DINO's GHOST TOWN BLOG

This bad dude was laying on my walk this morning upside down trying to get right side up so I gave him a big stick to grab onto and helped him to feeder I have in my yard. I tried to help him live but I am not an entimologist so he died peacefully.  It made me feel bad.  I didn't know what to do for the monster bee.  I wanted to do something to help the poor beast but I just didn't know how or what.  I still feel bad about it.  I'm just glad this was not the kind of bee that stung me recently on Hughes Mountain. Surely mang I would have died.  This guy was almost as big as the palm of my hand.  I'm depressed now.
Bee On.

Here is that image of the CRACK RIDDEN GHOST TOWN that I live in that you wanted to see.Enjoy Mang. Crack On.

Its just typical of Overland.  Firing that poor fire fighter is just another example of the communistic ways of the Overland city government.  Overland just reeks of corruption and slackitude.  Damm commies!

my little flower garden.  Here it is.....
 Here is a close up of my Aloe Vera plant.
What say YOU mang?
Plant On.

Hello and welcome to my life. My little nightmare.  Come with me won't you and see what I see.  This is the bridge close to the Vilander Bluff Natural Area in Onondaga State Park.

And Me.

Diggin the summer sun in my sorry little life.

I was within the boundaries of this sign without knowing it.  There was no sign from where I went in to this point. I don't trespass  or do anything that will cause to to be ejected from the park. Well, at least not at this point in time, at this juncture and factor in time.



 I was very hot due to the black I was wearing on this day. Its all good G.
Sun On.

Well well well.  I'm back.  And what a trip its been.  Since you cannot see where I was at night I shall show you where I was during the day. Its the same except it was night time.  This is where I set up my little camp.
The weather was beautiful that day and so it was at night.  This was my fifteenth trip up the mountain and my fourth at night tho it was my first on the new trail.  They built a new parking lot and a new path to the trail, which they say is wheel chair accessable.  Not the trail, just the path.  The new trail is a bit of a killer, which climbs much more steeply than the old trail but it intersects with the old trail and the old trail is much easier to navigate. Here I am on the "easy part" leading up to the "hard part".

The path is really nice tho.
On my way up I spotted something glinting in the sun. I walked over to it and it was a water bottle filled with water. Someone had forgotten it or threw it away or whatever, so I picked it up and dumped the water and put it in my pack.  Gotta keep the area clean mang. If you are gonna be here ya gotta pack it in and pack it back out.

People who throw trash and littler really tee me off.  Why would you do that in a place like this?  Dang assmasters!

This is where I was at night.  I got here at midnight and it was simply magical. I put down my tarp and pulled out all my stuff and looked at all the stars. The moon was coming up behind me and was a very sinister looking brown in color.  The clouds were starting to roll in.  I could hear dogs barking miles away and several Whip-Or-Wills were just singing away close by. Amazing to hear them.  They were gone for so long. I thought they had gone extinct.  I brought some fried chicken that I had made and some Diet Pepsi and had a very nice midnight snack on the mountain. While I ate I was listening to my scanner. From up here I could hear Berkeley PD as well as Maryland Heights and North Central Fire Alarm, Saint Louis County 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th precincts. Amazing!  With nothing more than a little rubber antenna.The Rhyolite here on Devil's Honeycomb is wonderful. Its Precambrian, meaning its over FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION YEARS OLD!!!!  Some people don't believe that. They can't comprehend that kind of time span. Thats frosty. I understand.  As a scientist I can relate and comprehend the immense span of time that it takes for things like this to occur.  These rocks were old when the Dinosaurs were here in the Jurassic period one hundred and sixty to two hundred million years ago.  As a matter of fact these fine examples of Rhyolite might have been UNDER WATER. Hard to believe?  Yes it is but totally true and frosty to the max mang.  



My little Vid Cam.
Well it got to be two o clock in the morning and I knew I had a long drive so I gathered up my little camp and began my way down the mountain.  At the terminus of the forest there is a large marker consisting of a steel pole with a sign at the top telling you where the trail to the bottom of the mountain is.  At night you can't see where the forest and the trail is without it.  The sign has been torn off by the severe weather this place sees.  On the way up I had snapped a chem light and affixed it to the top of the pole so that no matter where I was I could see where the forest trail was.  It cast an eerie glow in the distance from my vantage point.  I made my way to the marker and took the chem light down and stuffed it in my sock.  When I leave you cannot tell I was even there. All I leave is foot prints.  I take any trash and leave it a better place than it was before. I was almost to the bottom of the trail when I spotted a glowing light in the forest. I have an LED headlight on when on the trail at night as well as a powerful hand held LED light in my hand to help light the way.  As I got closer to the light in the forest I could see that it wasn't a light at all.  It was the reflection of TWO EYES looking at me.  I almost freaked out at that point mang but I thought, ITS ONLY A MOVIE.......uhhh.....I mean, its only an animal looking at me.  Probably a Raccoon.  Then there were two sets of eyes looking at me.  Then three!  As I watched them with their eyes they began to move up and down a tree and one was on the ground running around.  I was totally intrigued by this excellent display of night time wildlife.  I began to slowly walk toward the eyes to get a better look when a loud buzz began to circle me.  Than the buzz stopped.  I waited.  What happened to the buzz?  Then without warning I was stung on my side by the buzz bomb!  I let out a yell that I am sure scared the bejesus out of the animals that were watching me and I am sure they got a big laugh at the stupid human running down the path in the dark.  Holy cow that hurt like the dickens.  What a climax to a great morning.  Sheeesh!  I got home at FOUR TWENTY.  Went to the little room, put on some anti itch stuff and a bandage and went to bed, thanking GOD for another wonderful and safe adventure in the night.
Sting On  

They have a new trail up to the top and I have to hike it at night so I am leaving at this moment. I'll catch ya when I get back.  Gotta go get frosty on the mountain in the dark. Bye.
Hike In The Dark On.

So here I was, at one of my favorite places, Weldon Springs well field, at night.  A full moon.  It was striking outside in the cool air.  It was so surrealistic with the light of the moon casting an ominous glow on the surrounding landscape. I am here once again to hopefully record the numerous bombastic wildlife that I told you about the last time I wrote about this place.  I set up my cameras and my home made amplified parabolic microphone.  I was expecting to come away with some great recordings of the ducks, geese, and especially the owls. And frogs. Billions of frogs.  Here are some shots of the equipment.


You might notice our friends the ORBS are all around me. I have had someone suggest that they are bugs. Well that is certainly in the realm of possibilities. Others swear they are dust particles reflecting in the light of the flash. Possible. Some say ghost and spirits are responsible.  Cool.  I don't know.  Here is a shot that is kinda unreal.  Henry Kissinger?

I found some trash that some assmaster left for someone else to pick up so I did. Stashed it in the trunk so I could properly dispose of it. Beer bottles in a bag.  Just drunken _hitheads!
All was going good except for there were NO FROGS. NO DUCKS AND GEESE. NO OWLS. NO WOMBATS. It figures. But there was something ELSE.  Remember when I told you that places like this are the places that people get killed or dumped after the fact?  You remember.  Well, not too long after I arrived, there appeared a car in the dark. The car went into the field to the river access. There were twelve pick up trucks with trailers there.  No Coleman lantern this time. But from my vantage point I could see the car tearing up the gravel road. I watched. They had not seen me here. I had on my headphones to listen for the animal sounds and the microphone was pointed at their location about a quarter mile away. I watched as they shut off their head lights. I continued to watch and listen in the dark. While I watched I drank my Diet Pepsi and ate some kick booty trail mix I mixed up at home. Then, suddenly, from the moonlit darkness there was a scream. I didn't know if it was audible to the naked ears as I was using my Telex headphones for complete quiet. I took off the phones and waited.  I waited some more.  Then without warning I copied another scream. Not the kinda scream you would get from someone partying. These screams were, as they say, BLOOD CURDLING.  At this time I promptly strapped on.  Then I saw the head lights come on again and began to move. Move toward my direction.  I was not too worried.  I was strapped after all.  But here he come barreling down the road toward me.  He got to the intersection, turned my way, and began to head toward me.  He got a little closer and then he saw me.  He turned on his bright lights and now could clearly see me.  I turned to face him as he approached.  He could also see something very large on my side.  I guess he thought better of getting too close cause he shut off the light completely and, very slowly, pulled into a handicap parking spot and shut down.  I watched him with my night vision.  He was not doing anything.  Just sitting there.  Thats good for him.  He didn't want what I had for him.  I would certainly give it to him.  He would not like it. Then it would be him screaming in the night.After about twenty minutes he fired up again, turned, flashed his lights and left.  I flipped him the bird and said goodbye, taking his image and his plate as he left.  I then figured that all the wildlife was quiet for the evening so I packed up all my gear and went away. It was three in the AM. I never went to see what or who screamed.  I didn't want to find what might be there. Maybe nothing. Maybe something. Maybe someone. Then all the suspicion and paperwork and interviews with law enforcement.  I help as much as I can whenever I can but this I didn't need. I said bye bye and got the hell out of there. 
But i'll be back.
Scream On.

Oh happy day mang.  My bad neighbors moved and I am so happy. Went back to the city. GOOD RIDDANCE. You remember back when told you that someone had blown our window away in our little Cavalier?  I told them I was putting up several suveilence cams to watch my car AND THEM 24 hours a day and they would be recorded 24 ours a day.  They didn't like that.  I said TOO BAD.  I told them I felt it was their little stone throwing rugrat hoodlums that broke my glass and if they were good neighbors they would have at least owned up to it.  Maybe help me pay for it?  No way mang!  They just looked at me like I had just committed a crime against humanity.  Cost us $250 smackers.  Well not too long after that several of my GOOD neighbors caught me outside and told me they had seen them throw a rock and blow it away and that the mother, who had been in county lockup for 10 months for child abuse and child endangerment as well as child abandonment, just told them to go inside.  Now I was steaming but I had no proof.  Well I guess they couldnt't handle the survaeilencesss.  (I guess you can tell I can't spell SUVEIWENSCE.)  nOT TO MENTION THAT THE COST OF LIVING THERE IS $1000.00 DOLLARINOS a month!  wOULD YOU BELIEVE that someone would pay that in this crack ridden ghost town?  I knew they were way over their heads. 6 kids, car payment, not to mention, ok I will mention, gas for the home, gas for the MINIVAN, electricity, water, sewer, crack, pot, (NOT CRACKPOT) parties, Hennessy, Crown Royal, Philly Blunts, cool wheels for the minivan (NOT RIMS), food and 61 inch flat screen tv.  I mean its nice to have stuff.. I know mang.  I have LOTS of stuff.  But not when you CAN'T AFFORD IT!  Thats the problem with all this mortgage whoes and all these whiners who get forclosed on.  They gotta have the big house on a tiny yard with the big boat and all the crack and meth they can handle but they CAN'T AFFORD IT so they maxx out their credit cards and call in some loans and maybe do a deal with Tony Soprano.  And then you have to move cause you finally figure out that YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.  There is no shame in saying YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.  Try it sometime when you see that huge SUV that you gotta have with the spinning wheels and the 62 speakers in the dash.  Say it when you just gotta have that huge house.  Don't be afraid to admit you are not as solvent as you would like to be. Its ok. Save yourself alot of future legal issues and headaches and the uncertain future of living under a bridge.  Live within your means.Then you won't have to move like the assmasters across the street here in the ever lovin ghost town.

Dumb.  Fabulously dumb.  Just plain old stupid.  Thats what the woman gets for going where you are not to go.  The signs are there for a reason.  Never go outside the fence. AbsoFreakinLutely! Not unless your willing to go all the way.  And all the way she did.  I hope she is ok.  I think maybe she's not.
Here are some images of Klondike Park that Fox 2 didn't show you.  I was there.  I'm not dead.Not yet anyway. And I won't be falling off some hundred foot bluff at any time in my life.  Not without my luggage thats for dang sure!



 Stay on the trail. Don't be playin!
Like I said, the signs are there for a reason. Respect the force of gravity or you will surely die.
 It was about one hundred degrees on this day and was monsterously beautiful.  It was a good day to live.

Never misunderstand me...........STAY ON THE TRAIL BEHIND THE FENCE OR PREPARE FOR THY DOOM.
Doom On.

Well the surgery went well and quick. NO CANCER.  NO NOTHIN.  I'm a little sore but all in all it was a positive experience and worth the pain. But I tell you what.......NEVER AGAIN!  NEVER!   OH NO!  NOT EVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER AGAIN!  I say........I been stabbed, shot,cut, smashed, almost cut off my right hand, almost lost my left foot, bashed my left leg, smashed and bashed and sliced my head and sliced my left eye. I would rather go thru any of those things again then go thru this thing EVER again.
What a wimp.

Time to be frosty.
Frost On.

Here are those images I took in the well/corn field. Notice the Orbs.  Spirits?  Dust?  Bigfoot?  Henry Kissinger?


Rest assured my lenses were spotless when I took these images. Here you see pump house number seven in the background. Cool place at night but kinda creepy. Creepy but frosty.

I told ya they were weird.  As soon as I get the film developed I'll show the rest. If there is anything to show.
Corn On.

Well my night at the Weldon Spring well field was not spectacular but interesting. Unfortunately there are no images to show you yet as I was shooting film and I have to get the film processed. I do have a few that I shot with one of the digitals and I will show them on this post. As for the "seeing", to use an astronomical term, which refers to the overall observing conditions, I couldn't have picked a worse place for seeing. I completely forgot that the Spirit Of Saint Louis airport is right across the river from where I was not to mention the whole of the Chesterfield valley which is hugely lit up like a dang searchlight mang. Not frosty at all, but the weather was.
The air was cool and comfortable. No wind, tho sometimes I would hear something in the corn that sounded like wind but I knew it wasn't. I dont't know what it was. The wildlife was simply magical. I got there at ten thirty and as I got out of the car in the dark I was amazed at the sounds I was hearing. Somewhere out there, in the ponds and backwater sloughs there were what sounded like a million frogs barking.  And in the midst of this frog concert there were several species of owl, hooting and howling and shrieking and just having a whale of a good time in the wonderful darkness. Also ducks quacking with mucho gusto and geese honking with glee. I was very happy to hear all the animals so happy and alive. The entire place was alive and sounding off in a big way.
I also noticed that I was not alone. From my vantage point I could see a lone Coleman lantern far off in the distance close to the river. I could tell it was a Coleman by the color of its light. No big deal. I figured there might be someone out there. I put on my fifty pound backpack, which held two bottles of water, three digital cams, one film cam, compass, tripod stabilizer, which weighs ten pounds by itself, red night vision Army angle head flashlight, other flashlights, medications and protection. Its sad to say but people die in places like this at the hands of others. Or they get dumped after the fact in places like this. Either way, I didn't know who I might encounter so armed to the teeth I am. I was also carrying two tripods. My Slik tripod is so heavy I could easily use it to defend myself if needed. But I have something better for the interlopers.
As I made my way down the gravel road between the corn I noticed that I was getting closer to the light of the lantern. No worries, until I saw it wink out. That gave me reason to pause.  Whoever it was, that had seen me arrive. They could see the trunk light come on as I got the gear out. As I walked, I knew they couldn't see me but the little voice in my head said to turn around and find another way. Don't know who they were, don't wanna know. I turned and quickly found a new route. This route was better than the first one as there is a heavy pipe gate across the road where I was going and as such the vehicles couldn't get to me. Not without me seeing them first.  That would give me plenty of time to hide in the cornfield if I needed to. Always tactical. Always alive.
I got to pump house number seven and quickly set up.  I looked up and BOOM there was a meteor right there in front of me with the associated ionized trail. Marvelous! It seemed so close I just knew it landed in the corn field in front of me. Then another right above me. The moon was incredible. It was like a massive flood light illuminating the way. I saw one more meteor. I don't know yet what the cameras saw. The sky was awash in scattered light from the airport and the valley and I could have kicked myself for not remembering this fact. Then the clouds rolled in.
By two oclock the moon was gone but the sky was nothing but clouds. Cumulo cirrus nimbus strato fabulous dumbus.  Here I was at two in the morning, sitting on the bare gravel, looking up and seeing nothing but clouds. I decided to pack it in and pack it out. As I was putting the gear away I heard a familiar sound. The sound of a drunken assmaster behind the wheel.  I quickly climbed the metal stairs of the pump house and from this high point I could see what looked to me like a Camaro or Firebird or some other nonsense tearing around the gravel roads like it was his own personal Talladega or something. He was fishtailing all over the place. He then went to the parking lot where I was parked and proceeded to do donuts for awhile in the gravel. I was hoping he wouldn't hit my little Cavalier. Thank God he didn't. I was also very thankful of the pipe gate at the beginning of the road to this pump house. I obviously would not have gotten along very well with this monster behind the wheel and there might have been an altercation of sorts. Not good.
I got down from the pump house platform and made my way to the road. I hunkered down in the road, waiting for him to leave or go in the drink or smash up his little hot rod. I watched him finally leave, tearing gravel and putting a ton of dust in the air as they say. I made my way back to the little Air Cav, noticing that the Coleman lantern was burning brightly again. I laughed, enjoying the loud sounds of life in the water and the corn. But where are the children?  You know. The Children Of The Corn?  I didn't see none but I think I heard them. I don't know. I don't wanna know.
On the way home I saw more deer than I see at Route 666 state park. Ten deer were by the road. I do seventy miles and hour on the way there but when I hit highway ninety four it drops to twenty five with the brights on. TEN DEER I SAY!  Big beautiful fat deer. They are so pretty and cuddly. I could NEVER kill one. I would rather die than kill one.

 I got back to the house at three thirty in the A M.  I hauled all the stuff out of the car into the house, used the little room and went to bed exhausted. As soon as the images are ready i'll putem here.  Don't expect alot tho. I only got a few digitals and they are weird.
Weird On

Well it looks like I had the wrong night after all. I'm off to the Weldon Spring Well Field.  Super dark and isolated at night. I have to go pick up some ASA800 or faster film real quick like. Walgreens first then Weldon Springs here I come.  Images and film at eleven with lively   commentary to follow.  If you are in the area look for me but you won't find me.  I'll be close to the Weldon Spring Katy Trail station.  If you happen to see a red light in the well/corn field thats me. Say hello but make some noise. You wouldn't want me to spook ya would you now.Wish me luck.
As Arnold says, "I'll Be Back".

Well there goes my meteor shower night. I have to get up real early on wednesday to have surgery so my night at Weldon imaging the Perseid meteor shower is cancelled. DAMMMM!!  I was so looking forward to it.  I have to go bang my head on the wall now.  Bye bye.