Quick Update (or Do My Eyes Deceive Me?)

I have seen a couple of things nature-wise I did not think I would see here in Illinois over the last few days.  The first was a black squirrel.  Well...it wasn't really black - but more of a very, very dark gray.  I have seen black squirrels in Michigan - and this was very close.  Once again...no camera.

I also saw a big hairy dog-like thing as I drove between the entrance to our local forest preserve and a bog across the street.  It happened at night and it was the glow of the eyes that grabbed my attention.  At first, I was thinking it was a coyote, but it seemed to be too big for that.  I suppose it could have been someone's dog on the prowel, but it seemed a little too shaggy and feral for that.  I know there have been lone wolves down in our area before...makes me wonder.

The last week has been miserable temperature-wise.  It has been at least 10 to 12 degrees cooler than it should be all that time.  It is much better today with sunshine and light jacket temperatures.

Time Flies...

For those people that know me, they probably have only a vague inkling of how important/influencial music is in my life.  To say I have an ecletic taste in music may be an understatement.  I like music ranging from classical guitar to symphonic metal.  The only types of music I do not give much of a chance are country and rap...and actually I probably give country less of a chance than rap - there have been a couple of rap tracks that I have liked.

All of that being said, my favorite genre of music is progressive rock/metal.  I love the complexity of the music.  I love the 20 minute epic songs and the weird time signatures.  I think what I love about it the most is every time I listen to a piece of music in this genre,. I end up hearing something I did not hear in earlier listenings.  Mind you, this is more true for some bands than others.  For example, one of my favorite concept albums is Brave by Marillion.  I have had that album in my possession since 1994, and I still hear new things when I listen to it.  That may not be as true for something like Arena...even though I really dig a lot of their tracks.

Porcupine Tree is one of those bands that creates music I hear something new every time I listen.  They have changed over the years...morphing from a more trance-like musical style to a more driving rock style - and I have loved being on the journey with them.  On September 22, I had the opportunity to see them for the third time since moving up to the Chicago area.  On a side note, I love the fact I can catch these bands because I am near the big city.  I had really thought hard about going to the show.  It was the only one in the area, but it was on a Tuesday.  As a rule, I usually do not go out to something like this on school days...since I have to teach the next day.  The one thing that finally put me over the top was that Kings X was going to open up the concert for them.  Kings X is one of the older bands I love to listen to...they just have songs that get stuck in your head.

I am glad I took the time to go.

The show was at the Vic Theater.  I had never been there before.  Usually my bands end up playing at Park West.  It was a neat old theater with the box seats, balcony, and everything.  Luckily, the floor was a standing room only type of place.  I was able to get within five feet of the stage with no problem.

As I stated before, Kings X opened for Porcupine Tree.  The played some of the older songs I love like Lost in Germany, Dogman, and Over My Head.  They ended with the latter - and it was wonderful when he had the whole crowd singing the chorus at the end.  I also was able to see my first 12-string bass in this portion of the concert.  I am assuming it was the regular four strings strung at different octaves...but don't quote me on that.

There was a bit of time while they tore down Kings X and set up for Porcupine Tree.  The Tree did not disappoint.  The whole first half of the concert was a playing of The Incident in its entirety.  This may not seem like much, but when you realize The Incident is a 55 minute song...

I don't think I've seen so many guitar changes in one part of a concert.

While I like the whole song...the part I like the most is "Time Flies."  Very smart lyrics are throughout the whole song.

The band took a ten minute break and then came back to play some old and new songs.  I didn't think there would be any way they would play "Anethesize," my favorite song from their last album - Fear of a Blank Planet.  Most of this opinion was based on the fact that the song is about 17 minutes long.  They did not play all of it...but they played a good portion of it...and the crowd went wild.  They also played "Remember Me Lover" for the first time live.  There was one encore.

All in all, and amazing experience.  I'm glad I made the decision to go against what I would usually do.  I would have missed one of the best concerts I have ever been to.

That Time of the Night

I feel really fortunate to have a forest preserve literally right across the street from where I live.  It means I can go over there and explore at a moment's notice.  I had such an opportunity today.  I had taken the dogs for the big loop around the lake, come home, and then realized my wife had gone off to try and catch me on the walk.  While we did not meet up when I went out to try to catch up to her, I was able to explore the woods at one of my favorite times of day to do this - dusk.

I love the animal activity that I see in the preserve at dusk.  Today was no different.  The first thing I was able to see was confirmation that the beavers are still there - beyond the fact their dam has been reconstructed.  One of them was out and swimming around in the bottom portion of the lake.

Just a few feet down from this, I saw a small ball of fur.  I stopped and found it was a small field mouse or vole.  (I'm leaning toward the vole...but will have to do some research to make sure.)  I was able to just stop and sit down to watch it - no more than a foot away.  It was a fat little thing and was eatting grass as I sat and watched it.  It never moved...just kept on eating.

The final event of my walk happened when I was about to turn the corner to go out of the preserve.  On the path in front of me was a herd of at least six deer.  They stopped and looked at me, and I froze in my tracks.  I started to inch forward very slowly - stopping whenever they would stop eating and look at me.  At about twenty feet away, I stopped and waited.  A doe decided she was going to come and check out what this new animal was stalking toward her herd.  She came straight at me - stopping once and  awhile to stomp the ground.  She came within ten feet of me before she slowly when off the path into the woods.  She did not run off though...just walked inside to eat some more.  I think I may have been able to get even closer if people would not have come up the path behind me.

What you see at dusk can be amazing.

Beaver Update

In my last post, I lamented the breaking down of a beaver dam in our local forest preserve.  Well, we went on a walk through there again today, and I was pleased to see it was being built again.  It seems the beavers were not too pleased with what was done to there dam, so they are using bigger and better wood.  The last dam seemed to be made out of saplings and twigs.  Now there are some nice big chunks of at least ten-inch diameter branches in there.

More updates to come...