Way Back in Days of Old...

We made a nice little tour through north eastern Louisiana and Mississippi. This 4 night campout marks the 17th or 18th nights this year out in the camper. I know people make much longer trips even living in their campers but we are getting good use from ours and with local visits to our favorite fishing holes, trips to music festivals and this trip that had as it's main interest the ancient Mound Builder Culture of Poverty Point, La.      

I have documented through this blog on my trips to the old places where I think it's important to stand in the places long ago where things happened that we don't quite understand and ponder what is happening now, to us personally and to the world in general. Poverty Point dates back to 3500 years go to the time of Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Egypt. 

They have just barely scratched the surface of what was going on here. What they do know is that periods of occupation and abandonment stretch through the history, the people that lived here were hunter gathers, there was no evidence of farming, no domesticated animals other than dogs, no burials, there was a trading network with other groups and someone knew something about societal organization and engineering.      

The white markers indicate a pole circle. Other places in the world circles like this seem to be linked to celestial observation but they believe this was used as a barricade to keep something in or out. They have found 37 circles so far and believed the cypress posts used were often picked up and moved over to be reset in a new circle for unknown reasons.  

The semi circles indicated on the map are ridges, believed to have been 6' tall where rows of huts sat in an orderly formation. Most ridges are reduced to less than 2' by the farming of the area from the 1840s to the early 1970s. Note the large mound that is centered.  

The view from 70' up on the large mound A. Through the gap in the center I believe that is the oldest mound which is on private property. While most mounds show stop and start construction through the centuries the large mound seems to have been built in one push that moved 30,000 dump trucks of dirt in 30 to 90 days. I think modern man can take a lesson in problem solving from this effort. 

The mounds are either flat or conical tops which possibly indicate different purposes. This mound is flat topped, and may have had a structure on top. It's made of 18 layers of soil which our tour guide told us makes quite a striking pattern of different colors when viewed in an excavated hole. We don't know what that was about. All flat plaza areas, once part of the Mississippi River flood plain with drainages creeks and sloughs were raised and leveled.  These were prehistoric people using the most primitive methods. 

I once wrote a song with the line, "...modern man has ruined his brain, he's lost sight of the cosmic plane..." I'm not saying this was aliens but stand in an old place and feel the difference. It will make a difference. 

  

 

 

I'm Always Learning Something...

 In Cathy's family both parents were teachers. They had all that time off (ATTO) every summer, 5 kids and just enough money to make a camping vacation to popular state and national parks every year. When they pulled into a campground in the old station wagon those kids came boiling out of the back and dashed to inspect the toilets. Once inspected they stuck their little heads out the door and shouted back to the parents, "flush!" or "pit!" to announce their findings on the status of the plumbing facilities. I find it very cute that Cathy still does this even though she does not have to race her brothers and sister to be the first to know anymore. It's one of the many things that endears her to me.    

While in the Great Smoky Mountains we hiked up Clingman's Dome which is the highest mountain in Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the highest point along the Appalachian Trail. At 6684 feet tall I was glad that I did not wait till I was any older to hike it. Though the trail is paved and easy walking but it's steep and I rested probably 6 to 8 times on the way up but made it down without a break. There are a lot of people on the trails and I would advise beginning early as the parking lot at the trailhead holds only so many cars. 

It was in this parking lot where we arrived early enough for a good space that I learned my thing for that day. I hit the bathrooms as a precaution (Pit! After a difficult plumbing repair in my own backyard what else would be expected way up in the mountains?) and came out to catch a little mini lecture from a guy that was probably a teacher himself explaining the workings of the pit or vault toilet which although I know there are those that don't trust it involves a good deal more science that you might imagine.

The fellow explained and I had complied with the instructions posted to close the lid of the commode after use that if the lid is closed the sun heats the black smokestack like pipe on the roof, black to increase solar heat which then draws the stink of the vault toilet out into the sky above our heads making the bathroom break more pleasant. This the experience of our youths of a pit toilet and a room full of stench is avoided. 

I did not get a photo of the toilet on Clingman's Dome but I later made a photo of this Corps of Engineers issue vault toilet on Lake Oakatibbee in Mississippi. You can see the black stack. The lid was not closed.     

I also noticed that the government wants men and women to use this restroom which is something a lot of people have their panties in a knot over lately but looks like they are mandating it in Mississippi. There were two industrial sized Corps of Engineer issue rolls of toilet paper in this facility which also seemed to be meant for unisex use.   

When we came down off Clingman's Dome the parking lot was full with many people circling in their cars waiting for a space. There were also lines at the toilets. Men and women. I don't know how the paper was holding out but the black stacks were reaching for the sky.  

Our 5th Camping Trip This Year...

After a busy month that saw not much fishing but plenty of other business including the birth of grandchild #9 or Milo as his parents call him we headed over to Martin Dies Jr State Park on B.A. Steinhagen Reservoir for three nights. We stayed in the Hen House Ridge Unit. 

I have had good pan fishing in the other unit, Walnut Ridge and we did ok catching about 10 fish of various species. Mostly we just sat by the water and watched the alligators swim by. They need someone out there directing traffic because if one gator swam up the creek two would swim down. Probably there is no telling how many gators are in the area. I know besides the lake there are a lot up the river around the Forks were the Angelina runs into the Neches. When I worked at the nursing home in Jasper many residents came from the river houses below this lake and they reported many gators there.     

Here's Cathy on the bank at our campsite which we picked by blind choice from the campground map. I believe it was one of the best, most private, with good fishing from the bank, and by canoe nearby. Also very good bird watching in the park and on the lake.   

Old big boy. One thing I noticed is that two nights I left the catfish bait sitting by the water and no critters bothered it. Last night I did a little pre packing and put the stink bait in the truck bed. Coons got in it. Their tracks were on my windshield. My theory is they stay away from the water because of the gators.   

All these gators gives me an idea. I think I will turn old Milo into a gator fighter. If we start training now in two or three summers I send him up a gator hole like the one seen here and have him pull the gator out. I can see him now. He has the gator by the tail and looks back at me and says, "Like this?: and I say, "yes, like that."  

This is our 5th trip this year. So far none have been further that 4 hours from our home and this park is about 60 miles away tops. We have plans for later this summer but this was a nice getaway. 

 https://www.venmo.com/u/Carl-Wallace-23

New System...

We recently had a catastrophic septic system failure. It was an older aerobic type system probably 40 years old. The pump failed and I had always maintained it myself. I hauled up the old pump, sized the pipe and all and when I went to lower the pump back I hit an obstruction. A wall of the tank had collapsed. Here's to hoping this new tank last 40 more years. 

I am going to be busy filling this thing up! Apparently they had never had anyone make a joke about how they finely found something to take their crap.  I'd think plumbers would know every joke in this category but the world is just not the same anymore I guess.    

Here's this tank buried in the ground. Lots of bells and whistles. 

Found some curious stuff. In addition to a very solid cedar post that they dug up and I will use for some project it was discovered that the water line runs crazy out here. I knew that because recently I had some water meter work done and replacing the line was a possibility. We tried to trace it out and finely managed to decide it went past the house and cut back and was not worth the cost and trouble. 

Digging the lines that will go to the sprayer heads that will disperse the chlorinated waste water about my property the plumbing company hit the line twice. I think maybe the previous owner had a trailer house on the property while he remodeled the house I bought from him and the line runs out in the yard and makes a "T" somewhere.   

Ezra inspects. 

The crew will finish today. The left their tractors. Me and Ezra had fun on the tractors. 

I used Truss and Sons Plumbing. I took three bids and while not the cheapest I am very satisfied with the work and communication. I recommend them. 

Holes...

Got my on little zoo out back in an old dead pine. I should have kept notes on when this pine died and how long it's been standing. I have been saying for about a year it's going fall next big wind. 

I am not sure what kind of critters make these holes but there are owls, woodpeckers and squirrels all about so I think everybody probably shares in the lodging plus any dining that goes on with the bugs that are bound to be in the dead wood.   

Hard to really get a look all up and around because of the foliage of other trees but it looks like a regular apartment house with many different holes.  

Woody is at work here. The birds sing so loud they wake me at 4 in the mornings sometimes. 

On the Way...

A new family member, soon to be born, (well it's a while yet) to Cathy's sister Margaret and husband Kevin. An older you will get exclusive and here's the pictures.












This is 12 weeks. Cathy says this is a four D scan. Makes it look more like a baby than a bunch of aliens grappling around at the bottom of one of those holes I am always looking in.

So keep them in your prayers. They will need them most when those teenage years hit.