The impact on the Everglades could be substantial. The natural flow of water would be restored, and the expanse of about 292 square miles would add about a million acre-feet of water storage. That amount of water — enough to fill about 500,000 Olympic size swimming pools — could soak the southern Everglades during the dry season, protecting wildlife, preventing fires, and allowing for a redrawing of the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan approved in 2000."MP3: Ike and Tina Turner - Sugar Sugar

I'd Have 3 Flowers, Bob had 4.

A few years back, we went up to BB King's in Times Square and sat in a small dark room with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, an upside down Stetson, and a whole mess of coffee. Tim didn't know how to work a camera, I didn't know how to do an interview, but Ramblin' Jack sure did know how to talk. He gave us a little info about him and Bob Dylan touring together as the Rolling Thunder Revue and we just about lost it:"I was the first one to put the flower in my hat on Rolling Thunder Revue. We got into the Rolling Thunder Revue hat/flower contest, who could have more flowers in their hat. At each successive show, I'd have 3 flowers, Bob had 4. I'd have 4 and he'd have 5. We were just playing around with the makeup too. I had a heart painted on my face one time. Another time I had a tear coming out of my eye. We were like rodeo clowns. I remember when Arlo [Guthrie] asked Bob why he always had that clown white on his face. Arlo said, 'What's that shit on your face?' Bob said, 'What face?'"MP3: Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Live) MP3: Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Hard Travelin'Youtube: Bob Dylan - IsisYoutube: Ramblin Jack - Salt Pork, West Virginia

gear up

We had some friends who recently got marooned on an overnight trip - rain, hail, wind, the whole bit.  The four of em slept half the night in a greenhouse and the other half in a 2 man tent (with one headlamp).  Now if there's one thing that we know, its that having the right gear can make all the difference on a trip (ask Bear Grylls or JT$).  And if there's one other thing that we know, its that the internet is a pretty good place to shop compulsively for your stuff.  If you're into refreshing constantly and finding killer deals, might we suggest Backcountry.com's one deal at a time haven Steep and Cheap.  You might get hooked.MP3: De La Soul - Me, Myself and I