Friday, May 7, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Things I have seen so far
This is a Chorus frog that we found still in its morph he still has a tail! Isn't he cute! Oh and my roommate Binga's hands
These two pictures are of an Eastern Coral snake that I found on base. By volume this snake has the most potent venom in North America. It is a beautiful snake the largest one I have ever seen usually they are pretty small this one if it was laid out would have been close to 3 feet long. I did use good judgement here I really wanted a head shot but they are a very shy snake and try to run and hide not bite so he kept trying to get under the log you can see in this photo I was very tempted to flip the log but I figured that Karma's a bitch and if I break my rule of do not touch or do anything to cause the animal more stress than taking a photo while messing with a coral snake well something bad could very easily happen!!!!
This picture was taken at the same time as the frog picture we were playing in a big rut (from a tank) that is now a great little wetland(till the heat then it will dry up) when this tank came trundling along on the tank trail(go figure) anyway it was startling to have it pop out of what looked like no where form our view point. (I always wounder what we look like to them two grown girls playing in a puddle) Our version of the story is that we scared them because it got about 100meters off of us and decided to turn around that huge beast of metal managed to turn 180degrees in the same amount of space that it takes me to turn one of our trucks around using only 4 points. I had no idea one that you could completely turn one of those beasts around and two that you can do it in such a small space. It was very cool!
This is a comb cactus plant in flower they are beautiful!
Mourning Dove Nest they don't spend much energy building there nests just a bunch of sticks placed together and they plop their eggs in the middle.
Indian Paint Brush I love this flower so stunning
Baby Fawn we found today so cute quietly laying in this tree stump hoping we didn't see her. Once again I had to work very hard to stick to my no touch rule I just wanted to snuggle it!
I must say the Texas Hill country has a beautiful spring I love all the wild flowers and the large diversity of plants and animals you will see out here. I also a Kettle of Mississippi Kites today there were around 10 of them just amazing to watch them.
I have more pictures to put up but the internet is being weird so I will try later
Update on the "Tunnel of Habitiation" aka hallway to bedrooms, bath...
THIS IS MY DREAM HOUSE!
"I Want to Be Left Behind" by Brenda Peterson & "Dark Green Religion" by Bron Taylor
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Peterson has been sharpening her ethos on the flinty tenets of the Southern Baptist Church ever since she was an inquisitive child enthralled by the living world. Following her fourth novel, Animal Heart (2004), she continues the inquiry into her complex heritage and ecological calling that she began in Build Me an Ark (2001). In this unusually affecting and radiant spiritual memoir, Peterson recounts her resistance to End Times teachings. Surely, life on earth is sacred, thought this “increasingly mutinous mystic” alert to the contradictions between her parents’ heaven-focused religion and her CIA-employed mother’s earthiness and her gifted father’s devotion to nature as chief of the U.S. Forest Service. With stirring immediacy, Peterson describes the traumatic awakenings during the 1960s and 1970s that inspired her to reject the concept of the Rapture and embrace the effort to preserve earthly creation. Guided by exceptional mentors, Peterson endured experiences painful, ludicrous, and profound in small towns, a “boot camp for Southern Baptists,” and the offices of the New Yorker before finding her true home on the Pacific coast. Frankly and knowledgeably critiquing evangelicalism and holier-than-thou environmentalism, Peterson seeks a meeting of church and earth in this witty, enrapturing account of a spiritual journey of great relevance to us all. --Donna Seaman (off Amazon books page) | |
Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future(Editorial reviews below for Taylor, from Amazon.com-- Doesn't AMAZON ROCK?)"Product Description In this innovative and deeply felt work, Bron Taylor examines the evolution of "green religions" in North America and beyond: spiritual practices that hold nature as sacred and have in many cases replaced traditional religions. Tracing a wide range of groups--radical environmental activists, lifestyle-focused bioregionalists, surfers, new-agers involved in "ecopsychology," and groups that hold scientific narratives as sacred--Taylor addresses a central theoretical question: How can environmentally oriented, spiritually motivated individuals and movements be understood as religious when many of them reject religious and supernatural worldviews? The "dark" of the title further expands this idea by emphasizing the depth of believers' passion and also suggesting a potential shadow side: besides uplifting and inspiring, such religion might mislead, deceive, or in some cases precipitate violence. This book provides a fascinating global tour of the green religious phenomenon, enabling readers to evaluate its worldwide emergence and to assess its role in a critically important religious revolution. From the Inside Flap"A love of green may be a human universal. Deepening the palette of green scholarship, Bron Taylor proves remarkably to be both an encyclopedist and a visionary."--Jonathan Benthall, author of Returning to Religion: Why a Secular Age is Haunted by Faith"This important book provides insight into how a profound sense of relation to nature offers many in the modern world a vehicle for attaining a spiritual wholeness akin to what has been historically associated with established religion. In this sense, Dark Green Religion offers both understanding and hope for a world struggling for meaning and purpose beyond the isolation of the material here and now."--Stephen Kellert, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies "In this thought-provoking volume, Bron Taylor explores the seemingly boundless efforts by human beings to understand the nature of life and our place in the universe. Examining in depth the ways in which influential philosophers and naturalists have viewed this relationship, Taylor contributes to the further development of thought in this critically important area, where our depth of understanding will play a critical role in our survival."--Peter H. Raven, President, Missouri Botanical Garden "Carefully researched, strongly argued, originally conceived, and very well executed, this book is a vital contribution on a subject of immense religious, political, and environmental importance. It's also a great read."--Roger S. Gottlieb, author of A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and our Planet's Future "A fascinating analysis of our emotional and spiritual relationship to nature. Whether you call it dark green religion or something else, Bron Taylor takes us through our spiritual relationship with our planet, its ecosystems and evolution, in an enlightened and completely undogmatic manner."--Dr. Claude Martin, Former Director General, World Wildlife Fund "An excellent collection of guideposts for perplexed students and scholars about the relationships of nature religions, spirituality, animism, pantheism, deep ecology, Gaia, and land ethics--and for the environmentalist seeking to make the world a better place through green religion as a social force."--Fikret Berkes, author of Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management "Dark Green Religion shows conclusively how nature has inspired a growing religious movement on the planet, contesting the long reign of many older faiths. Taylor expertly guides us through an astonishing array of thinkers, past and present, who have embraced, in part or whole, the new religion. I was thoroughly convinced that this movement has indeed become a major force on Earth, with great potential consequences for our environmental ethics."--Donald Worster, University of Kansas "In this exceptionally interesting and informative book, Bron Taylor has harvested the fruits of years of pioneering research in what amounts to a new field in religious studies: the study of how religious/spiritual themes show up in the work of people concerned about nature in many diverse ways. Taylor persuasively argues that appreciation of nature's sacred or spiritual dimension both informs and motivates the work of individuals ranging from radical environmentalists and surfers, to eco-tourism leaders and museum curators. I highly recommend this book for everyone interested learning more about the surprising extent to which religious/spiritual influences many of those who work to protect, to exhibit, or to represent the natural world."--Michael E. Zimmerman, Director, Center for Humanities and the Arts, University of Colorado at Boulder" | |
This is the link to the Sunday, May 3rd broadcast on PRI, via NPR- this is a fabulous show!
http://www.wpr.org/BOOK/100502a.cfm
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