Link to our Casey property presentation website

http://outdoorclassroom.weebly.com/index.html

Annie Dillard Thoughts

The yard outside my back door has become the dog run- the tie out that keeps them in the yard when they go out without me is there. With time, the grass that used to grow around their somewhat limited territory has been trampled and ripped up to the extent that the bladed grass has given up that patch of my yard. What grows there now is clover. It stays short to avoid the rubbing action of the leash. It has a sweet, summery scent that covers up the not-so-pleasant smells that a dog's territory produces. And it is thick- a green carpet, spongy and soft, yet so tough that it tangles the tie-out line and immobilizes the dogs that drag me along when we go on walks. The color is a green as deep as an ocean, seeming to be layer upon layer, giving no hint of the soil that lies beneath it.

Buffalo for Broken Heart

In this book, the feelings that the author have for the land come through in his writing. His attempts to restore the land to its native state, to provide cover for the species which populate the grasslands and his methods of rotating his grazing stock speak of his connections and respect for the land. Even though it seems to be impossible for the land to be lucrative in any way, he keeps his sense of humor about his success (or lack of it), about himself, and about his neighbors and friends.
I'm not sure if I would or could offer any suggestions about his use of the land- he is an intelligent man and has educated himself in the history and native wildlife of the area. I would express my admiration for the fact that he seems always to be trying to do things to the benefit of nature first and foremost. I would also thank him for his book and the enjoyment I derived from reading it.

Casey Properties for the Broken Heart

After some intense reading of Dan O'Brien, I can see how carefully he stewards his land. The care he takes to keep his pasture from becoming overgrazed serves as an insight for the care of Casey property. He explains how his plan provides shelter for native species, helps to control erosion and regulate water usage and loss. It would be an advantage to have enough knowledge of how the native Iowa land functions as an ecosystem before decisions are made about the future of the property. Any ideas that could help the land be an accurate portrayal of Iowa grassland and aid in self-regulating its ecology can only be a win-win situation.

Casey Properties

The one thing that made an impact on me during the field trip was the evidence of the variety of life on the property. Although I was raised in the country, I think it is the first time I have seen evidence of beaver living in the wild. The stream seemed reasonably clean and alive, more that capable of sustaining and encouraging life. It makes me hope that whatever the fate of the property, the impact on the native wildlife is minimized.

Spring Break

The one thing I did during spring break that I thought was truly amazing was to go to the Saylorville Lake spillway. I took pictures and some short video of the water coming through the spillway. The spillway was open in an attempt to lower the lake, keeping it from overflowing the dam. The power of the water coming out of the spillway is amazing- something you have to see for yourself. Some of the breakers had to be over 35 feet tall, drenching the park and walkway.

Wendell Berry

I have reread this poem three times- I seem to find something in it each time I read it. Wendell Berry urges us to play by our own set of rules. He finds meaning in everything that a culture of factory farming would end, and lets his stewardship of his land and life be his guiding principle. He tells us to take the time to realize the truly important things, things that cannot be valued by fixing a price sticker on them.

Industrial Tourism and National Parks

Edward Abbey is making a strong case for keeping national parks unspoiled and natural. His plan of banning motorized vehicles from the park is to teach us that we need to take our time to truly enjoy what the parks have to offer. I particularly liked the idea that you are better off taking your time through one park than rushing through a dozen. His argument is to enlist others who may feel as he does- that space is as important a commodity as time, and one should not suffer because of the other.

Speech at Grand Canyon

In this speech, Teddy Roosevelt is speaking to the citizens and Governor of Arizona. His purpose seems to be to urge that the canyon be kept in a natural unspoiled state. The speech is non-linear and somewhat fractured - it does not seem to build towards making a large point, but expresses the President's wishes to keep the Grand Canyon grand. The asides to the Native Americans and the sudden short closing lend to a feeling of a somewhat disjointed speech.

Speeechwriters LLC "Southeast Asia"

I think the intended audience would be fans of folksy easy listening music. The musicians use pathos in the form of nostalgia and idealism to evoke emotion. Purpose of the song is to portray how the place makes them feel.

N. Scott Momaday

I think the target audience would be people who would not normally be aware of Native American history (written for the National Geographic). The purpose may be to show how they became better stewards of their environment with the passage of time.
By using the lyrics of the Navajo song between some paragraphs, he seems to give the reader an idea of the direction of the article, and also helps to ground the ideas in his culture.

Walden & Wild

Thoreau and McCandless both seem to want to escape the modern world, for different reasons. Thoreau seems to want to turn his back on progress- or more accurately, the price of progress. His writing about the railroad workers (how the were building the rails to ride, but were buried under the rails, so they were actually rode upon) was one part that particularly stood out for me. Thoreau also feels that a person could learn all he needs to know by practical means- by navigating a boat instead of taking a course in navigation, or by building your own house instead of becoming an architect. He seems to feel that the busywork we fill our lives with actually robs us of the time and enjoyment we should get from it.
McCandless seems more to be running away from materialism. He feels that possessions do not make life more fulfilling. The act of burning his money and leaving behind all the things his parents deemed important is a kind of rebirth- an attempt to make himself over into the person he feels he should be.

I attended the showing of the movie "Under Our Skins" on Saturday, Jan. 30. The movie is an eye opening look at Lyme disease and the devastating effect it has on the lives of those unfortunate people who contract it. This movie was quite an education for me- I attended primarily because two of my in-laws, living in the state of New York, were diagnosed with the disease. Luckily, neither of my relatives suffered to the degree that the people featured in the film have. The descriptions of the severe neurological disorders, effects on memory and cognitive ability, and even deaths attributed to Lyme were a shock to me. I had believed that the disease was uncommon and easily treated, and in all fairness, some of the medical professionals interviewed were of the opinion that there is no such thing as chronic Lyme disease. The statements given by the people who had been misdiagnosed, accused of seeking disability status or defined as mentally ill were a frightening counterpoint. The testimony of the victims who attended the seminar-the Lamb family and another gentleman whose wife had suffered with the disease (for 17 years!) drove home the idea that there may be more going on than the medical establishment is aware of. Particularly disheartening was the fact that the doctors trying to help those with the disease are being driven out of the medical field, suffering censure, revocation of license and bankruptcy. I have learned that this dvd can be rented from Netflix- after we discussed the movie with my wife, she expressed the desire to see it also!

The roof

The sun shimmers the air like water
Asphalt shingles soft and gummy with it
Too hot to touch, too hot to sit
The only shade my shadow beside me
Adrift on an ocean of heat
I try to wet cracked lips with dry tongue

Buried

For this assignment, I chose the poem "Buried". There is a short introductory paragraph that helps to explain the origin of the poem- basically, people would have to bury their own dead. The author uses different rhythms in the work to evoke different feelings as the piece progresses. Some shorter passages are anchored in the here and now, describing the difficulty of the work, the heat, the mud and flies that make this heartbreaking task even more difficult, the physical pain from the digging. Interspersed throughout the piece are some single separate lines that seem to drive home the feeling of being forced to do this grim job- they paint a picture of the person who has to dig trying to use the physical labor as a way to temporarily blot out the pain of loss which is always lingering over all his thoughts like background noise that he cannot stand to listen to. Some longer passages deliver up memories of a lost son, the person who will occupy the hole. The memories are happy ones, times of companionship and warmth. The grave digger dreams of the time spent with his son, laughs and quiet moments shared. An innocent memory- that of his son buried under mounds of stuffed animals- jars him back to the reality of his task- the memory is too much like the job the digger must perform in reality. The last of the memory, when he teasingly would call to his son "Where are you?" probably escapes from his lips as he digs, perhaps startling him from his reverie, returning him from happier times to the reality he now faces. The digger thinks back on the time spent with his son, longing for things to be as they were. The last line- "I have to dig"- is again the attempt to do anything to blot out the misery of what he must do and what his life has become.

Snapshots 3- On the road

Whiteout is what it is called, but you are in, not out- in a vehicle moving slower than walking, in a sphere of white, erasing any outside world, the windows as useless as white blindfolded eyes. In a bubble of fear, bordering on panic, don't let it show, don't scare them, just roll-

Snapshots 2- Perry & twister-

They made us hide in the meat cooler until the all clear was sounded. We drove toward home, laughing at the ridiculousness of it. The rain stops suddenly, turned off by God's faucet. The churning dark form is directly in front of us, alive with debris, squirming and black like a dream of cancer. We pull off the road and stare, thankful for our timing. The children are on the verge of panicked tears- fear like this is not allowed in their parents.

Snapshots 1- On the island

I feel the dampness and humidity in the very air I breathe. The darkness gives no relief from the sultry air. The crickets form a chorus to the hum of the awakening mosquitoes, their numbers so great that their buzz becomes baritone.

Two questions I would ask-

Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass.

1.What changes, if any, have taken place since your piece was written?
2. Do these changes make you more or less hopeful?

My home town-

The map that shows the few sparse blocks of the town where I grew up (Wallingford, IA) does no justice to the true nature of that small town. Doesn't show where we fished and hunted for salamanders and frogs, no indication of the small hardware store where the owner would always allow you a cold dipperful of water from his well on a hot day. No signs show where we would sneak off to ride our minibikes. Maybe my home town should look like an image from a Mark Twain story. Although there was not much there, there was always something to do-

Everything is a Human Being

The major theme of this piece seems to be how Native Americans treated all things as if they have their own life, versus the colonists who were only interested in what (and how much) they could gain from the land. I also feel how the author, as an African American woman, feels that treatment is comparable to the treatment of slaves. She attempts to communicate with nature (literally), and seems to say that there is no safe place for the natural world now- even in a protected area, the trees have been poisoned and grow twisted and unnaturally because of it.