Forbidden
Friday’s rain gave way to a hard freeze Saturday morning. Cars were glazed over with a thick, crusty coating. The frozen grass melted as the sun erased the shadows. One thing came to my mind. Golf.
Countryside Golf Course closed on March 1, and I never had the opportunity to say good-bye properly. Today was my day. Together with my two brothers, I ventured onto the forbidden course and documented my last round. Eventually, I'll have the video we shot from that last round here on this blog.
As my brothers and I walked the course, we stepped back into time and relived memories from our youth. From the time I was merely seven years old, Countryside/Arrowood was a part of my life. Lazy summer days were spent walking around my very own playground. I grew to know every square inch. Though I would never develop the talent for golf that my brothers or father displayed, I could walk that course blind. Every trap. Every bush. Every tree. Every meadowlark’s nest in the tall grass on #12. Its beauty was what I measured every other course I visited against.
As I walked today, I found little to cherish. The course looked sad and pillaged. Left to decay. Yet despite it all, the plum tree on the third hole is in bloom.
John McCutcheon recorded a song he called “Elvaton” on his album “How Can I Keep From Singing?” back in the early 70’s. That song has always resonated with me. It’s about a small town in
What happened to Ellenton reminds me, to a smaller degree, of what’s happened to my Countryside.
Death of Ellenton
Where the broad
There stood a peaceful village that meant all the world to me.
The home of happy people--I knew each and every one,
My kin folk and all the friends I loved---the town was Ellenton.
But the military came one day and filled our hearts with woe.
"We'll study war right here," they said, "The little town must go."
Then they came with trucks and dynamite. The din and dust rose high.
I stood and gazed in silence as I watched my hometown die.
They brought bulldozers by the score where children used to play,
Pushed over all the trees we loved, and scraped the flowers away.
Now the homes are gone--the schoolhouse too--the sweat and toil of years,
And with them all the joys and hopes of past and future years.
The little church was hauled away. The fields are brown and bare,
And in their place a mighty plant. They build the H-bomb there.
Now the smoke hangs o'er the valley like the mist before my eyes,
Has been there ever since the day I sa
Oh, the friends we know and love, we'll meet upon some other shore,
For Ellenton--fair Ellenton is gone forever more.
Daily Activity Period: Most bears become active a half-hour before sunrise, take a nap or two during the day, and bed down for the night an hour or two after sunset. However, some bears are active at night to avoid people or bears.
Preferred Foods: Nuts, acorns, fruit, insects, succulent greens. Meat and less succulent greens are eaten when preferred foods are scarce. A scarcity of preferred foods can result in failed reproduction, stunted growth, failure to add optimal amounts of fat, and death of young bears, especially cubs.
Potential Longevity (lifespan): Black bears can live 21-33 years or more if they are not killed.
Causes of Death: Very few adult bears outside of national parks die of natural causes. Nearly all adult bears die from human-related causes. Most are eventually shot. A few are killed by vehicles. The average age of death in hunted populations is three to five years of age. Bears less than 17 months old sometimes die from starvation, predation, falls from trees, and other accidental causes. Very few die of disease.
Core Home Range Diameter: Typically: Yearlings: 1-2 miles. Adult females: 2-6 miles. Adult males: 8-15 miles. Excursions to 126 miles recorded.
Long-Term Problem: Magazines and movies have given black bears an unrealistically ferocious image, causing people to fear them excessively and kill them unnecessarily. There are many misconceptions about black bears.
Greatest misconception: The greatest misconception about black bears is that they are likely to attack people in defense of cubs. They are highly unlikely to do this. Black bear researchers often capture screaming cubs in the presence of bluff-charging mothers with no attacks.
Living with Bears: Many people are moving into black bear habitat. The bears' future depends on how well we understand and tolerate them.
