15 seconds of fame

I was cruising the net, when I typed in my own name and did a search. There are very few out there with the same name and one is Australia. Much to my surprise, I actually found one of the few times I got credit for art in a book!
http://lola.plymouth.edu:2082/search/aBaker,+Dylan/abaker+dylan/-2%2C-1%2C0%2CB/frameset&FF=abaker+dorothee&1%2C1%2C
1988, wow! I'd actually forgotten that. Carol Atherly, who was the main artist, was a fantastic person along with being one of the nicest. I learned more from working with her than I did in all of college. Dormac, the publisher, was really nice to work for. In fact, that book came up in another library too. Wonder how many of "my" books are still wandering around out there. Most were from a different publisher, who didn't allow our names to be used, even when we wrote the books. Little difficult to prove you are a published artist and writer in that case. I did love being in publishing.

The 19 year old by the same name arrested in Iowa is NOT me, LOL!

I then searched my tiny home town in Washington state. It was listed by CNN as having the best tasting water in the states! Only the locals know how hysterically funny that is. Someone made a mistake a few years back, and dumped enough of something, I think chlorine, into the water and made it toxic. Toxic to the point of not being able to shower or wash your dishes in it.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/04/23/water.winner/ Evidently, this major disaster brought on the drilling of some wells, which earned them the "best water" title. This article http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/1999news/99-214.html doesn't exactly point out that the drinking water from Buck Creek, dear old clear Buck Creek, was contaminated by, yep, humans. Now they can pollute poor old Buck Creek without fear of poisoning off the human population, who cares about the wildlife? Luckily, the fish hatcheries and a lot of conservationists do. Buck Creek is home to me, one of the good memories of my former life. Hope there are still some watery residents left. Sad we have to go underground for the same water now days. Nice we still can reach it though. And yes, I do believe it probably is the best water in the US. The water here is great too, the only other place the water is almost as good. I'm taking gallons with me when I move!

When I was a kid, drinking from the creek was always the best refreshment around. Even a fussy kid like me would slurp directly from the creek, even if a periwinkle WAS two inches from my nose. Glacier run off, it was cold even in the hottest part of summer. My dad took care of the drinking water then. Once in awhile we would have to head up the mountain to adjust something. I called it the rollercoaster road, if Dad was in a really good mood, you could get him to speed up the old truck enough to get a bit of a "lift" when going over the many hills. Some were pretty much straight up, and it was always exciting to see if the pickup would actually make it or not. It was a "barely there" track, used once or twice a year, and sometimes we went back home until Dad could get some equipment out there to remake it where it had crumbled or washed out during the winter. We always took the chain saw too, invariably trees were across the road. On other portions we took it slow, you could see quail, deer, porcupines and other interesting inhabitants. Way out there, they weren't used to humans and not very frightened. That track was so bad that only a crazy man like my Dad would drive it. Going to the water main was always a scary delight. I have no recollection at all of the main, or what Dad did there, but I can remember vividly the smell of the old truck (clean, silky dust and fresh crushed leaves), the thrill of the occasional "lift" and one little dip where we got out and watched the deer for about 15 minutes before they decided to move off. There was wild lilac which would sort of foam if you used it to wash your hands in the creek. There also were wild strawberries, which taste nothing at all like hydroponic ones we get today. Wild strawberries usually were the size of a pea, the vines ran flat across the ground. They sprouted white flowers and the sweetest berries you can imagine. It's pretty nigh impossible to get enough wild strawberries, you are in contention with the birds, the bugs and even the bear, although how a bear can taste something that small is amazing.

We have wild strawberries here, in the flower garden. To date, I have managed to snag two. The birds get up much earlier than I do. That's OK, I just like knowing they are there. Blackberries, well those we have maybe a bit too many. A few years ago I got out in the spring and cut back all the new growth. The berries were so good that year. This year I didn't want to contend with the drug traffic and someone else hacked them back so they could use the road. We have blackberries on both sides of the road and along almost all the fields. It's my only hope for our wild bunnies, after the feral cat invasion this summer. Hopefully the bunnies and the quail will move back in once they are gone. We have tiny brown bunnies with a little white spot on their head. Before the invasion you could look out during the day and see them playing. Even the birds have forsaken the immediate area, maybe they don't like the smell of cars and druggies any more than I do. I'm sure they will be back in force, although I will supplement their diet this year, the field usually filled with plants going to seed is flat mud now. Not that they would starve out here, but I love watching them out the window. There is one pair of robins that nest close by each year, the food supply is so handy when the chicks hatch out. One year they nested where I could see the babies.

The towhee couple by the back road is gone. The male would always come out and keep an eye on me when I was digging through the junk pile. He would even do the "I'm injured, come follow me." bit when I walked too close to the nest. The last few years, they both just hopped up to watch me, having figured out I wasn't going to bother them and that I occasionally left treats.

Maybe I'll plant sunflowers to make up a little for what the humans have managed to trash in just 4 months.