They say, "Hindsight is 20-20,"
but I am not so sure! As I begin my retirement "career," I have been very occupied, it seems, organizing and disposing of the past - everywhere but in my mind. There, it is just hanging out, waiting for me to access thoughts and memories from over the years. This blog is intended by me to be a space to share experiences, thoughts, memories and advice that I have garnered in my 73 years. So far, I have been too busy learning new things to get into that.
Yesterday was one of my favorite type of days, with bright blue skies and big, puffy white clouds. I love looking at the sky and also seeing how the shadows of the clouds seem to change our landscapes. I spent the morning organizing some more artifacts and was going to head out to the yard to enjoy the day and do some raking and cleaning up there, but, as you know, sometimes spouses change our plans, and I soon found myself following heavy machinery down a county road at three miles per hour, watching for traffic and potential fire.
Thank goodness, I had grabbed my camera for the trip! I did get to go to one location I have never been before, plus the slow drive allowed me to shoot some pretty nice photos right out the window of the pickup.
This photo was taken just a little east and south of Sentinel Butte and there I found some neat rock formations, including this concretion. (a hard solid mass formed by the local accumulation of matter, especially within the body or within a mass of sediment.) I don't think I have seen one this large in our area before-there is a place in the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where you can see quite a few of them.
This was located near a scoria ridge, where there was also a cool arrangement of clinker rock.
For readers who are unfamiliar with our geology around this area, geologists call this rock clinker, but locals know it as scoria. "Scoria is the geologic name for a highly vesicular volcanic rock. Although true scoria can resemble some of the clinker found in North Dakota, the name 'scoria' implies the wrong geologic origin The rocks in western ND are not igneous, but sedimentary."
I have spent a lifetime driving on scoria roads. My vehicle is usually very easy to spot in a parking lot, as it will be covered in reddish mud or dust as the season prevails. Below is a photo of Howard (my husband) blading a scoria road. As you can see, we have a lot of pink roads in our area, and Howard has spent a lifetime building, blading and adding scoria to these roads.
Gee, when I started this blog today, I had no idea I would be giving a little lesson in geology!
But, it is always good to learn something, right? Now my morning is about over and I need to get some "work" done. Here are just a couple more pictures from my slow drive yesterday.
This just speaks to my soul - kind of like an island or an oasis on our open prairie. And of course, the clouds.....
This is to remind us that after every winter there is a spring -
And after every storm, there is sunshine. TTFN
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