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Posts Tagged ‘found objects’

Pig Boy’s Plastic Nightmare

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, creativity, ecosytem, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2011| 6 Comments »

The Ohio River continues to rise and as this year draws to a close…it will go down as either our wettest ever or close to the top.  At the time of this writing,  we are more than twenty inches above normal rainfall.  During a usual year, we can expect a bit more than forty inches of precipitation and we are past the sixty inches mark with a forecast calling for even more heavy downpours.  I believe we set the old mark in 2004 for most rain in our Kentuckiana area.  Okay, so all this is a bit boring I admit, however, it sets the stage for the day and this adventure at the Falls of the Ohio.

Because the river was rising, the normal shoreline at the Falls was underwater which in turn forced me to higher ground.  That means today’s adventure took place on the large pile of driftwood that formed during last spring’s flooding.  The large wooden mound is interlaced with all kinds of debris that floated in with the bloated river which acts as an attraction for scavengers such as myself and an acquaintance I came across today who goes by the nickname “Pig Boy”.  Yes, he bears some resemblance to a pig, but as he told me…he came by this unflattering handle because he enjoys getting dirty especially by the river.  “Piggie” and I have this in common and so we get along famously.  It had been a while since I saw him last and I asked if anything was new?  That’s when he related to me a recent nightmare he experienced and as he spoke the following images came to my mind and through the miracle of digital means I present to it to you for your perusal. I began to hear bits of the old “Twilight Zone” theme in my brain.

As the dream begins, Pig Boy found himself on the very driftwood mountain we were standing upon.  He was there because over the months this mound shifts and falls under its own weight and decomposition revealing new “treasures” originally captured by the river.  As Pig Boy explained it…he was just in his own head space checking out the variety of packaging that was intermixed with all the wood.  That’s when the most curious thing happened when he looked up.

All kinds of plastic bottles and containers were emerging from the driftwood pile and moving towards him as if he were a plastic magnet.  Pig Boy was transfixed and unable to move as this plastic wave began to close in on him.

More and more plastic kept coming towards him and before long it started to build up around his body which made moving or running away even harder.

Soon the bottles reached his waist and were piling up even more!  Not all of these bottles were empty and some of them contained river water and the backwash of old soft drinks and who knows what else? By this time in Piggie’s dream he was truly getting alarmed and he remembers this voice telling him that he needed to get out of there!

Before all these plastic bottles could completely overwhelm him… Pig Boy remembers letting out a scream because he was just so frightened.  The feeling  of helplessness was upon him and he forced himself to wake up which he did in a cold sweat.  He recalls the immense feeling of relief when he realized that this had all been a bad dream.  I could feel the claustrophobic sense of being engulfed by all this plastic as my friend relayed his story to me and I became scared as well.

And so I asked my friend after such a bad dream…what was he doing back here?  He replied that he didn’t have a good answer and that he is compelled to come out here for the thrill of discovery or something like that.  Pig Boy can’t help himself.  Every once in a while, you can actually find something useful out here that can be recycled in some way and besides it’s nice to be out in nature.  After a few more minutes and various pleasantries…we parted wishing the other well and happy hunting.  I stood there on the driftwood by myself and looked up at the river which to my imagination seemed higher in the short amount of time I had been out there.  My mind then turned to something I had read about how our oceans are now becoming increasingly filled with plastic garbage that coagulates into large masses and probably will never go away.  That thought was in turn interrupted by a drop of rain that fell on my cheek and I decided it was time to go home too.  I’ll bet we establish that new rainfall record before the end of the year.  Stay dry everybody.

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Found Note in a Bottle

Posted in collections, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, recycled art, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , on October 19, 2011| 8 Comments »

For many years I’ve been beach combing at the Falls of the Ohio and I bet I’ve looked at thousands of bottles and never found one with a note in it…until now!  I was going through a bag at home where I’ve stored bottles I’ve collected in the park when I noticed one that had something rolled up inside of it.  I don’t know how long I’ve had this tiny bottle, but the enclosed note didn’t register at the time of discovery.

The bottle itself is somewhat unusual because it is so small.  It’s the size I remember being served on airline flights when people purchased mixed drinks.  The bottle is plastic and originally contained cherry flavored vodka which doesn’t sound too appetizing to me, but what the heck.  I fished out the note which is made of waxy paper with silver foil on one side.  The note itself is written with what looks to be orange color pencil and was a bit hard to read.  I got a little lump in my throat when I read it and it says…”I miss you Mom & Dad, New Albany, IN”.  New Albany is found down river from the Falls, across from Louisville,  and couldn’t have floated here from there.  So, I surmise the note was written in the park and then thrown into the Ohio River which then  washed back on the beach.  Today is my Mom’s birthday and now I’m going to call her to see if she had a good one?  So long for now.

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River Horse

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2011| 5 Comments »

June began all bare bones in the aftermath of our minor flooding and now at month’s end it passes overgrown with vines.  Near the tainter gates, a massive raft of driftwood lies intertwined with the landscape.  We haven’t seen such a wooden mound in many years.  June had some odd and compelling images and here are a few more before we turn the page.

The willow trees are the heroes here tenaciously clinging to the sand and clay.  This taunts the Ohio River which sends high water and a battering ram of floating logs their way every once in a while.

Willow wood is flexible and the sustained high water’s flow is echoed in the shape of these trees.  I imagine the river as an artist shaping its garden at the Falls of the Ohio.  There’s a bit of that bonsai- look if you can get past the larger scale.

The willows’ branches do their part in snagging some of the flotsam and jetsam floating loosely in the retreating waters.  Branches become decorated with plastic bags, fraying barge cables, driftwood, the occasional dead deer, refrigerators, fishing line, and whatever is present in the Ohio River.

Here plastic sheeting has been caught and stretched some length across these trees.  It looked like something some installation artist might attempt.  I also came across a “nylon crinoid”…in actuality, an unraveling barge cable that made me think of the extinct sea lilies of ancient oceans and in fossils which are pages in the book of life.

Walking across the sand I came across this unusual view which gave me the idea for the title of this post.  Very nonchalantly, this mostly destroyed hippopotamus was standing its ground.  I’ve read somewhere in a book that the name “hippopotamus” means “river horse” in some African language?

Another view, but this one from the top.

I made another Styrofoam figure on this day.  I imagine this as being a figure of some exotic Spanish dancer with fancy combs in her hair.  I won’t say this is the best figure I’ve ever made, but it’s also not the worst.  It just happens to be how things turned out when I picked this group of materials and objects to make something with at that particular moment.

Now for a full length view.  That pink radiating thing is made of plastic and helps to add other visual interest.

Before leaving for home on this day.  I watched a couple of guys using a throw net to catch shad to use for fishing bait.  I couldn’t help but see them in the context of the Ohio River which was so many more feet above their heads.  Here we are at the bottom of the valley.

Since I’ve used the book metaphor a few times in this post…it’s fitting that I end with this picture taken on this day.  It’s really a small plastic photo album whose transparent sleeves were full of coal gravel and water.  Until next time…

 

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Squirt Gun Collection

Posted in Absurd, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2011| 3 Comments »

Squirt guns and water pistols are among the many toys that the Ohio River washes ashore at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.  To see more of this collection…click on the Squirt Gun Collection in my Pages section to the right.  Thanks artistatexit0.

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The Cottonwood Turtle

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, birding, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, nature photography, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2011| 6 Comments »

First, I would like to thank all the people who checked out my last post on the box turtles.  The response has been pretty overwhelming and I’ve enjoyed everybody’s comments.  The Eastern Box Turtle isn’t the only turtle to be found at the Falls of the Ohio State Park and this post is about that other mysterious and rare reptile. It’s called the Cottonwood Turtle (Terrapene populus) and its habitat overlaps that of the box turtle.  On a warm and humid morning I was exploring the eastern section of the park around the debris line formed by a retreating Ohio River.  Plastic bottles and containers and the ever-present polystyrene chunks helped define the high-water mark.  We have had so much rain here and it’s officially Kentuckiana’s wettest spring on record!  I was mesmerized watching and listening to the Cedar Waxwings pursuing each other from mulberry tree to mulberry tree and whose fruits are just now beginning to ripen to a glossy black.  The air was filled with the fine downy fluff produced by the catkins of our giant cottonwood trees and seemed like so much snow falling in ultra slow motion.  The chances of inhaling this fluff are real and white airy drifts were forming on the ground where the air currents pushed this gossamer material with its tiny secret of seeds within.  With so much going on, I was surprised to catch a slight bit of movement inside a nearby hollow log.  I remained still and this is what I saw.

Emerging into the light of a new day was this very ancient looking turtle.  Of course I recognized what it is and determined to follow it and make a record of my observations.  I kept a discreet distance away and tried not to make any sudden movements or loud noises so the turtle would act as naturally as possible.  I kept up with it for a several hours and then I had to pull myself away for home.

The Cottonwood Turtle is characterized by a high-domed carapace that the original inhabitants of the Ohio Valley used for war and ceremonial helmets.  Unlike the box turtles which it shares some affinities with…the Cottonwood Turtle cannot retract its head and limbs fully into its shell.  This makes it vulnerable to predators.  I watched my turtle crawling over the plastic and Styrofoam debris left by the last flood.  It seemed to be going somewhere with a purpose and I followed discreetly behind it.

The previous night we had another tremendous rain storm with high winds.  Mud, broken branches and leaf litter evidence can be found everywhere.  I followed my turtle to a large cottonwood branch and saw it engaging in the activity that gives this remarkable reptile its name.

Over the course of about an hour, I watched the turtle carrying mouthfuls of the Cottonwood fluff to a hole that it had previously prepared.  It made about a half a dozen trips back and forth from the downed branch to what looked to my eye to be an abandoned groundhog hole that the turtle retrofitted for its own purpose.  The fluff was carried  into the hole where a special chamber was being prepared for this turtle’s eggs!

Here is the Cottonwood Turtle about to finish laying her eggs.  I observed about five ping pong ball-sized eggs being deposited upon their bed of cottonwood fiber.  I suppose the fluff cushions the eggs and perhaps as this material decays provides some modicum of warmth to assist in the incubation?  From what I have read, new turtles should be emerging from their subterranean nursery after sixty days.  After the turtle covered her nest with her back legs she moved on.  From this moment, the eggs and baby turtles to be are on their own.  I gently uncovered some of the soil and photographed this single egg.  Afterwards, I placed the egg back into the nest, re-covered it and went on my way happy to have witnessed this ancient rite of life.

It occurred to me on my walk back through the tangle of bottomland, that this turtle might be benefitting the tree as well?  I haven’t heard or read anything concerning a link, but what if?  The fluff contains minute seeds and the act of burying them might aid in propagating this tree.  The turtle places these seeds a little deeper than usual which might encourage stronger and deeper root growth.  Since this area is frequently altered by the river, it would make sense for the tree to have a deeper hold on the soil?  I came across another downed cottonwood branch and admired all the fluff it was producing.  It all looked so beautiful and magical in broad daylight.

Overhead the orioles were collecting their own materials to build their amazing hanging basket nests.  And the Cedar Waxwings were fueling up on the mulberries in preparation for their long migration up into the north country.  One last image of one of these waxwings.  Such an interesting and beautiful bird so uniquely marked.

Although I may have fooled some people out there (wink, wink)…the Cottonwood Turtle doesn’t actually exist!  I made it from junk I found here in this very real environment at the Falls of the Ohio.  The shell or carapace is the cushioning from inside an old bicycle or motorcycle helmet and I have found several of these helmets after the last flood.

I used three pieces of Styrofoam…the shell, head, and one piece under a chunk of fiberglass-like material to fill the space inside the helmet.  Limbs are pieces of found wood attached to the lightweight fiberglass.  Everything is joined and pegged together with wood skewers.  I did use some found plastic for the actual neck and mouth of the turtle.  The eyes are round lead fishing weights and the nostrils are pieces of coal.  Thanks for tagging along!

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Cats and Coon

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 28, 2011| 12 Comments »

Regular visitors to the riverblog know that I comment on everything that doesn’t belong in this environment which takes in more than man-made debris.  Invasive species, non-native species, and domesticated animals turned loose are changing the ecosystem too.  Recently, I posted about the growing feral cat problem I’ve been observing in the park.  Kind hearted people have been trying to take care of them by dumping dry cat food around the picnic tables near the Interpretive Center.  As a reminder, here is another photograph illustrating this.

Sometimes I see what seems to me to be a ridiculous amounts of food spread out in this area.  Returning from a hike in the park’s western section, I stopped to watch three cats that were eating dry cat food that had been spread along the curb of the parking lot. 

From the corner of my eye I saw something moving in the brush and thought it might be a fourth cat joining in the feast…but it wasn’t.

It was a raccoon and only the second one I’ve seen in broad daylight out here.  Usually, these animals are more reclusive than this and prefer to operate under the cover of darkness, but here was this adult raccoon making a bee-line for the cat food.

I don’t view this as a good thing for all species concerned here.  Granted, the high river was probably cutting off some of the territory that the raccoon would forage over and this animal was hungry.  Wild animals that become habituated to man usually don’t fare well.  And in this case, there is a real danger that if this raccoon had rabies…it could transmit it to the cats who regularly come in contact with people.  By being out in broad daylight near an area populated by people, this raccoon was already displaying atypical behavior.

To my eye, the cats seemed less wary than the raccoon who is supposed to be a wild animal.  This scene was broken up when visitors with a dog on a leash came too close and the cats and coon ran into the woods.  I’m confidant that whomever is dumping cat food out here is not thinking about unintended consequences…but they should.  I’m not against cats, but I don’t think we should encourage them to live near wild life.  Recently, I found two objects left behind by the flooding that illustrate our affection for felines and I’ll end this post with them.  Until next time.

 

 

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Triple Mickey, Triple Piggies, and Other Fun Finds

Posted in Absurd, art and environment, collections, Falls of the Ohio, Ohio River, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 26, 2011| 6 Comments »

Okay, by now you know that we have had our share of floods, etc…at the Falls of the Ohio.  The Ohio River has gone up and down a couple of times over the past two months.  This post is devoted to toy finds that I have made during the moments I could access the riverbank and surrounding environs.  I think one of the biggest reasons I love visiting this place is that I always find something interesting left behind by the river.  This activity keeps me from spending money at the flea markets and antique malls and yet satisfies my need for visual stimulation.  I came up with my post’s title by looking at what I found recently.  Weirdly, this time I found three Mickey Mouse related objects and searching my brain…I don’t think I have even found one previous one before?  It all started with the first image in this post and …

…then I found these broken glasses.  A week or so after that find came this.

I think this was some kind of self-inking stamp.  And now for the piggies and they come in graduating sizes.  Let’s start with the smallest.

This pig is next in line.

Now this was a bit of a disturbing find bobbing in the waves and it’s considerably larger in size than the previous pigs.  I’m not sure what kind of toy this used to be…but here it is.

I have found other plastic farm animals and here’s the latest selections.

I’m surprised I found this because it’s a small, neutrally colored fragment.

I also find a lot of different kinds of heads.  Perhaps the most common are doll heads.  These are the most recent.

I even found a couple different types of Santa Claus heads.

Although he’s no Santa…this guy does have a beard.

Even more heads!!!

I think this is some googly-eyed clam or something?

This find was different.  It’s the first fake nose I’ve found out here and reminds me of Woody Allen’s early comedy entitled “Sleeper”.

I have an “impressive” fake food collection going and here’s my latest goodies.  In my last post I showed one fake banana…and here’s the other.

A bunch of celery followed by conjoined plastic hot dogs.

There is just so much of this stuff out here…now for some other random finds.  I especially like this Flintstone toy and wonder if it’s old?

A whistle shaped like a banjo?

Telephone number one.

Telephone number two…proof of evolution?

I could go on for a while, but realize this is a lot to take in and so I’ll close with the keys to my heart.  Take care everybody!

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Along the Muddy Banks

Posted in Absurd, animals, Art, art and environment, birding, birds and birding, collections, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, unusual collection, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2011| 4 Comments »

The Ohio River has receded by the Falls of the Ohio.  For many weeks the river was loath to relinquish the territory it had recently flooded.  I ventured down the river bank and explored the more eastern section of the park.  The following post is some thoughts and images made during this expedition into a very moist and muddy area filled with debris and wildlife.

While exploring the park it is not unusual to run into others who are curious to see what the river has left behind.  Sometimes just a nod of recognition and some small gesture to reassure that one poses no threat is made and each party then attends to their own business.  And then sometimes a more sustained conversation occurs where information of mutual interest is exchanged.  Such was the case on this trip where I ran into this fellow of short stature with a bulbous blue nose who had been investigating the same stretch of river as me.  We tagged along with one another for a short time before family duties called me home.  I believe our initial conversation had something to do with the muddiness of the area.  In places, things looked safe and dry enough to stand on…and then the mud below would reach up and grab you by the ankles.  Sometimes small, blue crabs would pop out of their holes to check out whether the trapped parties would be good to eat.

In my case, I am simply too big for them and once the crabs realized this they scuttled away.  Getting back to “Mr. Blue Nose”,  (funny how we didn’t think to ask each other’s name?), we were both astonished by the debris left behind by the retreating river.  After witnessing several other high water incidents over time…this is fairly representative of the stuff we found.

As you can see it’s mostly plastic containers, polystyrene (aka Styrofoam), and lots of shredded bark and wood chips.  Every once in a while, something more interesting would turn up.  While exploring, Mr. Blue Nose and I found two sign fragments and I kept these for my Found Painting and Sign Collection.  Here are the two precious finds.  The first one is kind of self-explanatory.  I like to muse that this is one way the universe communicates to me by leaving these things in my path for me to ponder.

I’m not sure what it is asking…Please don’t litter or Please, only you can prevent forest fires, whatever its actual message, this is at least a polite sign.  The other one is more reclusive, in fact it is “shy”.  Here’s a picture of this enigmatic sign.

I like the hand-routed and painted “sign” for a person.  I think this fragment may originally have asked dog owners to leash their pets…but its shy and won’t tell me for certain.  Other found treasures included my second banana of the season…naturally it went into the old collecting bag to later join the other artificial produce I have found out here over time.

I also find other kinds of foam out here.  Here’s an interesting found sculpture made from polyurethane.  I have come across busted aerosol cans of this stuff where the foam has expanded out resembling entrails.

Mr. Blue Nose called my attention to a log that something had torn into and he wondered what could do this kind of damage.  Chunks of bark and soft decayed wood were scattered all around. 

I was happy to inform my new friend that this looked like the work made by a Pileated Woodpecker and I showed him images of this great bird I had taken just a few hours earlier.

Since no one can verify that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is still alive along some wild river in Arkansas…the Pileated Woodpecker has the distinction of being our biggest living woodpecker.  For years, I have observed a pair of these crow-sized birds in the park.  This one is the male and can be identified by his red mustache.  The female lacks this and has more black on its head.

The Pileated Woodpecker has a large bill that goes through wood in a hurry.  Carpenter ants and beetle larvae can be found in these decaying logs and make up the main diet of this magnificent bird.  If you look closely at the photo above you can see a nice grub about to be swallowed.  This bird was so intent on looking for food that I was able to get closer than usual to it.  A couple of weeks a go, I found a Bessbug beetle which is a nice sized insect that uses decaying wood in its life-cycle.  This beetle is also known as the Patent-leather Beetle.  Here’s an adult I found sunning itself on a piece of Styrofoam.  These beetles can get nearly two inches long or about  five centimeters.  I wonder if our country will ever adopt the metric system?  Anyway, these beetle grubs make nice woodpecker snacks.

Thanks to my new companion we were able to make one other nice bird sighting on this day.  Mr. Blue Nose alerted me to some commotion happening in a nearby stand of trees. 

My friend said that he saw several blackbirds (grackles) chasing a larger bird from tree to tree.  I have observed this behavior before when birds of prey are present.  I gathered my camera up and went to see if I could find out what was the object of all this attention.  It turned out to be this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk.  Here are a couple of pictures of it before the smaller birds drove it out of the area.

I always feel lucky when I see such beautiful birds in the park.  Before flying away, I saw this bird’s mate arriving and the two flew away together.  Soon it was time for me to fly away too and I left my companion on the river bank.

We parted near the railroad bridge and perhaps we will see one another again?  My last image is from an overlook area popular with visitors who want a better view of the tainter gates.  I have taken many pictures here over the years, but this one is different.  To give you an idea of how high the river was…this log was deposited on the fence by the retreating river!  Or, I hope so…I would hate to think it jumped up here!  So long for now!!

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Circularity

Posted in Art, art and environment, collections, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, nature photography, Ohio River, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2011| 6 Comments »

I came across a partial quote from Black Elk recently that served as a jumping off point for this post.  He said:  “Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.”  From the rising of the sun to the changing of the seasons it doesn’t take one long to find examples in our lives that illustrates this.  The Ohio River has been at its highest for the greatest length of time since I began this Falls of the Ohio project in 2003.  We have had a lot of rain. In fact April was Kentucky’s wettest since records have been kept in the 1870s with nearly 14 inches of rain.  I tell you it seemed like more than that to me.  The month of March was also a wet one which caused the river to rise high too.  Following are images that were taken after that first bit of high water.  The theme this time is found circles and here are a few recent pictures.  The first image is the washed up plastic hoola-hoop defining a circle in the wet sand.  Here’s another found circle.

After the initial March flooding subsided, I came across this sight in the muddy bottomlands and couldn’t resist taking the picture.  Here’s another from that day.

Near the water’s edge in the western section of the park, I came across this object.  Whatever was covering this Styrofoam circle was worn away by the river, but its fabric bow remained.  It’s a graphic reminder that life itself is a circle.

The above broken circle is a detail.  Here is how this image first presented itself to me.  It was swept into the trees by the water.

I might have missed this next one if it hadn’t been for the color.  I believe it’s a toy meant to be thrown.  It flew into the river and here it landed.

I find so many automobile tires in proximity to the river that I almost stop looking at them.  But, their circular shapes always seem to catch my eye.  Here’s one recent tire with a small toy guarding the center space.

The rising and falling of the river is also a part of a great circle.  Soon these high waters will recede (that is if we don’t receive more record rains) and there will be a changed landscape to explore.  I found another quote I would like to end this post with and it’s from Albert Einstein and it seems appropriate.  He once said:

“Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

I feel recognition that we are indeed a part of that circle and not outside of it is important to our future and the quality of life.  Until next time.

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Lotto Land

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, birding, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, public art, recycled art, sculpture, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2011| 5 Comments »

It’s raining as I write this post.  It has seemingly rained the entire month of April in my area resulting in a swollen Ohio River.  I think we are on another collision course with the record books for most precipitation during April.  Only once this month have I been able to access what passes for our normal river shore line and it was very muddy!  We have had tornado warnings and flooding this Spring.  The following adventure occurred between the two episodes of high water we have experienced.  I was walking along the Woodland Loop Trail at the Falls of the Ohio State Park when I was stopped in my tracks by this hand painted sign the river deposited during the first flood.  Is it another way that the universe is trying to communicate to us?  Is nature saying we are taking a big chance with our treatment of the environment?  I wonder who will win and what the prizes are?  Care to buy a ticket?  I decided to pass, but there were plenty of consolation prizes all along my walk courtesy of man and a too high river.  Since this is Indiana, I thought it was fitting to find one of these.

For thousands of years the Falls was home to a sizeable population of native people.  Now, you are more likely to find one of these.  Another piece of Americana I came across I added to my fake food collection.

What can be more iconic than a fake cheeseburger?  What’s sad is that this isn’t the only one I’ve ever found out here.  I even have found a couple of plastic crinkle-cut french fries too.  Let me see if I can find a picture of one…hold on…yes, I also found this recently.

Moving along the trail, the unmistakable smell of skunk kept getting stronger and stronger in the humid air.  It’s possible that one of these animals drowned in the flood and its carcass was deposited here.  Or, one of the many birds of prey could have taken it.  At the odor’s epicenter, I discovered two species of vultures polishing off what’s left of the unfortunate skunk.  There were three black vultures and one large turkey vulture taking turns at the miserable remains.  Here’s one of the black vultures keeping an eye out while his friends gnosh.  I could see them around the tree trunks.

The dominant bird here was a big turkey vulture which is unusual from what I have observed at the Falls of the Ohio.  I normally see them retiring when the black vultures arrive.  This bird was the last to leave the skunk and the first to return.  Here he is giving me the “eye” from a low hanging branch.  As I approached, he joined the other vultures in a tall tree with a vantage point of me and the skunk. 

All that was left of the skunk were a few innards and its skull.  Perhaps the vultures will eat this too?  That skunk odor was so pervasive and offensive, I’m amazed that these vultures could stomach this, but then again, they have probably had worse meals.  Not to far from the birds, I did find a big piece of Styrofoam that was washed into a bottomland area.  Using what I could find nearby, I constructed this unnamed figure, photographed it, and kept moving down the trail.  Where I left this figure was in the center of a trail loop that curled back towards the Interpretive Center.  Here are images of this improvised piece.  It was an especially pitted and worn hunk of polystyrene.

I circled around and could see the sculpture from another angle.  Funny thing is that while I write this…I know it is no longer standing and was probably swept away again by the Ohio River for parts unknown.  It occurred to me recently that this month is the riverblog’s second anniversary.  As long as the river keeps things interesting, I will try to do the same through these posts.  I have many other images of recently found junk and once this more recent flooding subsides…no doubt will be able to fill this virtual collecting bag.  My parting image is the last picture I took of this short-lived artwork.

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