Cool Thoughts


Thinking more cold thoughts here. This photo was taken by my not-yet-wife in the fall of 1996 I believe. It's near Bowdoin in Maine; that's one of her then-teammates running towards the camera. I take no responsibility for the composition of the photo, but the current state of the tones is via my choices during scanning, etc. I could use a nice cool afternoon under a firey maple.

I guess this has been more of a cool thought than a cold thought thus far. So here's a cold Maine story:

In the fall of 1997 I ran in a cross-country race at Bowdoin in late October (the 25th, to be exact). It had snowed a little the night before, and I think it was about 26 at race-time. Through my entire (now long-since bad-knee-terminated) running career, I had always only worn the standard team uniform during races even when it was cold out. No tights, gloves, sweatbands or the like. My theory at the time was that if you ended up cold during a race then you weren't running fast enough. I took off my sweats right before the start, and by the end of the first mile my arms were about to freeze off. I mean, I felt seriously cold.

Anyway, looks like my theory still stands: Looking back now at the time I ran that day (thanks, Internet!), it was kind of poor for me at that point in my career.

Friday Rock Blogging (and more)


Around lunchtime on Thursday, I went on a walk along the bed of Shoal Creek. This time of year, given the recent weather, the creek bed is mainly dry beyond the occasional algae-filled pool of fish hanging on for dear life. The strata for part of the creek I walked on are mainly thin layers of shale. A few feet/millennia up from the bottom the rock transitions into limestone. Above is a good example of many thin layers of shale (i.e., tidal mud that hardened into very soft rock). I don't know if each layer in this case translates into a single year or a climatic cycle of longer duration. As for absolute age, I believe this is Del Rio shale, so that puts it in the middle of the Cretaceous - 100 million years ago give or take (I ain't a geologist). Dinosaur time, in other words.

As mentioned, this shale is especially soft and brittle. This makes for great shapes formed by the creek.

Below is a decent example of the shale transitioning to limestone on top of it as climate/sediments changed, sea levels rose and/or the continental margin dipped downwards, etc.

Here we pause to look up at a jet heading towards the traffic pattern.

The walls of the creek aren't the only parts with interesting shapes. This time of year the shale crackles under your feet as you walk across the flats.

This time of year you can see white, fiberous mats of dead algae surrounding many of the remaining pools. Zoom shot below to try to convey the texture. There's a small feather near the bottom, left of middle. Upper-middle left I made a finger-sized hole in the matting to the grey shale beneath.

Finally, as I ascended from the creek at Northwest Park, a friendly lost/loose dog started following me. Fortunately he had tags with an address, so I walked him the block or two back to his house. I knocked on the door and could see inside was a kid playing video games right near the door. He shouted at his mom for a while trying to get her to get the door, lest he have to get up from his game I guess. Finally she told him to get off his kiester and get it himself. I think they had no idea the dog had escaped their backyard until he charged inside as the door opened. I found that amusing, anyway.

Coming this weekend: more cold thoughts, and a pyramid of college girls.

McAfee's Knob


Well, everyone else in the world has a photo of McAfee's Knob, so I might as well post one of ours. That's a younger, much skinnier, beardless me, arms crossed, contemplating the mysteries of life, etc. What's funny is that I seem to recall standing much closer to the point. I guess it must have seemed closer than it was. Unless the wife snapped the photo too early. More likely I just was... overly prudent.

McAfee's Knob is on the Appilachian Trail near Catawba, Virginia. This photo was taken in July of 1999 on film. Not sure what camera was used.