Flood!

update: found a host for my videos: http://nerdbucket.com/flooded
81 megs total, one of them is 50 megs, so if you're on dial up or something, you probably dont want to bother... They're still uploading though, so you'll have to wait.

well, wow. We're flooding out, I hear all roads out of williams are closed, due to massive flooding, cant get to Grants pass, cant get to medford. I'll see about finding a host for my (small) videos, but for now, here are some pics:



this is someones front yard


on the road to provolt


powell creek (normally a low flow spot, with a foot or 2 of water


williams creek, normally about 5 feet wide, I think


on somones driveway bridge over powell creek

clean eeg

I had an appt with my neurologist today, and he told me that I have completely normal EEG results. SO, either it's just a fluke, or something else is going on. He gave me a bunch of shit for not taking the Topamax, I told him I'd try it out for a couple days, but I'm still sketched about the possible side effects, after all, my career is about thinking, and if I can't think clearly, I'm gonna have a hard time working. I love my work, and I love to think, so the cure seems potentially worse than the problem, I've had (including all the maybes) perhaps 4 - 6 seizures in the 35 years I've been around, so I can expect to find out in about 5 - 7 years if the topamax is preventing my seizures or not. Seems pretty crazy to take medication for 5 years to see if it might work.

In other news, my work gave us gift certificates to the mall for X-MAS. I sold mine to a co-worker, and bought myself a Pool Cue. got myself a Viper Striker, a very nice cue at a good price, and she sold me a damaged case for it at over 50% off (small cut in the top, caused when they were opening the box).

blah blah blah etc etc.

driving again

I did some research (called Salem DMV office, and had several calls with my Dr.'s office) and found that yes, they did report my seizure to the DMV, but no, that doesn't mean my license is restricted, in fact, I still have my license. I'm quite glad I can drive, its been disheartening to live out in the boonies and have to rely on others for a ride. The remaining transportation stumbling block is getting some working vehicles, we're currently stuck with only a 2 seater toyota pickup as the property vehicle. Looking for a honda or toyota or nissan 4-door 5 or 6 seater that will be able to handle my daily ~80 mile driving needs. I hope we find a suitable one soon, as that should relieve the stress level a bit.

In other news, we had a great thanksgiving dinner at Shalah's work (The Hungry Woodsman/Buzzsaw saloon). It was good food and lots of family showed up.

seizure update

so, I had my EEG, it sucked (the EEG itself was alright) I had to stay up and not drink coffee.
It was suggested to me by a friend that I may have had the seizure due to dehydration because i dont drink enough water. I looked it up. Seizures can be caused by severe dehydration. However the idea that most people are dehydrated because they dont drink water turns out to be an Urban Legend. So I'm gonna get a second opinion (if Blue Cross will pay for one, or its not too expensive). I called my neurologist office to see what the results of my EEG are, but he's in portland. the receptionist stated that he's read them, but didn't give her results, so I'm to call in a "day or two".

Neurology Appointment

I had a neurology appointment today, and was diagnosed with "migralepsy". He says that the terrible headaches I've had all my life are migranes and that my seizure may be related to that. He's prescribed Topamax, (I guess 20% of the people who take it can experience some side effects, but if you aren't one of the 20%, it'll work well for you) , and wants me to try it. I have to be on it for 4 weeks before I'll be allowed to drive. I'm actually kinda sketched about it, but I gotta drive, I've got a load of kids and was their main driver until the seizure, so I'll give it a shot. He does have a "plan b" as well, if the Topamax doesn't work out.


KoL is a shining point in my life. An Adventurer is me!

Seizure!

on monday I was driving home from medford and had a seizure. It was a Grand Mal and I stopped breathing and wet myself and everything. Annique kicked the back of my seat and I started breathing again, but that took my foot off the brake and we slowly rolled into the ditch.

I've never had a seizure before (that I know of, or remember) although I used to pass out as a kid alot (low blood pressure). I went in on Wednesday to PMG (Providence Medical Group) and saw the doctor, who sent me for blood tests and a CAT scan. I got the results back in the mail today. I'm completely within normal levels on both. This kinda freaks me out. On one hand its nice to know I don't have a brain tumor or kidney disease, and my thyroid is doing good. On the other hand I still have no idea what caused the seizure and I could have another anytime. On wednesday I felt the same lightheaded closing black tunnel feeling that was the beginning of my seizure on monday, so its not just some random fluke thing (I don't think). I guess the CAT scan and blood work also tell us I don't have meningitis. I have a "sleep deprived EEG" test this coming monday, and will see a neurologist on tuesday. I may have to take medication, and I've been told I'm not to drive until further notice. The clean CAT scan and blood work screw this for me, cause it's probably not some easy fix thing, they'll have to give me medication (Carbamazapine, or something) that I'll have to take for at least a year and have no seizures if I want to drive again. That last sentence is conjecture, i really have no idea how long I can't drive.

In other news, I've gotten yet another keyboard, this one due to a beer spill. This keyboard is pretty nice. 14.98 for a logitech access keyboard, alot like the M$ keyboard I have at work. The one thing I respect M$ for is that they make really kick ass peripherals like keyboards and mice.

Hey, check out KoL. I'm Fookin Aye, a Hardcore Ascensioninst, currently I'm an 8th lvl Seal Clubber. I'm planning to get Pastamancer next so I can make chowmeins and such.

Anyway, work to do, kids to put to bed, etc, etc, etc, etc....

blargh

I have been very busy on a project at work, for the last 2.5 months and have let many many things slide as a result. I'm now very busy getting caught up on all the things I let slide. I hate that. Letting things slide hurts relationships for one thing. I keep seeing these dead squirrels on the road. I've noticed that the direction of travel and type of animal has changed over the seasons. kind of interesting, using road kill to learn about the migration patterns of the animals that live in the area. Too busy, in fact to sit around here, writing this post. Gotta finish cleaning up my personal space. too much crap, too little space. I'd really like to build a shelf for all this stuff, but I have no materials. Anyway, this time I'm really gonna stop typing. Really. oh, wait, check out the very cool game, The Kingdom of Loathing. You can look me up I'm Reverend Trance and Fookin Aye.

Hahah! Its my birthday yah scurvy lubbers.

Yes, its my birthday today, and International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Yesterday, I went to a friend's house , and scratched his new Jeep top. I really didn't mean to, but I dragged my nails across the back window (meaning to brush it with my fingertips) and left some nice scratches on his otherwise clear windows.

Damn these schedules, I saw a really gory raccoon today on the way in but had no time to paint its portrait.

So far, my birthday has netted me a really good bottle of port (dow's lbv) (from my aforementioned friend) and a Palm Tungsten T (from me). And also what I'd consider a birthday present was having a dream in KoL and getting a spooky hockey mask out of it, man those things are worth about 280,000 meat.

kids are awesome

Last night my 4 year old son, Atom was in the car about to go to his moms, and I brought a little frog in my hand to say goodbye. He tried to take the frog from my hand and I wouldn't let him. So he says "I just wanna shake his hand, dad"

Ruby, RubyOnRails

My life has been changed. I have been a dedicated perl programmer (and perl evangelist) for over 10 years. I've always loved perl, until I was introduced to ruby that is. I've found a new favorite language. Ruby. It rocks. Its terse, follows (nay, enforces) DRY (Dont Repeat Yourself), and is extremely powerful and flexible. Its got perl culture and java class. I'm sold. Have some koolaid yourself at ruby-lang.org.

dead animals aren't only on the road

I was walking through the company parking lot today and happened to notice a dead bird stuck behind the bumper of a van. Pretty odd, looks like the poor thing was stuck there alive for some time. I'll post a photo as soon as i figure out whats wrong with my usb auto mounting.

back from OSCON

No, I've not quit photographing the dead animals, I was at oscon 2005 for the last week, and before that I've just been really busy. I'm guessing theres lots of fresh (kinda) meat to see on the roads since I've been gone, and I'll be posting a new one monday or tuesday probably. in the mean time, check out the photos from OSCON on the oscon2005 group at flickr.com.

never forget to bury a dead possum

I went to bury the possum, but it was so late that I couldn't see the poison oak in the animal cemetery, so i gave up until "tomorrow". I promptly forgot, until several 105F days later, the family "mentioned" to me that it might be a good time to bury that opossum. Hmmm, I think they were right. It took me about 10 minutes to dig the hole, then I went out back and got the bagged up possum from the cloud of flies and ignoring the maggots oozing from a tear in the bag, managed to get the thing back to the hole, and in and covered with dirt without puking. I only gagged once. No photos, but I'd say the title of this post spells out todays lesson quite clearly.

nasty looking deer

Today I took the 8 baby possums to Wildlife Images . Opossums aren't actually native to this area, so they weren't going to keep them, rather they had someone who would come get them and rehabilitate them. Wildlife Images is a great place, they rehabilitate and release suitably wild injured or orphaned native animals, and keep and care for animals that are too injured or domesticated to survive in the wild.

On the way home from dropping the babies off, I saw this fawn at the junction of Lower River Rd. & Bastian Road. It looks pretty old and I doubt all the damage is from the car that hit it, but probably from carrion eaters.

dogs like possums (for a snack)

Tonight we went and saw War of the Worlds (tom cruise, 2005) at the theater, and it was a pretty good movie. There was a couple of parts that didn't fit the action speed of the rest of the movie (read boring) but as a whole, the move was good. When we got home, there was a dead, bloody possum in the driveway. I went to get a shovel and a plastic bag, while the teenagers oogled the body. It was then that they discovered the possum was a mama, and there were live babies in her pouch. Latex gloves, a couple towels, and we had a box of baby possums (8 live ones). I then bagged up the mama and her dead baby, and am about to go dig a hole to bury them.

kid gets pulled over

I was in medford today, hanging out with my kids and saw this 10ish year old boy riding back and forth on his mini harley style motorcycle. It was pretty cool looking. He looked like he was having a blast, until he got pulled over for running a stop sign.

just another dead cat

Between Ruch and Jacksonville, about milepost 28 on Route 238, there lies the following poor dead cat. No tags, stiff as a board, he's a dead kitty of unknown origin, and certain destination.

lucky rollerblader

No photos once again, but today I was parked in Grants Pass and saw a rollerblader get hit by a car. He was rolling along down the sidewalk and cut across the road at a stoplight, kind a confusing light, there are 4 light modules (one for each lane) on this one way street. What I guess he didn't notice was that only 2 of the lights were red, the ones nearest him. He swerved to avoid one oncoming car and caught the second one (doing about 35 i'd guess) on the hood with his shoulder. They came to a sliding stop and he hopped up, said something to the driver, and rolled off, none the worse for wear. It all happened so fast I couldn't get a picture of any of it.

On the road kill note, I saw 2 skunks and an unidentifiable furry red spot. I didn't make the trip to Medford today, so I'm sure I missed many photo opportunities on that route.

No time to stop

I've been seeing many deer (one right next to the one pictured in my last post), and other animals in the past few days but have had no time to stop. My current count is 4 new deer, 2 squirrels, a (potentially, couldn't quite tell) dog, a raccoon and a snake, the latter 2 within 10 feet of each other in the middle of the road. If any of these are still there tonight, i'll probably post a picture or 2. The deer are usually gone quickly, and I believe I found out why. There are several wildlife refuges in the area, one known as Wildlife Images keeps several big cats, and other carnivores (wolves, for one). I'm told these refuges often pick up the fresher large kills to use as meat for their carinvores. Cool. I'm glad they're going to a good place. Wildlife Images is a really neat place, with all kinds of animals that are, for various reasons, unable to survive in the wilds anymore. Go there, if you haven't been.

fresh deer

I saw this deer quite soon after its death, the blood is still fresh and a friend confirmed that a man and a woman taking pictures of the deer about 15 minutes before I passed there. My guess is that they were the ones who hit it, and were taking pictures for insurance purposes. This deer died just west of Jacksonville, probably at about 8pm this evening.

I've been thinking more about possible roadkill causes and remembering stories from friends and relatives who have hit animals, and I think my previous post was perhaps a bit harsh, I'm sure there are plenty of "stupid" or "careless" animals that stray onto the roadway and just don't have luck or instinct, jump the wrong way and Wham!, life is over. I've even been told of times when a deer has jumped out of the brush, probably in a mad run for the other side of the road, and hit a car, rather than the reverse. I've also realized that many people do agonize for life over hitting animals, but in this carnivorous society, I'm guessing that the agony (if any) is usually short lived.

2 deer in 2 days, I wonder what the effect our roadways and bigger bigger more more automobile attitude have on the deer population.

Why do I do this, anyway?

I'd like to preface this entry with a few disclaimers:

• I'm "nearly vegetarian" (chicken, eggs, turkey, cheese).
• I'm very careful about driving and have many times put myself in danger to avoid hitting an animal.
• I would NEVER intentionally hit an animal.
• I don't go out every day hoping that an animal has died, but rather with the hope that I find any that have, so that I may document their death.
  

That said, I've received quite a variety of reactions so far regarding this endevor of posting dead animal photos on the net, from "whatever" to "Thats sick and wrong, what is the matter with you". This has caused me to further evaluate my motives for photographing dead animals and posting them on the internet. There are many reasons for doing this, some of them morbid humor, some more benign.

I'd say that the biggest reason is that I have a camera, and I find road kill to be an interesting subject. There are all these animals who have strayed into our roadways for various reasons, to find careless uncaring drivers who couldn't give a shit about animals who stray into their path. There are of course other reasons that animals are hit by cars, a moment of distraction is all it takes. Quite probably there are people who even try to hit the animals they see trying to cross the road.

These animals are going about their daily business of survival, when WHAM! its the end for them. No one really cares, perhaps they see a dead thing on the side of the road and they think "Ewww" or "Poor little doggie" or whatever, but its not a big deal, and the event is soon forgotten. I'd like to think that by taking a photo and writing a little story, there will be some record, even if just a count, of the number and variety of animals that meet DEATH on the road.

Tonight as I drove home, I saw the following deer in the gutter near the Applegate store. I wonder if it was knocked into the gutter by the car that hit it, or if the driver or some passerby moved it there. I wonder how much the driver cared about the life that this deer lead, and how much the driver cared about the damage to their vehicle. I wonder if they were drunk, stoned, or just distracted. I wonder if it was the deer who was at fault. I wonder if this particular deer had propogated prior to its death, and if it had a mate and children who are even now wondering where she is. I wonder how long this carcass will remain by the side of the road, and where it will go when it is removed. I wonder what makes a photo of a dead kitten "worse" than a photo of a dead possum, but I guess that is a subject for a future post.

update 2005-07-06: the deer is gone, glad I stopped for it last night. I've send blogger a support request on the image issue, still no answer.

update 2005-07-06: photos work again, tho i still have no response from support.

Poor fuzzy kitten

This sad little kitten never had a chance. It was probably a little fluffy love toy for one of the neighbor kids, before it got out and went to investigate those loud noises on the road. Poor thing, I bet it was cute. I was told about this one from a land mate who had driven past it on his motorcycle earlier today, so when I was coming back from the store, I stopped and got some pictures. This was taken just down Tetherow, about 1/4 mile from our property.

Its interesting that the little kills, the kittens, possums, skunks, squirrels and frogs are left on the road to rot and merge with the asphalt. The big kills (deer, dogs, people) disappear quickly, snagged by passerby, no doubt, for burial, stew, or taxidermy.

Lucky I wasn't the tax collector.

It was a beautiful saturday today and I was driving down 238 between Applegate and Provolt and I saw a dead skunk on the side of the road. I saw it yesterday, but didn't have time to stop. I pulled over, got the tripod set up (borrowed from my ex-wife), got a few good shots, and headed back to the truck. I read somewhere that a good photographer takes care of their equiptment after every session, so instead of my first instinct (to lay the camera+tripod on the seat and drive on), I carefully began the process of disassembling the setup, resetting camera settings to my chosen defaults, and bagging everything up.

It was then that I noticed a pair of good ole boys crossing the road to come talk to me. The conversation went like this:
Guy 1: "Hey there, whatcha takin pictures of"
Me: "That dead skunk back there"
Guy 1: "Really?, What for?"
Me: "I have a website that I post pictures of road kill on."
Guy 1: "Thats wierd. So you're not takin pictures of the house? My wife sent me out here to see if you were the tax collector."
Me: "Nope, see..." I show him the photos.

At this point a big dirty guy in coveralls comes driving up the side of the road in a backhoe. He skids to a stop, with the front loader bucket up under the front of my truck, probably a half inch from touching the front tires. He hops down, says "hi" to the other guys, and comes and looks at the photos too. The same type of conversation happens, but this time, I tell them "Yea I live just up there in Williams" to which the reply is, "Heh, you can have the skunk if you want, I hear they barbeque them things up there."

After we chat for awhile, all laughing at this point, they all go off on their separate ways, and the big backhoe guy gets back up in the seat, starts up the monster, and yells down "Good thing you weren't the tax collector, I come prepared" as he waves a folding stock assault shot gun over his head.

So anyway, heres my choice from the shots I took:

road kill photography, an under appreciated sport

Road kill photography is a fun way to get some exercise (running down a road from the only possible place to park, a 1/2 mile from the kill), enjoy the morbidity of looking at dead animals in various states of decay, work on your dexterity (try dodging 55mph traffic trying to get a good shot of a gut-oozing possum, several days past its prime), and last but not least, improve your photography skills.

For months now, I've been commuting to work (an hour away) on Highway 238 between Williams, OR and Medford, OR and wishing I had a camera so I could photograph the many dead animals I see on the road every day. A wonderful bonus got me a nice camera (a Nikon Coolpix 5600) with not all the features I wanted (Macro mode would be awesome) but enough to make it a good first digital camera.

My first post is a very flat, very dead possum I saw today and just had to stop for. Bloody, flies everywhere, nasty in every respect.