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Eagle Time!
Jan. 31st, 2012 09:23 pmA few months back my old wireless router died. I got a cheap Chinese one, a 'Tenda', on sale for $8. I was kind of skeptical of the thing, as it doesn't even have an external antenna, but it seemed to work and to work okay.
So, the other day as I left work, I apparently forgot to turn off my tablet. As I pulled into my parking spot outside the apartment building, I heard this "zing!" sound that means the tablet just saw new email. I looked, and sure enough, outside in the parking lot, I'm connected to my own LAN, and getting a very decent signal too. I'm impressed.
*****
Today I went out hiking at High Banks park. Chris and I went here once, and he loved it. I was looking to have a little of that day back, I suppose. Anyway, I had a very nice afternoon, and got myself tired and sweaty. I visited the unexcavated Adena burial mound (2000 years old, approximately, and generally supposed to be a chief's grave), and the Pool family cemetery (1816-1820). Then I walked uphill to the cliff over the river and stopped to see the indian earthworks (about 1000 years old).
( Map behind the cut, as it's big. )
It's pretty obvious to anyone who looks at them that they're intended as defensive works. The indians that lived here when we came said the same thing - these were left from a huge war of extermination that their ancestors won against a people called the Allegaw. The original works were built of clay hauled up from the river, then made taller with more clay at a later date, and then finally a ditch was dug in front of them, and the dirt dumped behind to make a fighting platform for the defenders.
The Park Service continues to insist that they're for unknown purposes, possibly ceremonial. It'd be funny if it weren't sad.
I'd thought the high point of my day was going to be finding literally about a dozen owl pellets all in one place (we've had an incursion of Snowy Owls from Canada of late), but it got better. I ended up seeing a nesting pair of Bald Eagles and their nest. I knew they'd been releasing them in the area, but I really didn't expect to just see some like that. Those are the first wild Eagles I've seen in my life.
All in all, a pretty good day.
So, the other day as I left work, I apparently forgot to turn off my tablet. As I pulled into my parking spot outside the apartment building, I heard this "zing!" sound that means the tablet just saw new email. I looked, and sure enough, outside in the parking lot, I'm connected to my own LAN, and getting a very decent signal too. I'm impressed.
*****
Today I went out hiking at High Banks park. Chris and I went here once, and he loved it. I was looking to have a little of that day back, I suppose. Anyway, I had a very nice afternoon, and got myself tired and sweaty. I visited the unexcavated Adena burial mound (2000 years old, approximately, and generally supposed to be a chief's grave), and the Pool family cemetery (1816-1820). Then I walked uphill to the cliff over the river and stopped to see the indian earthworks (about 1000 years old).
( Map behind the cut, as it's big. )
It's pretty obvious to anyone who looks at them that they're intended as defensive works. The indians that lived here when we came said the same thing - these were left from a huge war of extermination that their ancestors won against a people called the Allegaw. The original works were built of clay hauled up from the river, then made taller with more clay at a later date, and then finally a ditch was dug in front of them, and the dirt dumped behind to make a fighting platform for the defenders.
The Park Service continues to insist that they're for unknown purposes, possibly ceremonial. It'd be funny if it weren't sad.
I'd thought the high point of my day was going to be finding literally about a dozen owl pellets all in one place (we've had an incursion of Snowy Owls from Canada of late), but it got better. I ended up seeing a nesting pair of Bald Eagles and their nest. I knew they'd been releasing them in the area, but I really didn't expect to just see some like that. Those are the first wild Eagles I've seen in my life.
All in all, a pretty good day.
