Critters

The assortment and quantity of wildlife in Alma, Nebraska, certainly differs from what I was accustomed to in Duarte, California. Some are the same, though. What area of this country can say it contains no coyotes, raccoons or opossums? Not many, if any.

Each morning my oldest daughter (Eva) and I walk for three miles along a trail next to the Harlan County Reservoir. The trail meanders through some beautifully wooded areas and next to some typically Nebraskan farmland. Often we surprise a deer on or next to the trail and we get a good view of its rear end as it leaves us behind and heads for safety. While I am fascinated by them and their grace, Eva holds a grudge against them. She has a garden at her house and has had to build a fence around it to keep the deer from eating her tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, etc., before they have had a chance to produce the bounty of produce she counts on for cooking and canning.

One morning we were surprised to see a mama 'possum trudging through some grass while transporting her five or six little ones on her back. I can only assume that the marsupial's eyesight is not too good. We stood absolutely still watching her but if she saw us standing in plain sight, she gave no sign of it.

Rabbits abound. These are not the long eared jackrabbits (which are really hares) we see in California but cottontails, which are smaller. Each morning we find them on the trail and next to the trail. Some mornings we see more than ten or fifteen. They are prudently careful but they don't panic at the sight of us. Some of them wait until we are only two or three feet from them before they bound off into the woods or tall grass. I would imagine there are some well fed coyotes, foxes and owls in the area.

My daughter's yard and garden are home to at least one mama rabbit and her little ones. Nature is nature, and over a couple of weeks mama rabbit was down to one baby. It was small enough to get through the openings in the metal link fence and was stuffing itself daily on Eva's freshly sprouting vegetables. Eva's yard also hosts a bull snake (harmless to humans). One day she noticed that the snake had an unnatural bulge in its midsection and the baby rabbit was nowhere to be seen. Shortly thereafter, mama rabbit left for other hunting grounds.

I drive seven miles to the nearby town of Orleans once or twice a week, and as I drive between the ever present cornfields I see more animals. Yesterday, I came to a halt as a mama raccoon and four little ones came from the right side of the road and started for the other side. Once I had stopped, she looked up at the car, turned around in the middle of the road and headed back into the cornfield whence she came, followed of course by her troupe of little masked raccoons. Their hind legs are longer than the front, and with their ringed tails high in the air, they made for an odd looking parade as they disappeared single file into the field.

Last week I had the same experience on the same road with a mama wild turkey and her five or six little ones. At least they continued across the road. Wild turkeys are abundant here and are a staple for hunters when the season is on.

On another day, I saw a different looking critter start to cross the road then change its mind and head back for tall grass. Only when I got right up near it did I realize it was a badger. Yep, they're here, too.

One Nebraska inhabitant I am not likely to see (they are nocturnal) is the armadillo. I didn't realize they came this far north, so I did a little research and discovered they do exist here in the Husker State. I think armadillos are one of North America's most fascinating animals. They are digging machines and are known to dig a burrow faster than a foot a minute. The range of armadillos keeps spreading and animal scientists are not sure how far north they will ultimately go. Two hundred years ago, they were limited to South America, but now they are found as far north as Illinois. This is the nine banded armadillo, which seems to be the most adaptable of all the variations in this strange animal. With its limited ability to store body fat, it was believed it couldn't survive the winters in Kansas and Nebraska, but here it is and it seems to be thriving.

I have yet to see one of the state's porcupines, which are common, and if I do see one you can bet I will keep my distance.

Went fishing again this morning. The score now stands fish=300, me=0.

Strange History

History can take some strange twists, and most people would be startled to learn that in 1860 California was almost split into two states, with the southern half called "Colorado". Whoa! Wait a minute. What about the real state of Colorado?

Prior to becoming a state, Colorado was part of three different territories: Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas. For a few years it was a quasi-independent entity known as Jefferson Territory. It became the state of Colorado in 1876.

California, meanwhile, was going undergoing a minor revolution in that San Francisco and Sacramento were the dominant cities in the state and southern California felt that the north was sucking up taxes from the south and not giving much in return (exactly the opposite of the feelings today with the north furious about Los Angeles sucking all the water out of the high Sierras). In 1859, The Sacramento legislature passed a bill to split California in two, with the lower half to be a new state called Colorado. As the United States Constitution requires, the bill was then sent to the nation's capitol for congressional approval.

In Washington, however, the slavery issue was drawing southern secession closer and closer. The abolitionists felt that since southern California was sympathetic toward the slave holding states, approving the bill would add more pro-slavery votes in congress. In 1860, the abolitionists succeeded in killing the bill, and so we have things as they are today.

It's hard to imagine Colorado being called anything else than what it is. To me, the very name calls up images of the majestic, snow covered peaks of the Rockies. Incidentally, forty-two of the peaks are at least 14,000 feet high. California does not have nearly that many in the Sierras, but one, Mt. Whitney, towers a few feet higher than any of the Colorado peaks and so is the highest point in the contiguous United States.

Intra-state conflicts were not limited to California. Nebraska became a state in 1867 and featured its own north-south dispute. Originally, Omaha (north of the Platte River) was named the state capitol. The population south of the Platte rose in uproar and threatened to join the state of Kansas. Finally, the capitol was moved from Omaha to Lincoln (south of the Platte), and we have the state as it is today.

At some point I hope to have some interesting stuff about the Platte River. It's size cannot compare to the Mississippi, the Columbia, the Colorado or the Hudson, but its importance in the opening up of America is huge. More on that later.

Oh, I went fishing again this morning. The score now stands at: fish=200, me=0. It will get better, I guarantee you.

Education of a city boy

This is part of the new car lot at our local Chevy dealer (There are no other auto dealers in town). To me, this picture speaks volumes about the nature of Nebraska. The car lot is not bordered by a fence or another business. It is backed right up to a cornfield and features a grain elevator in the background. You will notice, of course, that smog simply does not exist here.

People buy new vehicles because of income created by farming. People live in the area because of farming. All kinds of products are sold in the area because of farming. Colleges offer all kinds of degrees in various aspects of agriculture because of farming.

I thought I had an appreciation for the importance of the farmer when I lived in Los Angeles. How could those of us in the cities put food on the table without the existence of farmers? But I am almost overwhelmed here in Nebraska with what I don't know about farming and the people who put their lives into it. It's a lifestyle of hard work, long hours, expensive equipment and nerve-wracking risk.

Example: To the right is a picture of a "pivot", an irrigation device found on most farms these days. Water shortages make the days of flooding fields with water a thing of the past. A pivot is more efficient than flooding, can be longer than two football fields and costs upwards of $40,000.00. That's a big number for the average farmer, and the vagaries of weather can turn a harvest season into a time of plenty or a time of economic disaster. If you've flown across our country and looked down on farmland to see the round patterns of fields, that is the work of the pivots.

Nebraska is one of nine states that helps out the farming community by outlawing the ownership of farms by large corporations. Any farming corporation must be family controlled and can have no more than three stockholders, at least one of whom must live and work on the farm. And of course, there is huge pressure from the major agri-corporations to change all that. I hope their efforts fail. Farming families literally built America and we should never threaten their existence for the sake of larger profits for mammoth corporations.

This city boy is just beginning to learn, and it is a fascinating experience. Even at my age of 72 years, I continue to marvel at the world in which I live. I was born an information freak, and I will never live long enough to investigate all the things in this world I find interesting. Farming is just one of them.

A Celebration

Independence Day was a great celebration here in Alma, Nebraska. The parade through downtown started at 10:30 AM was an impressive presentation for a town of 1232 people (I am told that is the current count and it includes yours truly). There were more than 70 entrants in the parade which included the expected fire trucks, civic organizations, businesses, thirty motorcycles with engines roaring, custom cars (a 1949 Merc sedan chopped, lowered and with a paint job to die for took me back a few years), horse and rider units that included a 12 year old girl riding bareback, and six or eight great old restored tractors. Just listing them doesn't do the event justice. And, of course, it was preceded by a color guard composed of Vietnam war vets with Old Glory flying proud and getting a standing ovation.

After dark there was a fireworks display at the edge of town by Harlan County Reservoir. There is a grassy park like area near where the city fireworks would be set off, and the locals put on their own show before the main event. There are legal fireworks in Nebraska that would get a Californian sent to jail. Firecrackers abound, and are the lesser noisemakers behind some roman candles, and things that are only slightly less than what the professionals set off. It was an orderly outdoor party, and I sat with my daughters on the front lawn of of a friend. I watched ordinary citizens set off shells that went a couple of hundred feet straight up and then sent out an umbrella of color with a bang. Set one of those off in Los Angeles and you'll probably be the target of a SWAT team. The city's display, though, was terrific and certainly made for a great evening.

Between firework displays, I found myself fascinated by the fireflies that buzzed everywhere turning their lighted bodies on and off. I am told that the males put on an unnatural display and parade in front of females hoping to find one ready and willing. I'm sure glad human males don't act like that.

There is a sense of community here that may not seem like much to the long time residents but which is glaringly obvious to a transplant like me. These people look out for each other. Sure, there are probably petty rivalries here and there, but it's between them. Let an outsider step in the middle of a fight and they will band together in a hurry. The people here have been warm, friendly and welcoming, but it will take years for me be considered an inner member of the community, and that's OK.

This coming week, I get to go fishing.

Charlie

A Little Travelling

Today I drove 55 miles up the road to Kearney to get some things at Target (Yes, that is the closest store of that chain to Alma). One thing about Nebraska that is truly unique is that the traffic signals are mounted horizontally rather than vertically. ??? If you are color blind, it's helpful to remember that green is on the right and red is on the left. I asked a local about that and he said it's because winter winds tend to knock down signals mounted in the traditional vertical fashion. I don't know if that's the truth or not, but it sounds reasonable. In Alma, there are no traffic lights. The stop signs are more than sufficient for the cars involved.

I did some shopping and other chores that can't be done in Alma and headed back. It's an easy drive on good two lane roads with 65 mph speed limits. Sometimes, though, the 65 is impossible to do and this driver has to accept that due to the semis ahead of me, 55 to 60 mph is going to be today's speed. Passing on these two lane roads can be a hazardous undertaking, and I simply don't feel it's worth the risks involved to pass large vehicles that are only a few mph under the max allowable speed. Besides, for what major event am I going to be late?

All went well until I reached the Alma city limits and heard the unmistakable sound of my right rear tire going flat. It's a tire I wanted to replace soon, anyway, but the timing could have been better, or could it? I was right at the entrance to what is called the "co-op" here, where major tire repairs are the order of the day. It is sort of like a local answer to the Pep Boys stores in southern California. A half hour and one new tire later, I was back on the road with a somewhat lighter wallet. Less than a minute later, I was in my parking space at home deeply appreciative that the flat didn't occur on any of the more isolated areas I passed through today.

I enjoy the drives I occasionally take to other towns. The roads are straight, well maintained and provide terrific views of the rolling farmland. Some farm states are flat, but Nebraska provides often breathtaking views of an undulating landscape planted with corn and other plants I have yet to identify. The wet spring makes it all deeply green and attractive and reminds me of the some the landscape paintings I have seen by noted artists. People have told me it is not always this green at this time of the year, so enjoy it while I can.

It occurs to me that someone who doesn't know me well might think I am some kind of paid shill for the city of Alma or for the state of Nebraska. Not so. These are really my impressions of the place.

Tomorrow I am going to Alma's July 4th parade and then will watch the city fireworks in the evening. I'll try to post some pictures.

Here we go

Here I am living in a small town in mid-America after being born and raised in Los Angeles, one of the busiest, most dynamic and at the same time one of the most dangerous cities in the country. My two daughters have lived in Nebraska for years, even though they, too, were born in the L.A. metropolitan area. The oldest (who is now 50, much to her chagrin) discovered Nebraska shortly after she graduated from high school and fell in love with the state. She has been here since. She convinced her sister, who is two years younger, to move here almost twenty years ago.

At the tender age of 72, (generally, I am in excellent health) I came to realize that, because of the distances involved (1400 miles), I had not seen my grandchildren grow up, and now those grandchildren have presented me with five great-grandchildren - Three of whom I have never seen. At this point in my life, I don't know if I have two months, two years or twenty years left to me, but I have decided I will spend them with my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I arrived in Alma on June 2, 2007, so I have now been here one month and am convinced so far that this is the right thing for me to do. Alma is an interesting town - a pretty town - and has many characteristics straight out of a scene by Norman Rockwell (If you're too young to know that name, I can't help you).

As Independence Day approaches, many houses in Alma have flag like bunting on their porches as well as large American flags flying above the yard. Flags may be in evidence, but that kind of bunting is almost never seen on house properties in Los Angeles and environs.

The properties here are open and scenic, aided by a wetter than usual spring that has made lawns green, green, green. Most house properties are not surrounded by solid fences as they are in California. A person can see through property lines here and appreciate the unbroken green. In L.A., people build solid fences as high as the city code allows, thereby building their own private caves into which they retreat, seldom seeing and often not knowing their neighbors. Not so in Alma. Everybody knows or knows of everybody else. People wave at each other as they pass on the street, whether on foot or in a car.

There is a single, well stocked market where the bag boys carry every bag to the customer's car. There is a combination photo store/coffee shop where people gather to jabber over coffee. When the local high school speech/debate team was ready to travel out of town for a debate competition, many in town gathered at the photo/coffee shop to hear a preview of the prepared speeches from the students, one of whom was my 15 year old granddaughter.

My first impressions are that this is Mayberry reborn, and it is delightful.