Golfed out

I am about out of patience with the young golfer (who shall remain nameless) who is having family troubles. I am about tired of a country that can make its sports figures multimillionaires, and its teachers and professors paupers.

I used to respect this young man for his supposedly mixed heritage, his determination and seeming wholesomeness, but it looks like fame and riches have corrupted him.

The first thing I was disturbed about was his support and involvement in a golf course and country club that has been tearing the hell out of mountainsides near Swannanoa NC, and making a nasty scar on formerly pristine mountains. Posters of him looking out over mountains and asking rich folks to look at what inspired him sprung up on roadsides here, and made me mad.

Son, we don't need another d___ed golf course!!!!!  We simply don't. Golf courses are nothing but an ecological wasteland, with monoculture fairways and greens, and trees that are "sick" or "dying" taken out, leaving no habitat for many hole nesting birds. These greens are poisoned to keep out Japanese Beetles (and thus moles), fertilized with stuff that artificially increases growth, liberally laced with herbicide to keep out any "unwanted" plants, and planted with plants and trees that have never grown in this place, and often escape to become weeds. We just don't need another one. Oh, and you rich Yankees and Floridiots, go back to New York. We just won't do things the way you like it done here, and we are an independent people, and make rotten servants. Which is what you will want when you get this gated, exclusive "community" built. Servants. You certainly don't want these Hillbillies playing golf next to you, or (GASP!!!) living next to you.


Son, from a person of moderate background, you have gotten into the stratosphere because of golf. These whitebread golf types you are pandering this ecological disaster to would not give you the sweat off their... uh necks if you weren't stinking rich, and wouldn't pee on your "Cablinasian" butt if it were on fire except for your millions. They will only use you as long as you make them money, and they will drop you.

I would like to make a suggestion to you. Why don't you use some of these millions you have to help environmental causes, help the homeless, help hungry people in your own country. We just don't need another ecological disaster playground for the stinking rich here in Western North Carolina, though I am sure we are going to get one.

Just my two cents.
End of rant.
Off of soap box.

My Views on Food and Animals

I see so much these days about people boycotting this and that, and people trying to pass laws that adhere to their (sometimes narrow) views about ethical animal treatment. Some of these I agree with, like the brave people who are shown on "Whale Wars". Others I am ambivalent about, like the people who march in front of furrier shops. And still others make me absolutely mad enough to bite nails and spit Rebar, like Vegans and Veggie Nazis telling me how and what I should eat. There are a couple of these who post to a local free newspaper, and their growling, whining and mumbling about forcing our school children to eat a Vegan diet in school finally got to me, and I wrote in. Of course, I got flamed, and one person held these idiots up as saints, for all the stuff they had done to promote Vegetarianism in our area, and the "sacrifices" they had made in this cause. Never mind that I have been promoting the love of Nature for years. Never mind that I have spent a majority of my life teaching Environmental Education, and teaching people of all ages to love Nature, and protect Her in any way possible.
Many of the people the New Age people claim to love are the so called "Native Americans", who actually, if you don't know their Tribal or National affiliation, prefer to be called Indians. Many of these groups produced men and women of great Spiritual acuity, and they ate many kinds of animals, including Bison and deer. All these wannabe veggies and vegans go nuts over "Native Americans", but sort of slide right over the facts that they ate (and still for the most part eat) many species of wild game that these people hold in absolute reverence. If pressed, they will say "well, that is their tradition". Bull feathers. It is my tradition too. My grandfather fed his family during the Great Depression with a shotgun, and I was taught to hunt by my mother's brother. These people will say "we are more conscious than that". Than what? Is the Cougar any less conscious than we when she drops out of the tree and breaks the deer's neck with one great paw? Do we have the hubris to say we are more conscious than she? Do we need to divorce ourselves from Natur Herself in order to be "conscious"? I think not.


You may have gathered that I am what Veggie Nazis call a "meat eater". Oh, I eat all kinds of things, potatoes, squash, beans, corn, other vegetables, but they focus on the meat, and say it is WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

I have a few questions. If a wolf goes out and pulls down an elk or deer, what do you say? Some of these people will cheer the wolf on. What? What's that you say? "It is the wolf's nature!" Really? And it isn't mine? How dare you tell me what is my nature! Wanna turn the wolf vegetarian? You might be able to manage it, but not with Cougar. Cougar requires meat, and the fresher the better. Once again, do NOT tell me that my nature is different from theirs. That is a type of hubris that has separated humans from their nature for thousands of years, the idea that we are somehow outside the natural process. It has also been instrumental in destruction of Nature, the thinking that we are outside Her laws.

A human eating meat is no different from a bear or raccoon eating meat. We are all omnivores, made to eat almost anything, from vegetable matter to raw meat. Not me. I think that fire was probably an adaptation to eating a variety of stuff and not have it kill us. Fire can purify a lot of things

Golden days

The days of late summer are golden, with maybe just a tinge of brass. The sun is following a southward path every day toward the Equinox, and the days turn from a sultry heat to a pleasant mildness. A flush of flowering has begun, following the doldrums of summer, that time when the Mountains are just an unrelieved green with but few spots of color. Late summer is a golden time here with all the yellow composites abloom. Of course, those are not all that is blooming, not by a long shot, but in many places, they are in the majority, and Goldenrod can cover whole fields.

Late summer and early Fall flowers!!!

I am struck by the flowers this year. For once we have had something approaching normal rainfall here in the Southern Appalachians around Asheville, Land of the Weird. Normal rainfall here is something approaching 50 plus inches a year, making some scientists call our forests a "temperate rain forest, but not for the last few years. For the last several grueling years, we have been afflicted with an unrelieved drought. Flowers that normally burgeoned with color were scraggly, or did not bloom at all. Whole sections of forest, rooted on thin soil over rock simply dried up and died.

This year, every field, hedgerow, roadside and wet pasture is lush with growth that just a few weeks ago was a deep hunter green, but now has burst into a myriad of colors, many of them some shade of yellow, but of course, not all. Goldenrod covers many a field and roadside, turning them into burnished gold.

 Bill Hilton at Hilton Pond http://hiltonpond.org has written several articles about Goldenrod, and if you go to his site, you can enter "goldenrod" (without the quotes) into the search box, and get lots more info. Bill is a top notch Naturalist, and writes great articles. (He writes in the third person with the "editorial we" which I find mildly annoying, but everything he writes is solid.)

I have heard so many people say "oh, I'm allergic to Goldenrod". My first response is to say "no you're not". Of course, I often get the "are you callin' me a liar?!" of ignorant folk. My usual reply is "no, I am saying you are an ignorant so and so". I hate it when people do that, just so you know.

No, the real culprit is Ragweed, a rather camouflaged and cryptic member of the same family that is wind pollinated. Notice the wasp on the Goldenrod in the last picture. It is transferring pollen. The pollen of Goldenrod is heavy, and must be transported by insect. On the other hand, pollen of Ragweed is light, and is carried by wind, often miles from the parent plant.

This one blended in so well with its background, I put it on the hood of the car to photograph it. Notice the green flowers all along the top.

Another that was made famous by a book and a movie is a purple flowered plant made famous by a book and movie of the same name, namely Ironweed.

Ironweed is found in low pastures near a stream where it usually stays rather damp. This one was found on a stream bank.

Speaking of stream banks. The Swannanoa River near Asheville, particularly the Azalea area is hopping with flowers this year. Goldenrod is everywhere, painting whole areas of the riverbank gold, and in other places the Joe Pye Weed is king.

Remembering

Check the political and social blog of Blue Ridge Discovery at http://alexnetherton.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/.

Revisited

Mid Summer and Morning Glories

I was driving somewhere the other day, and a puff of warm air blew into the car carrying the scent of clover blossoms and other fragrances, and it took me back to the days of my youth in western Buncombe County where my grandmother lived. The sense of smell, they tell me, is one sense most closely tied to memory. I just sat and remembered.

One of the things I remember most about those days, and one of my favorite flowers, is Morning Glory. Though most of our Morning Glories are introduced, and can become rather weedy, I still think they are an icon of summer, and will always be part of the summers of my youth.

Purple form

I remember the corn growing high at this time in my grandmother's garden, the bean vines growing up around the corn, the old time bean called by Mountain people "Cornfield Beans", a bean probably gotten from the Cherokee, and in a riotous confusion of vines and purple and pink blossoms, the Morning Glory vines. We would pick beans, break corn from the stalks, and I would admire the Morning Glory as we got our food for supper. I remember the sights, sounds and smells of the corn fields, and the way the Morning Glory would close up before noon. I remember that my favorite color of Morning Glory was (and still is) the pink.

Pink Form

The cornfield was not the only place for Morning Glory though, and it could be seen in almost any disturbed ground, lawn edges, fallow fields, and flower gardens meant for other flowers. As I said, it can get a bit weedy. At first frost though, it was all gone, to fold up for another year.

Also along the roadsides, in the awfulest clay soil of the road cut was another member of the Morning Glory clan, the Wild Sweet Potato or Man Root. It has a white flower, and is actually native to our area, while the Common Morning Glory is thought to have originated in Mexico.

Wild Sweet Potato or Man Root near my home

The root is said to be medicinal (thought to regulate hormones, having a chemical related to Estrogen and Testosterone), and is huge - I tried to dig one once to move it into my yard at home. It was already partially exposed from the activities of a road gang, but it was as big around as my arm, and easily six feet long, and that was when I gave up digging. I just admire them on the roadside now.

Wild Sweet Potato at Cradle of Forestry

There are others found in other parts of the country, and there are beach Morning Glories, one of them called Railroad Vine because it sprawls out along the beach and makes lines in the sand like railroad lines, very straight. Another I found year before last on a trip to the beach (and brought home seeds) is the Ivy Leafed Morning Glory, with sky blue flowers.

Ivy Leaf Morning Glory

Though native to Puerto Rico, it is introduced to our area, and is generally found in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. I found the parent to this plant in a rest area in South Carolina and managed to find some seed pods. A couple of the seeds came up, and the plant climbed up a 6 foot bamboo pole and onto the house. The plants this year have done the same. Though not as prolific a bloomer as the Common, nor are the flowers as big, it is still lovely, and worth having.

The old home place is gone now, and most of the area around my grandmother's house has transmogrified into a sort of country suburb with cracker box houses and tract developments. In my mind it will always be country, with fields and pastures. I still yearn to live in a place like that.

Trout, oh yeah

As a Western North Carolina Native, I have always had a weakness for trout fishing in all its forms. I have done fly fishing, but most of my fishing is done on what we call "Hatchery Supported" streams. Let me explain.

Many streams in Western NC cannot support a naturally reproducing population of trout for a variety of reasons. The water might get too warm in summer for most species of trout, there may not be enough prey species in the stream, the bottom might be too silty to allow nesting, or it just might get too much fishing pressure to allow trout to effectively reproduce. However, trout can live in the streams just fine, so the state takes a hand. Our state has three trout hatcheries that produce a half a million fish a year, and I for one think we need more, as the fisherman population has grown, and the hatcheries have not grown to keep up. These hatcheries stock the Hatchery Supported waters of the state with catchable sized trout all summer, giving fishermen (and women) the chance to catch pan sized trout all summer. Unfortunately, there are people I call "game hogs" who follow hatchery trucks and fish every fish out as soon as they are placed. I have heard these people bragging of catching 40, 50, up to 100 fish as soon as the truck has moved. I only wish there were a Game Warden nearby. The limit on Hatchery Supported water is 7 per day.

There are other types of water, particularly the "Wild Trout" water, that has naturally reproducing trout, and generally has a smaller limit. There is also what is called "Catch and Release" water, where no trout can be kept. But enough of regulations. They can be found at the Nc Wildlife Fishing Page, which will tell you all aboout the hatcheries, seasons, regulations and all that. I want to talk about the trout!

We have three species of trout here in Western NC, only one of which is a true Trout, and only one of which is a native of this area. The true trout is the Brown Trout, Salmo trutta, and is from Europe. It is, as are all trout, a member of the Salmon family (Salmonidae), and in the right waters can grow quite large. It breeds quite well here in our waters, and can take over a stream, pushing the native Brook Trout out and up into the headwaters. They are also tolerant to higher water temperatures than are the Brook Trout and Rainbow Trout, and can exist in streams where these others would be stressed.

A small Brown Trout, Swannanoa River, probably "native"

Browns are very wary, even the newly stocked ones, and can be spooked very easily. On a stream containing stream raised (called "native", simply meaning hatched in the stream) Browns, any motion of the fisherman will cause the fish to go into hiding. I worked a whole summer to catch one on a small stream near Boone NC one year. This caused them to be called "more sporting" than the native Brook, thus causing anglers to import them.

Another small Brown from the Swannanoa. Pretty. Also likely a "Native"

Browns eat a variety of food in the streams, insects being one of the most common foods. This allows them to be caught by fly fishermen using a variety of dry and wet flies. They also are known to eat small fish such as dace, sculpins and darters, and crayfish, making them susceptible to streamer flies. Of course they will eat earthworms, making them prey for the "country boy" fisherman using live or natural bait. They are also known to take bits of bread balled up on a hook, small balls of cheese, and even whole kernel yellow corn, a very popular bait on Hatchery Supported streams.

Browns breed in fall and early winter, laying eggs in scooped out areas called "redds" in gravel pools. They, as do all trout, require gravel runs and pools to breed, so in many of our streams they have limited areas for breeding due to farm runoff and construction.

Browns are a close relative of the Atlantic Salmon, sharing many characteristics with them, and Brown Trout in coastal areas can be anadromous, spawning in the fresh water and living in the sea as adults, just like Salmon.


Another famous trout that seems to get a lot of attention in local restaurants is the Rainbow (Onchorynchus mykiss), where you will see advertised on the menus "Mountain Rainbow Trout". Interesting, in that they are not native to this area, being from west of the Rockies, and are not really a trout at all, but a Pacific Salmon. Also a member of the Salmonidae, they are common in our streams, being in the middle of the tolerance range as far as water temperature goes, being less tolerant than the Brown, but more so than the Brook.

A young Rainbow from the Swannanoa. Note the "parr marks"

Rainbows are a colorful introduction from California, and are sought after by many anglers due to their tendency to jump when hooked - Browns head for the bottom and Brooks head downstream - so were also considered more "sporting" than the native Brooks, and were in demand by anglers. Rainbows eat much the same foods as Browns, though may not eat so many fish or crustaceans. They also push out Brook Trout, and can take over streams that historically held native Brook Trout. They can grow rather large, and are generally colorful (see photo), especially when small. Rainbows are also wary, but are not in a league with Browns; moderate skill will get a Rainbow to bite, and a few mistakes can be made without spooking them.


Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are my favorite. They are considered by many to be the Jewel of the Southern Appalachians. An item of controversy for many, the Southern Appalachian form is called by many Mountaineers "Speckled Trout", and held as a different creature from other trout; many fights have erupted over whether the "Speck" is a separate species. The current wisdom is that it is a separate subspecies of the Brook Trout, though I had a friend growing up that would get angry enough to fight when told this.

Brooks are the only "trout" native to the Southern Appalachians, though they are not a trout at all, but a Char, genus Salvelinus, related to the Arctic Char, the Lake Trout, and the Dolly Varden of the West. They require clear cold streams, and cannot tolerate warm temperatures as well as Browns and rainbows, limiting them to higher elevations and colder water.

A Brook Trout, hatchery origin, probably Miane variety. Swannanoa River

The Southern Appalachian Brook Trout, or "Speck" is designated as the State Freshwater Fish of North Carolina. They are more colorful than their stocked brethren, and are called the "Jewel of the Southern Appalachians" as shown here in the Land o' Sky Trout Unlimited page.

Brooks here in Western NC are of two different origins. The hatchery strains were taken from Maine in the 1800's and transported here, as the Maine strains seemed to do well in hatcheries. The Appalachian strains did not do well at all. Maine Brooks were transplanted into almost all the streams here, and soon became the prevalent type in almost all the local streams. The Appalachian types, the only native trout to this area, were pushed by all these introductions into the tiny headwaters of streams, and almost all of them have some growth stunting because of this. They hang on except where the local authorities take out all the introductions and provide some way to protect the natives from them.

Brooks in general are not as wary as Rainbows or Browns, allowing the fisherman to make some mistakes and still catch them, and do not feed quite so discriminately (eating just one kind of fly at a time) as do Browns and Rainbows, allowing the fisherman to throw in most any kind of fly and catch Brooks. This led the "purists" of the last century and the one before to look down on brooks and want something more "challenging", thus the call for Brown Trout and Rainbows.


Catching trout can be easy as baiting a hook and tossing it in a Hatchery Supported stream the day after the hatching truck has passed, or as difficult as a multi mile hike into a high mountain "Catch and Release" stream and "matching the hatch" in order to catch the wary fish of these remote waters. Of course there are places in between, where you can drive up Davidson River, park, and be on a famous NC catch and Release stream with very wary fish (due to fishing pressure, these guys are smart), or go up a nice small stream and fish in Wild Trout waters with natural bait. Fly fishing is a subject in itself, one which I am not terribly familiar with, but I have done the "country boy" fishing for years. I usually use red worms or night crawlers from the bait store or that I have dug myself, and fished without sinkers, just drifted. I have discovered that hook size can make a difference in whether a fish can swallow the hook or not; smaller hooks lead to gut or gill hooking, and I do not like that, as I like to be able to release the fish if I am not wanting a fish fry. Many trout fishermen recommend a size 8 or 10 hook, but a trout's mouth is bigger than that; I use a 6 or even a 4.

Bait that is often used for trout include:

• Corn, particularly Green Giant "niblets". This is the most popular bait on the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
  
• Bread, moistened slightly and rolled up into balls and placed on the hook.
• Cheese. Go figure.
• Berkeley's Powerbait. I do not endorse it, but a lot is sold. Some swear by it, some at it.
• Worms, both "Red Worms" and "Night Crawlers", which are simply types of Earthworm.
• "Stick Bait", the larvae of the Caddis Fly taken out of their shell and placed on the hook. Just remember when collecting them that it is illegal to collect fish bait or bait fish from a designated trout stream.
• Minnows can work, especially on Brown Trout, as can crayfish.
• Though not a bait, many brands and variety of spinner and other artificial lures are used.

So go trout fishing. You are sure to enjoy it!

Mid Summer, Garter Snake, Flowers and stuff.

I went shooting yesterday. Right. I am a Liberal, a Conservationist, and Environmentalist, and I love to shoot. I am not averse to hunting either, legal hunting of a plentiful animal. I am not against gun ownership by honest people who have no trouble with the law. Oh, and are not crazy or have a history of domestic violence. You have a problem with gun ownership? Then don't own one. Simple. Don't believe in gay marriage? Don't marry one. Don't believe in abortion? Don't get one. Just don't try to take my rights away because you believe another way.

Okay. Soapbox out of the way. While digging for brass that other shooters had kindly left in some trash bins, and brass others had left where it fell, I espied a Garter Snake, whom I proceeded to grab. I had steeled myself for a bite, as many Garters will certainly nip when handled, but she didn't, and did what I did not expect (though I should have, really), which is a Garter's main line of defense anyway, and musked me.
Now, think of your garbage can on a hot July day. It hasn't been cleaned in weeks, not since winter, and the smell coming off is almost visible. That is what Garter Snake musk smells like. They will start their tail to whirling like a helicopter, and spray it all over you, then try to rub it in by wiping their tail all over your hand. Then, as she did, they will also poop on you. Smells wonderful... Of course, think of yourself being picked up by a much larger animal like an Elephant - you might poop too. Anyway, I grabbed out my camera and started taking photos. I did not realize until looking at the photos that she had only one eye, but otherwise she looked healthy. I suspect a crow or jay of trying to kill her for this disability. Here are some pictures.
This is after she calmed down, though she still was sort of tied in knots (I couldn't resist). I also got a couple of nice ones of her on a rock, where I managed to get her to calm down enough to be still a few seconds.
When I started home, I felt the need to stop somewhere to wash my hands, as the smell was driving me crazy. The shooting range is near a place called Sunburst, a former sawmill town that once cut spruce for US warplanes in WW I. There is now a cozy little campground and a small picnic area there, and it fortunately has a bathroom. After getting the smell off my hands, I noticed that the Rhodendron, called Mountain Laurel by the locals, was blooming, and I got a couple of shots. They are just about gone at this elevation (around 2700 feet), though may be in full bloom at higher elevations.

The photo is a bit blurry, as I could not get the camera to focus on the flowers. Oh to have an SLR!

While going to a drug store to get some alcohol to make a tincture (external, so it can be Isopropyl) of Yarrow for a friend's Poison Oak, I saw a Sourwood blooming where I could get to it, and got a couple of shots of it too.



Thankfully, these are not too blurry, and you can see the tiny flowers that make some nurseries try to sell this as "Lily of the Valley Tree", though it is not related to any Lilies at all, but to Blueberries, Rhododendrons and others (Heath Family). More on Sourwood in a later blog.

Next I saw a Sumac, probably a Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra L.) growing nearby, a pretty plant that also has an edible component, the "berries", which can be steeped in water to make a "pink lemonade". My aunt, my mom's sister, was told by a doctor back in the 1930's to eat these for a kidney infection; antibiotics were unheard of in that day. She lived well into her 80's.

Well, enough for that. Just wanted to share some photos. I will probably do a blog on each of the pictures, but enough for now.

Trout fishing in North Carolina

Trout fishing is one of my favorite activities in this world. My dad and I started trout fishing together almost a half century ago. Though I know how to fly fish, I generally don't; most of the fly fishing water is too far away, and I can (most of the time) keep from injuring the fish too much when I catch them, so I can release them back where I caught them. If I in fact do injure them, I can just take them home and eat them!

Orange Flowered Beauties

One of my passions in this world are the orange flowers of some plants, flowers that vary in color from one individual to the next. These are the beauties of the flower world, at least to me, and are a sort of a triplet, three totally unrelated species that have a sort of similarity, orange flowers that range from yellow with a hint of orange, to red, also with a hint of orange. I wish I had some of the photos I took in the past, but many of them I forgot to back up when I did a destructive reinstall of Windows.

One of these that grows profusely in my postage stamp front yard is the Trumpet Creeper, or Cow Itch Vine, Campsis radicans L. Seem. ex Bureau. (That L. and Seem. ex. Bureau is just the name of the author(s) of the scientific name. No need to worry about unless you are a Botanist.) We have all three colors here, buttery yellow
true Orange

and almost red.

We are truly fortunate to have these in our front yard, and they are here due to the love Suzanne, my wife, has for these vines.

Another one that does this is the Flame Azalea, a sort of icon of the Southern Appalachians, and a gorgeous sight on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Spring. I have only an orange one in this photo, but they range the same as the Cow Itch, from nearly yellow to nearly red.

This one shows the contrast to the brown of the forest floor.

Another of my three favorites is the Butterfly Weed. Lori at Reflections on the Catawba has some nice photos of Butterfly weed. The one in our yard is pretty much middle of the scale orange,

but they also range from butter yellow to almost red. You can see a small bee in the Butterfly weed, maybe the same kind Lori talks about. It has come to the attention of many in agriculture that wild bees are a significant pollinator of many types of crops, and are often more effective than Honeybees.

In your travels through the Mountains and Piedmont, look for the variable orange flowers of the Trumpet Vine (also found in the Coastal Plain), and the Butterfly Weed; the Flame Azalea has pretty much finished blooming. You will be amazed at the range of colors, and if you have the color sense to see it, you can see the many hues from near yellow to near red, always with a hint of orange.

A day out in the Mountains

I had a day out today, something I haven't done in a while. I decided to combine Geocaching with Trout fishing and general sightseeing. I loaded a bunch of waypoints on my GPS receiver, bought some nightcrawlers, and headed out. I don't have a fly rod, so I do "country boy" fishing, though I do my best to not injure them, and toss them back, keeping them only if I hook them too deep for survival.

I brought my cache stats to 101 found - that makes it just over 100 for the year I have been in Geocaching.Geocaching Web Site And, I caught 3 trout, a Rainbow first, a little "native" (one hatched in the stream - Rainbows aren't native here), a Brook Trout of fair size, and a Brown Trout. The Brown might have been native, but I doubt the Brookie was; they don't do well when the water heats up in the summer.

Here's a photo of the Brown Trout I got. By color and size, I would say he was hatched in the stream. He was the third one I caught; I went back to the van and got a camera.

The Brook Trout is not a Trout at all, but a Char, a genus that circles the arctic (Salvelinus if you're interested). The Brook is a fish of the Eastern America from Canada to the higher mountains of the Southern Appalachians. It requires clear cold streams to thrive, but is in danger from its relative the Rainbow Trout, which is also not really a Trout, but a Pacific Salmon (genus Onchorynchus), and is from the Pacific drainages, probably from Alaska to southern California. Brookies are also in danger from Brown Trout, which are in fact the only true Trout in these waters. Browns are from Europe, where they are widespread.

Rainbows and browns were brought into this area over 100 years ago to provide sport; the Brooks were not considered "sporting" enough. They are not terribly wary, like the Brown, and are not given to aerial displays like the Rainbow. They are, however, a jewel of the Southern Appalachians, and are by far, when breeding, the most beautiful of the three species found here.

If you are interested, more information can be found by going to NC Wildlife, and go to the fishing section. Another fun thing is to Google "Southern Appalachian Brook Trout", and see what you come up with.
See you later!

Alex

Colors of Spring

Spring has so many colors here in the Southern Appalachians; more so it seems than in the fall, and just as ephemeral. I was struck by the colors of the Spanish Oak (Quercus falcata. Spanish Oak this year was a yellow green that defies description.

When you look at a hillside here in the early Spring, when the leaves are just coming out, you will see a palette of colors that simply cannot be described, and which boggles the mind. Each individual tree seems to have its own shade of some pastel color, and all the colors which can be seen in the Fall are muted. There are pinks, yellows, purples, reddish browns, and of course the greens, from emerald to pale yellow green.

You only see this sort of color show for a short time, so I will keep this post short. The colors have lasted about a week, and have been the prettiest I have seen in many a year, probably due to having plenty of rain.

If you live in Western NC, and want to see them, you need to get out. Travel the Parkway from Brevard Road to the Folk Art Center. When you are nearing US 74A, look on the eastern road bank for a small patch of blue which is Birdfoot Violet (Viola pedata), and a large shrub with orange flowers which is the Flame Azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum).

And, of course, enjoy Nature!

More Progression of Spring

Well, I left you with the Spotted Salamanders, Wood Frogs, Spring Peepers and Pickerel Frogs (among others) who are out and breeding in early Spring. As Spring progresses into early April, you will hear a new voice in the marshes, and even along lake shores, a sweet trill that seems to magically arise from the ambient sounds and freeze you, or at least it freezes me. It is like some trill from an Elven flute, a magical sound that makes me lose my breath for a second until I recognize it. I never recognize it at first; it always catches me by surprise, arising from the sound of rushing water, of a light breeze, or from a near silence of the woodland. It takes me a magical second the identify this sound, even if I heard it a day before, and I never fail to blurt out "American Toad!".
I know that most people think the Toad is ugly, but I love them.

Here you can see the eye, one of the prettiest in the Animal Kingdom (my daughter likely has the prettiest, but I am prejudiced), looking like gold filigree. The American Toad can be told from his cousin (really a double first cousin, because they are capable of interbreeding and do on occasion) the Fowler's Toad by several characteristics, a good subject for another blog post.

At this time, the first week or so in April, the native flowers and trees begin to bloom. One that is totally mystical to me is the Appalachian Serviceberry, called Sarvice by the older locals. It is a stark white to occasionally white with a very subtle pink tinge, and is usually found in young woodlands and along woodland borders. It seems to appear magically out of the browns and grays of the late Spring woodland. Shortly after, in lower areas with more neutral soil, you will see Redbud trees making a pinkish purple haze. (Jimmy Hendrix would be proud...). Bloodroot and Trout Lily are also blooming, Bloodroot in more dry locations in more mature woods, and Trout Lily along the streams and trickles. Bloodroot will knock your eye out, but Trout Lily has to be looked for. At the Kephart Trail head on US 441 between Cherokee and Gatlinburg is a colony of Hepatica that is simply outstanding, showing several colors as the flowers mature. They are out in mid April.

Next are the Dogwood, with a white that is chalk to bone white, often a pure shining white, and occasionally with a hint of pink. The Sarvice are now gone, and most of the trees, especially Tulip Tree, or Yellow Poplar, are leafing out. Oaks will be out and pollinating, and people who search for Morel Mushrooms will be out too. The Fraser Magnolia, a native deciduous Magnolia, will bloom in late April, and a little later, the Tulip Tree, making a very pretty flower that can be lost amongst the leaves, and looking very like a tulip.

Late April is a fertile time here, with the trees now leafing out, and the mountains being a lush emerald green that almost makes you hungry. It is difficult to feel old at this time of year, with the streams running high, wild flowers blooming in every cove, hollow, and stream bank.

In May the trees mature their leaves and begin to take on a darker green, more of a hunter green, and many of the wild flowers have finished up.

So much goes on in Spring here, and I think of Spring as covering a span from early February to late May. It is a season to enjoy, as all the other seasons are to be enjoyed. Please come and enjoy, but also, PLEASE leave the Mountains as you found them. Too much of our Mountain land is being destroyed by people who "love" the Mountains and want to live here...

Progression of Spring

I can't believe I haven't published anything since late February. Gosh. Spring is cruising along, and it is fascinating to watch. In the years I worked in the Southeast Georgia area, I was treated to a very different Spring. It seemed the weather went from the relative cool of Winter, to the sweet comfort of Spring to the hard heat of Summer in a little over a month, maybe not even that long. It's different here.

Spring here is a progression, something that can be watched from day to day, especially if you live out of doors as I did in the late 1980's and early '90's. I worked for an Environmental Ed. center here, and was outside every day from early April to the last of May. Spring here covers more territory than that, though, and all of it is lovely.

In February, right around St. Valentine's Day, the Red Maples start to bud out in the forests, fence rows, wood edges, and thickets, with a light reddish blush that is hardly noticeable unless you are right on top of them, but there, they are quite striking.


At around the same time, Tag Alder and Hazel of both species (American and Leafy) are doing the same thing, but they are filling the air with pollen, causing horrible sinus problems with allergy sufferers.

This is Alder with my hand as a support. The long yellow things are the male catkins, which make pollen. The female catkins can be seen at the tips of the branch, and will make seed in the summer.

In the next photo of a Hazel colony near the French Broad, you can see how many of these things can be pollinating at once. Imagine every stream, pond, lake shore, brook, trickle, and marsh has some Alders, plus most river and stream flood plain woods has some Hazel, and you get the idea how many tons (yes, I said tons) of pollen are floating around in Western NC during February.

Now you have to remember that we are still in Winter's grip. The Equinox is still a ways off. But things are happening. Wood Frogs are to be found near the vernal pools, pools and ponds that are only filled with the Spring rains, and are empty by late summer. Their funny quacking song doesn't carry, but their cousins the Peepers, who are out at the same time, can be heard for miles.

This Wood Frog was kind enough to sit in my hand while I got a rather bad shot of him. He was found crossing the road on a rainy night in early March last year. I also found a Pickerel Frog on the road at the same time.

As you can see, Pickerel Frogs have square spots or blotches on their backs which blend in well with the forest floor.


This one was found this Spring on a rainy night in late March.

Someone else is out too in March during warm night rains. (By warm I mean above 40 degrees F.) The Spotted Salamanders are out seeking temporary pools and ponds which contain no fish that will eat their babies.

This is the first one I ever saw in the wild, one night in late March. I also saw a rare sight, also a first for me, a Mole Salamander, not quite so showy, but considered threatened over much of its range.

This one was nice enough to sit in the pine needles at the side of the road and let me take pictures (I moved him from the middle of the road). I was as high as a kite after finding these two, both firsts for me, and sights rarely seen by most people, since they are out on rainy nights at a time of year when most people don't go out. I am certainly glad I do.

I will write more on the progression of Spring. Have to let the pot bubble for a bit...

Early allergies

For those of us who have allergies, no, you don't have a cold. Early pollinators are out, and they are going to town. Most folks don't even know it's happening. If you live in the Northeast, like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or you live in the Southern Appalachians, it looks like Winter is still with us, but there are a few hardy shrubs who are always ready to jump the gun. They are the Hazels (both species) and the Tag Alder, Alder and the American, or Leafy Hazelnut are both found near streams and creeks, and both shedding pollen right now. The Beaked Hazelnut will not be far behind. Since they are wind pollinated, they don't have to worry about any hardy insects being out in what seems the dead of Winter.

Both are in the same family, called Betulaceae (or Corylaceae) by Botanists, and just plain old Birch (or sometimes Hazel) family by the layman. All of them, Birches, Hazels, Alders and relatives have similar floral parts and seeds, and all are pretty much wind pollinated.

This family has flowers called catkins, a type of aggregated flowers all in a bunch. The male catkins are pendulous, and the female ones, the ones that make the seed, are small and generally upright. In the Hazel, there is only one female flower, a tiny red one, generally on the end of the twigs. I am linking to a couple of pictures on the USDA Plants Database, as I don't have any good pictures. They are at USDA Alder, and USDA Hazel. Note that following these links will take you away from this page unless you open them in new tabs.

I will place a couple of my own that are not quite as nice to display the density of them. First a couple of Hazel photos taken along Hominy Creek near Asheville, and then some Alder photos taken along Gashes Creek near the Blue Ridge Parkway where is crosses US 74-A. The USDA photos show the red catkins of the female flowers both on Alder, and the single tiny flower of the female catkin of Hazel. The last photo is of Hazel taken near the Swannanoa River in Asheville.

If you look closely at the photos I present, though not technically very good, they illustrate the sheer mass of pollen being shed at this time of year. Think of these photos, and then think of every little creek, stream, branch, rill or trickle which is absolutely certain to have these lovely little shrubs along them, at least Alders, and you can figure that there are probably tons of Alder pollen (hazel is not quite so common) blowing around in the air right now in the Southern Appalachians. It is no wonder that people have "colds" they cannot seem to get rid of.

Frogwatch in the suburbs.

Yeah, I live in the suburbs. A sorry state for a Naturalist, I know. Maybe one day I will win the Lottery (never play it), have a rich great aunt leave me a bundle (all my great aunts are poor), or find a rich benefactor (yeah, right...), but until one of these things come to pass, I am stuck here in the suburbs where I have lived for most of 50 years. *Sigh*.

Anyway, I signed up for Frogwatch USA last year, and tonight I decided to go out and look for, or really, listen for, frogs. I got in my old van, started out through a rather stiff rain, and ran down to a local Wal-Mart shopping center. Frogs at Wally World? Well, yeah. See, they usually build ponds around the stores in order to cut down drainage from their parking lots, and to stop the drainage from blasting into the nearest river or stream. This is a perfect home for a number of species of frog. Nobody was home, though I thought I heard a Wood frog; the ambient noise was too great for these half century plus ears. I was undaunted, and took myself to a local soccer complex.

This soccer complex has a nice depression that was obviously planned as a drainage pond, but as it is on a bed of river sand and silt, it never holds water, and I bypassed it completely. As I was driving, I saw a frog shaped blob in the road. I stopped, backed up, and got out, right next to a fine little Wood Frog, Rana sylvatica. I missed catching him, and drove on to an old beaver pond along the river, where I heard Spring Peepers, Hyla (or Pseudacris) crucifer. Getting out, I spied another Wood Frog shaped blob in the headlight beams, and managed to catch this one, who gave an explosive bellow worthy of a Bullfrog - I have never heard a Wood Frog do this in the dozens (possibly hundreds) I have handled. I looked at him and crooned to him (I always talk to them - folks think I am silly, but since I am 6'3" and 250#, they rarely say anything about it). I of course let him go, and walked off a quarter mile or so to listen to the Peepers across the river, who were in full chorus.

This is a sign that Spring is poised to strike. Actually, the seasons here are a progression and never a discrete occurrence.

HTML Mail

OK. I have had it with technical old fogies. I mean, it is here in the year 2009, and people are still afraid of HTML mail? Give me a break!

A few days ago I was warned about HTML mail when I sent a message to a birding group here in the Carolinas. It was a second warning. I did not wait for a third warning (whereupon I would have been banned), but sent a nasty flame message to the whole group, and unsubscribed myself. Why, you ask, did I do this? After receiving a number of messages from people who told me they will not post to that group because their e-mail program doesn't send in plain text (oh, yeah, it does, but they don't know that), and are relegated to only receiving mail and not able to participate, I decided to say something about this, and hopefully refute the pervasive current "wisdom" about this. You see, I had added a little picture of a view from Mount Mitchell to my signature file, and in order for this picture to go through, the mail had to be in HTML. I also had a few links, one to a page where I can accept (much needed) donations to keep my blogs (like this one) and lists and web pages going. I even had a message bounced from a Yahoo group for birds in North Carolina. Well, I did not and do not see the problem. I will tell you why.

First off, it is 2009 for God's sake! Most e-mail proggies worth being called that can format and receive HTML with no problems. Let me refute a few things from a popular web site with some of my own opinions. Taken from Georgedillon.com's "7 reasons why HTML email is evil"

1. HTML e-mail is dangerous

So is breathing, swimming, horseback riding, sailing, skydiving, smoking, driving a car, and crosing the road. Most of us do many of those things, and many do all of them. We use safety equipment when we do many of them - some of even wear seat belts. A good virus program and some common sense can go a long way.

2. HTML e-mail always wastes bandwidth

Yep. Most of us these days are on some form of high speed, so the point is moot. Even dial-up is now at 56K.

3. HTML e-mail doesn't always work

Does if you want it to. If you use a modern e-mail program like Thunderbird or Windows Mail. This is an argument for 1998. I can't buy into it.

4. HTML e-mail can connect to the internet by itself

Once again, only if you want it to. Mozilla Thunderbird will not unless I tell it to. Plus, so what? I have a firewall and an antivirus. It's like whitewater canoeing. You wear the necessary safety equipment and the risks go way down.

5. HTML e-mail renders slowly

What year did I say this was? My computer, a low end desktop has a dual core processor and 2 gigs of memory. This might have applied 10 years ago. HTML mail comes up in the same time as plain text on mine, and did the same on my 8 year old computer (633Mhz with 192mb memory). This just doesn't apply any more.

6. HTML usually looks like it has been designed by stoned amateur chimpanzees using Front Page Express with their feet

What??? I get HTML mail from dozens of web sites, including my ISP. They all look good. What year did I say this was?

7. Digested lists hate HTML mail

Oh yeah, so they do. So they just rip out the formatting, as does Yahoo! No biggie.



So there. I just do not see what the fuss is about. I own several Yahoo lists, and moderate another. All are set to accept HTML. Yahoo kindly checks each message for viruses. My antivirus kindly checks each one as it is downloaded. My list clients can use whatever formatting they fancy or is the default on their e-mail program. And I don't have to worry about it.

Alex Netherton
Blue Ridge Discovery

Sandy Mush

I got to feeling an old timey urge to go hunting on Monday, so I grabbed a shotgun and went to Sandy Mush. Some people are going to get all bent out of shape at me being a Nature lover, tree hugger and environmentalist and actually HUNTING (GASP!), but I will beg you to remember that Aldo Leopold was a waterfowler, and had this to say: “That he is already overfed in no way dampens his avidity for gathering his meat from God.” Not that I gathered any meat - I am really an indifferent hunter, especially since my "accident", but if I went out only to hunt, I would certainly be poor specimen. I was also birding (Red Shouldered Hawk, Turkey Vulture, among others), botanizing, and sightseeing. Plus, I did some Geocaching, a game where people place a cache, or "hide", posts it on the Internet at Geocaching.com and people use their GPS receiver to find it. Sometimes it is not all that easy...

Sandy Mush is an area of old fields, woodlots, and farmland that the state of North Carolina bought up and began managing as game habitat, particularly dove. Most of it is very pretty (except the Bear Creek section, which is ugly), and has some of the most stunning views I can think of in Buncombe County. The elevation is just enough, at anywhere from 2200 to 3000 feet, that when you are on some of the ridges there, you have a near 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. Monday they were covered in a light coat of snow or a heavy coat of rime (hoarfrost). They gave one of the most heartstopping views I have ever seen of the mountains. I urge everyone to go out there and check it out, even if they don't hunt. As it is only a 3 day a week area for hunting (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday), and is pretty much managed as "multiple use", it is ideal for a day hike. I plan to be out there in the spring and summer, to look for wildflowers. Hope to see you there

Old Time music

I have been trying to look up some song lyrics today, and it set me to thinking about Southern Appalachian music in general. The song I was looking for is "Whoa Mule", a song my banjo teacher, 3rd cousin, and world famous Mountain Fiddler Byard Ray taught me about 25 years ago. It was the first song he taught me on the banjo, though he didn't teach me the lyrics. He was a very good banjo teacher, and while learning from him, we discovered we were related by blood (his grandmother and my great-grandmother were sisters), so a friendship emerged that lasted until his death in the late 1980's.

Most people, when thinking about Appalachian music, think about Bluegrass, such as Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe and so on, but that sort of music was pretty much contrived from minstrel and show music, speeded up 'way faster than Mountain music, and played in such a way as to appeal to a post World War II crowd, and bacame for a while a part of the Country Music scene, what with Flatt and Scruggs on TV on Saturday nights in the 1960's. It has now become a phenomenon at Blue Grass conventions throughout the South. Byard would never entertain the idea that it was anything like Traditional Appalachian music, saying it was sort of like Mountain music, but played "too darned loud and too darned fast". Darned was not the word he used (nor do I use it when describing Bluegrass).

So, you ask, what, then, is Mountain music? It is music from the Mountains of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and North Georgia. Some people include other areas - Ozarks might be part of it, I don't know - but I pretty much see this area of the Southern Appalachians as the home of Mountain Music. Many will agree with me. Many will disagree.

When European people first started settling this area, they brought their music with them, a combination of English ballads, jigs, reels, and dance tunes, plus Scottish and Irish tunes of the same types. French and German pioneers added something in the stew, and a unique music was developed over centuries of isolation. This was a difficult area to get to from the first European settlements of the 1700's until the post WW II era of road building. When the area was opened up, the people were still rather insular (we still occasionally are), and held onto their traditions, though Thomas Wolfe would write eloquently about the destruction of a culture and a folkway by first the logging companies, the coal mines, and lastly the textile mills, all wresting people from their lands, and sending many into the cities where they didn't belong.

What does the music sound like? Not like Bluegrass, though there are similarities. Instead of the banjo taking the lead as in Bluegrass, the banjo and fiddle play in a sort of duet, playing off each other in a lively way. If a guitar is in there, it will be background, as will also be the mandolin and bass fiddle if they are there. The fiddle will be played in a bouncy fashion, the banjo will be played "clawhammer", or in a thumb and index finger picking style (sorry, no "three finger roll") that blends right in with the fiddle, and the guitar plays rythm, occasionally taking the lead in parts of the song. The banjo is not usually a "resonator" type, but an "open back" type, making more of a "thump" sound than the loud "clang" of the Bluegrass banjo.

If you are beginning to think that I am not too fond of Bluegrass, you are correct; I am not, though I am not alone. Many Old Time musicians feel the same as I, and will get all grumpy when accused of playing "Bluegrass". No, ours is a traditional music. Bluegrass is a "made up" music. Sorry. There it is.

Good Old Time musicians are Byard Ray (of course), Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham (fiddle and banjo), Wade Ward and Kyle Creed (fiddle and banjo), Doc Boggs (an odd three finger style banjo), Pete Steele (banjo), and several others. Look these up for some of the great music you would have heard about 100 years ago here in the Mountains.

The style I play is from Western North Carolina. It has no name, but is a type of "frailing", where the finger picks up on the string, followed by the rest of the hand strumming down, in a percussive, rythmic way. I also play a thumb and index style. Both were taught me by Byard, and are similar to banjo styles from Western North Carolina (Madison County) and Eastern Tennessee. Many other styles are found all over the south. They are:

• Clawhammer, which uses the back of the index or middle fingernail to pluck the melody string, followed by the rest of the fingers hitting all the strings in a strum, then the thumb hitting the "little string" as a sort of high pitched drone. Played by Tommy Jarrell and others and called "Galax" style, after Galax Virginia, this is likely the most popular style and is learned by many modern old time players all over the US.
• "Two finger", a thumb and index style. In Western NC it was usually an index finger lead. I play this and another taught to me by Byard.
  
• "Two finger", also a thumb and index style with a thumb lead, found in eastern Kentucky.
• Rapping, a style using the backs of the fingernails to "rap" the banjo. Similar to Clawhammer, but often only one finger used on the strings. Also called framming, knocking and flying hand.
• The style I mostly use is called by some "basic strum", but is a good deal more complicated than that. It replaces the down beat of the fingernail with an up pluck with the index finger. Very similar to Clawhammer, but often strings that were not plucked are hammered to create a syncopation that is difficult to reproduce otherwise. Played by Byard Ray and said to be from his uncle Dedrick Harris from just over the line in Tennessee, it is a style I have heard nowhere else. Shortly before he died he told me "Alex, you're the only other person in this world that plays the banjo thisaway, and when I'm gone, you'll be the only one. I just ask you to teach it to somebody before you go". I have been so far unable to keep this promise, since everybody who wants to play the banjo wants to "play that Bluegrass!". Maybe someday...

• So called "three finger" styles, actually thumb with index and middle finger, played by Doc Boggs of southern Virginia, and Charlie Poole of north central North Carolina, these styles are probably more properly called a Piedmont style, as these styles are what Bluegrass banjo grew out of, and most of the practitioners of these styles were from the Piedmont of North and South Carolina, like Junie Scruggs (Earl Scruggs's brother and mentor), Snuffy Jenkins, George Pegram and others from that area. Some seem to think these styles are more closely allied to minstrel styles of the post-civil war south, and some examples can be heard on recordings of Uncle Dave Macon, who was indeed a minstrel and medicine show man.

OK. Enough. I will climb down off the soap box and get ready for another blog entry.

Good night. Happy New Year