Proof that the Apocalypse is Upon Us

Via ThinkProgress, what seems to be to be some misplaced priorities:

 

Students in Missouri have no sexual education requirement, so there’s a good chance they don’t know how to properly protect themselves from STIs or unintended pregnancy. Soon, though, they may be able to protect themselves from guns.

 

Missouri state Senate is considering a bill that would require all first graders in the state to take a gun safety training course. Using a grant provided by the National Rifle Association, it would put a “National Rifle Association’s Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program” instructor in every first grade classroom.

The irony that there’s no requirement for students to learn about their bodies — but that there is one for deadly weapons — seems lost on the legislators proposing the measure, one of whom lamented, “I hate mandates as much as anyone, but some concerns and conditions rise to the level of needing a mandate.”
 

As a former career Federal employee, I always thought that the government in general and government workers typically get a bad rap--easy target and all that. 

Actually, the truth is that with government we get civilization.

So I like to always presume the default position that our government officials really do have the common good in mind.  However, along the way it's easy to get wrapped around the axle and lose sight of the bigger picture.

 

The Contrast of Ultrarunning with Everyday Life

First a quote (info on the author appears at the bottom):

The book was about a fictional small town in Minnesota called Gopher Prairie, a place inhabited by "a savorless people, gulping tasteless food, and sitting afterward, coatless and thoughtless, in rocking-chairs prickly with inane decorations, listening to mechanical music, saying mechanical things about the excellence of Ford automobiles, and viewing themselves as the greatest race in the world."

When I am running in the backcountry, I am the antithesis of the kind of "living" described above.  Also Leopold captured the notion neatly in A Sand County Almanac:

Recreation is valuable in proportion to the degree to which it differs from and contrasts with workaday life.
 

Yep, being a good animal in the backcountry, pushing one's mind and body to giddy limits, certainly does contrast just a tad with everyday life.  I guess it's much like an addiction, albeit a positive one.

The identity of our author? 
Yesterday, 7 Feb 2013, was the birthday of Sinclair Lewis, born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota in 1885, and author of Main Street, from which the quote above comes.  He was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

Credit to The Writer's Almanac, always a good read, for the tip on Lewis.  Now I gotta read Main Street, I suppose.

 

Where I Run: Mason-Dixon Line Marker (Mile 99)

Another installment in my occasional series about visiting and photographing the mile marker stones set in the mid-1700s by the surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.  Super information about The Line and on-the-ground directions may be found here, courtesy of the Mason & Dixon Line Preservation Partnership.

 

Per the Maryland Historical Society:

The Mason and Dixon Line (or Mason-Dixon Line) runs for 233 miles along parallel 39°43’ in the eastern United States, marking the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line was surveyed by English astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in 1763-1768 to settle property disputes between the Penns and the Calverts, proprietors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively. 

 

 Here are a couple of my shots:

 

This is the stone at Mile 99, looking north, sitting placidly between the road (Leitersburg Pike) in the foreground, my minivan, and a farm building.

A close-up of the south-facing side, with the "M" of Maryland clearly visible.

 

I've run by this stone after having been dropped off by the bride on her way to work...but at the time I was totally unaware of its existence.  Now it's a special place.

 

 

Getting Ready for Seneca Creek 50K

[image credit Seneca Creek Trail web site]

After not having run any official ultras for some months now, I'm going to join a couple friends to run the Seneca Creek Greenway 50K on 2 March.

This low-key trail run is in Montgomery County, MD, northwest of Washington, DC.  It's amazing that such a nice trail can be found that close to the city.

Anyway, back to the prep work: I finally got a suitably long run in yesterday, along the C+O Canal just south of the Mason-Dixon Line from me.  Parking in Williamsport, MD, I ran about 6 road miles to reach the Canal towpath, then followed it back upstream for 12 more miles to my vehicle (parked at the Cushwa Basin in Williamsport).

Then came the test.  I had some PowerAid drink at the truck, and as I ran the 50 yards or so from the Canal to my truck, manly distractions tried to distract me.  I saw the F150 label for the most popular truck in America ("Ford tough"), the 4x4 Off Road decal, the trailer hitch for pulling manly loads, the large mud and snow tires.

I had to decide whether to pack it in at 18 miles--because I was getting tired--or just hop into my man machine and get my macho kicks that way.

I grabbed the PowerAid and headed back onto the trail for another 4-5 miles.

Interesting run in the sense that I saw virtually no wildlife: only a hawk, a Great Blue Heron, some waterfowl, and some squirrels.  Typically I see numerous deer and usually some wild turkeys, but that was not the case in this run.

But in the light dusting of snow, there was a plethora of tracks, some of which followed the towpath for a considerable distance.  I've keyed them out as raccoon, muskrat, and even a beaver!  The muskrats, especially, seemed at times to be having a party, with the tracks of several individuals all co-mingled with snow tossed about.

Anyway, I had an absolutely wonderful day on the trail and feel ready for the 50K.

Wreckage of a Snowman

This is the way I felt after what should have been a slow and easy 10 miler last week.

[photo by Gary, who had nuthin' that particular day]

 

Someone Else Dislikes "Posted" Signs...and Ultrarunning

I posted last winter about what I called English Language Nitwits and their misuse of the term "posted" to denote a No Trespassing area.  (You should really click over there to read my impeccable logic, but in a nutshell, the shorthand description of a property being posted with signs  (i.e., off-limits) has morphed into the sign itself.)

Well, the stupid continues, except this time some irate viewer (no, it wasn't me) decided to vote with a shotgun:

[photo by Gary]

Of course, I am aware that the shooter really wasn't annoyed with the grammar so much as they were annoyed with the prohibition of trespassing. 

See, for some people, when they have a gun in their hands, it makes it easier to take an annoyance to another level...which, if you think about it, has some implications for the present discussion about guns in society.

The link to Ultrarunning is that we sometimes encounter No Trespassing signs in the backcountry.  By and large I tend to be respectful of such signs and avoid the property, but on occasion I have deliberately trespassed. 

One example that comes to mind is one time I was just plain whupped on a backcountry run and decided I needed to bail by the shortest possible route.  Turns out that after I committed to that bail-out route, I encountered some No Trespassing signs near the end.  Given my physical condition at that point, rerouting was not a viable option so I pushed on through.  Luckily, I encountered no irate property owner.

 

Cats in Art: Ete, Chat Sur une Balustrade (Steinlen)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I am using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

I am currently featuring 4 installments of the art of Theophile Alexandre Steinlen--this is 3 of 4:

Image credit WikiGallery.  Ete, Chat sur une Balustrade, 1909, [Summer, Cat on a Railing] T. A. Steinlen, 1894, oil on canvas. Held by Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.

This poor kitty appears annoyed, although that word seems not quite strong enough.  In life, the tail would undoubtedly be swishing vigorously.  Were you dumb enough to venture over to the railing to try to pet said cat, your punishment would be quick and sure.

I like how Steinlen captures the general essence of catness here--I can well imagine this same painting being of a leopard lounging on a tree limb in Africa.

 

Where I Run: The Southern PA Iron and Railroad Company

A couple of weeks ago I posted about one of my road routes from the house along the appropriately named Stone Bridge Road.

That same route also contains evidence of the former Southern Pennsylvania Iron and Railroad Company right of way, and a bridge that I've blogged about previously, here (where I have a couple additional photos at bridge level). 

This is an abandoned Pratt Through Truss bridge (circa 1896) over Conococheague Creek:

[Image credit: a way cool site called Bridgehunter]

 

 

A couple of miles further west the railroad right of way runs through what now is a pasture.  The embankment is largely gone, but the farmer wisely saved a small bridge that carried the railroad across a small stream:

 

 

[Image credit Gary]

 

 

Last view is just of the abandoned grade of the railroad, right near the Stone Bridge:

 

 

[Image credit Gary.  This section, unfortunately, is on private ground that is posted with No Trespassing signs]