Waterbugs

Being an avid entymological observer for most of my life, I was thoroughly transfixed while gazing into one of the pools at Cattail Falls one day by the seeming mindless meanderings of these little aquatic critters, busily motoring about on their way to apparently nowhere. ("We don't know where we're going, but we're making good time!") The video doesn't really do them justice, of course, but it's still fun to watch these little guys, anyway.

Artoo Gettin' With It

Here we have another Star Wars-related video. For my birthday, my brother-in-law, Joe, gave me a hot-shot unit (battery jumper/air compressor), and I've managed to have to put it to use ever since. (There is some debate as to whether Joe knew I was going to need one somehow, or whether I've needed it because he gave it to me.) One day, I was airing up a slow leaker and looked down to see the unit doing a little dance, much like R2-D2 (a.k.a. "Artoo") does on occasion. I just couldn't resist catching it on video.

Yoda On The Run

One last doggie antics video, this one of a cute little pug named Yoda, owned by my nephew Matt and his girlfriend Amy. I never would've suspected that those short little legs of his could move so fast. He must be using The Force. ("Moving fast, I am.") The gasping and wheezing you hear during his rest stops is natural for a pug, so don't fret too much. You'd breathe that way, too, if your nose was squashed in like that. Poor little guy!

Chewy In Action

While on the subject of active dogs, my friends Jennifer and Romaldo recently adopted this wound-up red blue heeler named Chewy, a real live wire if I ever saw one. I don't know how they fit so much personality into one animal, but this guy's got a ton of it. Here it is playing with his favorite toy, the Flying Monkey. (No relationship to The Wizard of Oz flying monkeys, thank goodness!)

Dog Release - Take 2

And here we have Pete letting his pack loose. He has a slight delay in his release, due to one of the females being in season, and has to hold her back before he can let the rest loose. He finally gets the show underway and, as before, it's over really quick.

Dog Release - Take 1

While we're on the subject of animated animals, here's one of two videos I took over my birthday weekend. My brother-in-law, Joe, and his cousin, Pete, have packs of beagles they use for "hunting" rabbits. No rabbits are ever killed during these hunts, that I'm aware of; the hunts are mostly put on for the exercise of the dogs, and for the overall amusement of the owners. This is Joe letting his bunch loose. You have to watch quick!!

Ravin' Raven

Once again, one of our winged friends puts on a show for us, and this time it's also for his mate, too. This is George and Gracie, our mated pair of Chihuahuan ravens who have adopted the area as their home. You can find them most evenings roosting on the vigas (the protruding roof supports on adobe dwellings) on the storage building behind the Visitor Center. They're really quite friendly -- and large!

Roadrunner Runs Amok

If you thought the curved-bill thrasher was an active little guy, just catch this fellow's act. This is Pancho, our resident roadrunner, and he does this all the time. I've never seen a more animated display before, at least not in real life. This guy's nuts!

Lemme At Him!!!

Of the various forms of wildlife out here in Big Bend, the bird population wins hands-down in sheer numbers -- over 450 species in residence in the park alone, not counting the migrants working their way through in the spring and fall. Here we have one of our local residents, a curved-bill thrasher, attempting to thrash the living daylights out of himself in the mirrored window of the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center. He's not alone in this little endeavor, either, as we'll see in upcoming videos.

Millipede

Here's a curious little critter for you -- a millipede. I'd always see their bleached white husks lying around here before, but never an actual animal crawling around. Then I found out that they are only seen in the spring months, when I was usually up in Maine. Since I took this job as a permanent position in February, I was here for the emergence and mindless march of these funny little invertebrates. These guys out here are around 3" or 4" long, much longer than the ones I saw in Central Texas as a kid.

Big Bend Country

And once again, we're back in the wide open spaces of the Big Bend country again, rolling along through oceans of creosote bushes, yuccas, and every imaginable prickly plant on this corner of the planet. This is just a brief little window on my world out here -- a world I've come to know and love, thorns and all. (Well, I don't know about the thorns.) Toward the end of the video, you'll see a lone peak that resembles a volcano off in the distance which is Santiago Peak - elev. 6521'.

City Museum Bedpan Slide

No, that's not its real name, I don't think, but the entrance to it was certainly reminiscent of one. This was a quick but fun little slide that was over way too soon, and they mean every word about "sharp turn," too, as you'll see.

City Museum Monstro Slide

So, why should kids have all the fun? I found this long, tall slide taking me back to those thrilling days of yesteryear, to a slide at the playground of the Lometa School when I was a kid visiting my grandparents, so I availed myself of it and had a blast -- so much so, I did it twice.

City Museum Indoor Slide

Feeling that kids shouldn't be the only ones to have fun, I stopped in at the City Museum in St Louis on my trip down to Big Bend and had a total blast. This is a shot of some kids taking a run down the indoor slide, and gives you a brief glimpse inside the museum itself. You've just got to see this place to believe it.

Gwennie On A Roll

Soon, summer gave way to fall and it was time to take a little roll in the leaves. My crew leader's little girl, Gwennie, gets some pointers in the fine art of rolling with a couple of other park employees, especially from Amber, who did a very fine job demonstrating just how it's done. Looks like great fun, doesn't it? Give it a try sometime.

Molly

One year, my neighbors at the Harden Farm Apartments had this sweet, lovely Nova Scotia tolling retriever named Molly, who I absolutely loved. This is just a quick little video to show her off. (It was supposed to be a still shot, but the dial got bumped to Video accidentally. (That happens all the time, much to my consternation.)

Boulder Buster At Work

Speaking of noises, here's a good one for you -- an apparatus called a Boulder Buster. Since it uses a .22 shell-sized discharge device activating a shotgun shell-sized secondary discharge device, there are no explosives needed; just a drilled hole in the rock filled with water, which will become vaporized upon firing. The result is a loud BANG! followed by fragmentation of the rock, with any luck. It took us about 25 tries to get this huge slab broken apart, but when we did, look out below!!! By the way, the slant of the slab is the actual slant, not the tilt of the camera. What does that tell you? Proceed at your own risk.

A Dog And His Stick

With the coming of the bees of springtime also came Doug's migration from the southern climes of Texas back to the northern climes of Maine, namely back on the Trail Crew at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor. Here we have an end-of-the-day game of Keep-Away with one of the crew's black lab, Hank (a.k.a. "Hank the Tank"). How do they make that whistling sound?

Beeswater

During the spring months, the bee population in the Big Bend area -- and in the Entrance Station area in particular -- becomes somewhat of an issue, as the bees mistake the reflections off of windshields as reflections off of water. Needless to say, this causes some concern to our visitors, so we set out a pan of water in an effort to attract the bees away from the booth window. The downside to this is that the attendant on duty has to go out there and immerse himself or herself in a cloud of stinged winged things to refill said pan, and do so without incident. This is how that looks. (Yikes!!!)

Flight Of The Bumblebees

While we're on the subject of fun things and zoomin' 'round the room, here's a video I took at work in the Entrance Station at Big Bend National Park in Texas one fine spring day, when the resident bumblebee population decided to pay me a visit. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a little fun with them -- and inject a little culture into the mix, as well. Perhaps you'll recognize the tune, if I haven't slaughtered it too much.

Zoomin' 'Round The Room

Ever the avid aeronaut, I just couldn't pass up the chance to have a little fun with my new digital camera's video feature, and took it on a flight around my efficiency apartment in Bar Harbor, Maine. The scene with the Lego plane was purely ad-lib. Just having a little fun.

Sopwith Pup Run-up

This is one of my very first video attempts, catching the run-up of a Sopwith Pup replica fitted with a LeRhone rotary engine, the same engine that was in the original aircraft. The raspy, sputtering sound is typical of a rotary engine. This video was shot at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Rockland, Maine.