The casual observer

 I went to wander the earth and get into adventures like Caine from Kung Fu. I told my daughter I’m being a cowboy in Wyoming.  I haven’t been on a lot of adventures lately.  Basically I go to work come home go to sleep and do it all over again. Throw in the occasional walk in the woods with my dog and that’s it. 

I’m an animal lover in addition to a casual observer of nature.  The dog runs off I take a little stroll looking for rocks, flowers, wild animals, domestic animals and whatever else. 

This was the first time I noticed a cactus flower.   It wasn’t in very good condition when I came upon it. When I went back a few days later it was gone. 

A beautiful pair of wild violet petunias.  They’re not actually petunias but they look like it.  

Native Americans used the white flower leafcup for medicine.  It was used  to treat swelling and inflammation.  I’m not sure on that one, the stuff might be poisonous for all I know.  

I found this crazy looking rock   It’s actually a super old example of shale which is fossilized sediment.  You can see there is a hole in the shale where a prehistoric snail burrowed into the mud and expired.  Over millions of years that snail shell deteriorates in place as the mud continues to dry through global calamities, the rise and fall of empires, until johnny comes marching along 100 million years later in 2025 and says, “Farout Man it’s a fossil!”  Then I take it home and sit it on the hearth and stick a wild turkey feather in it.  In folklore it’s called a hag stone and it supposed to protect you from the forest hag and other evil forces. I don’t have time to go into such nonsense.  Those things only have meaning if you believe in it.  

Update:  my mistake, the rock is actually limestone which is sort of like shale but composed primarily of calcium from the remains of organic matter such as shells and coral.  With my amateur experience the only thing I could relate to is shale because of the oilfields.  Shale is sediment, limestone is organic.  They're similar in the way they are created but comprised of totally different elements.

So with all that, here I am in the middle of flyover country, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean and I’m finding evidence of marine life. I wonder what happened?  Does it even really matter what happened 100 million years ago?  Maybe.  

If you want to know how the world might end in the future you have to look to the past.  It’s obvious the climate changed to cause the fossil but I didn’t have anything to do with it, just like I don’t have anything to do with the climate changing in the future.  It happens with or without me.  I’m not saying go out and burn down the rain forest, but for god sake I’m not going on a guilt trip about the way I live now to satisfy a pack of power mad lunatics.  Have a nice day.   You know what you can do with this rock. 

Note to self: You don’t end a correction with an insult.  Ever.  Nice try at bullshitting your way through this one. But it’s still an F.