Starting Over, Learning Anew

IMPORTANT NOTE: At the time I wrote this blog post I was unaware that it is actually illegal here in the US to walk train tracks or even be within a certain distance of them unless you're crossing at a designated public crosswalk. While these particular tracks I was on were no longer used, walking on tracks still in use is incredibly dangerous. Please stay safe while collecting!

So I've been going through a bit of culture shock the last several months. I moved from deep in the undisturbed country to the middle of where I honestly thought I'd never find myself again... suburbia.

I went from no neighbors, fences or paved roads ... to prying eyes, having to hear the business of others at any given moment and pretty much an entire lack of privacy. I can't even seem to go outside most days to enjoy some fresh air without someone wanting to know who I am or what I'm doing.

I previously lived in nearly pure privacy for over 8 years and didn't talk to anyone unless I wanted. Don't get me wrong I'm exceptionally friendly. Especially with complete strangers. Most times I'm standing in line at the grocery store or post office I start talking to someone else in line.

But my privacy and freedom have always been very important to my well being... and now I rarely have either.

As a person that collects the remains of animals to use in art, jewelry or for display... my life has become especially limiting. And I have to relearn many things because of these new limits.

Before, I could have an entire deer carcass on my property and nobody would flinch at the smell. Now, anything larger than a squirrel would attract far too much attention from the 4 neighboring houses so closely backed up to the short chain linked fence.

So far, all carcasses I've put in the back yard have been taken by an opossum or raccoon. So I have to figure out how to resolve that without having a big cage like I did in the country. That's not something that's socially accepted by the neighbors here I'm sure. Plus, there are small children in the yard. That's right, I'm also trying to adjust to being an instant Mommy figure... to twin 3-year-old girls. My boyfriend's girls.

For a suburban area there is an abnormally large amount of nature here compared to say where I grew up. I'm especially in awe with the low flying vultures everywhere. I find myself trying to make a mental note of where I see them roadside eating roadkill. In hopes of coming back to get the remains.

I did just that recently when I hopped onto my bike with many plastic bags in tow. I went alongside train tracks that also ran parallel a main two lane road into the center of town. I headed out fairly late in the day to minimize the heat and sun.



Within five minutes I found the remains of the opossum I saw a vulture eating weeks previous. If only I had got to them before the big city lawnmowers they' be in better shape and the skull might still be around.



There had also been a lot of severe thunderstorms and tornados in the area so much of the smaller remains were lost in the sand.



This particular area was covered with hundreds of tiny armadillo bone plates (or osteoderms). But just too many and too small to pick up.

Just beyond this I found what I thought at first was the spine and ribs of a small mammal. But then realized it was a small part of the remains of a fish skeleton. I found four more sets of remains of fish on my trek along the tracks that day. Mostly at the bottom of large telephone poles. Which makes perfect sense because I see Osprey flying overhead frequently with fish in their talons. I imagine they sit atop the poles and eat their catch there before dropping it.



Funny, because only a day earlier a friend brought me the remains of what he thought for sure was a reptile skull. Which I quickly figured out was only part of a large catfish. He found it on a sidewalk in the middle of town so no surprise he didn't think it was a fish.

I also saw several animal dens going under the tracks. I wondered what kind of creature lived in them because I saw no fur or tracks.



Sadly I think that question was soon answered when I found the remains of what I believe was a large gopher tortoise (which I left since they are a protected species) that looked as if it was traveling down the tracks when it was hit by a train.



Nearby were the remains of a vulture that appeared to also have been struck by a train.. perhaps while eating the remains of the tortoise.



Amazingly there were only feathers and some skin left behind of the vulture. No head, beak, bones or feet. Something really stripping it clean. Not that I'd pick it up anyway since it is illegal to have, being a protected species of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The ride home was quite stunning for suburbia.





And when I really looked at my bags of loot I didn't do too bad.



The remains of several opossum, 4 various fish, water turtle bones and possibly various cat/dog/raccoon/rabbit/deer bones. I realized afterwards that I need to make this bike ride more frequently if I want to get the remains before they are damage or taken. Plus, there's a LOT more I can explore. This was all found only after a couple miles!

So while I can't process my roadkill finds like I did out in my country home, I do have options. Finding bones mostly flesh free hurries the process and I don't have to have large carcasses in the yard.

I now have these remains in two different sealed containers. One has water and fleshy bones that need to rot off to nothing but bones (maceration). The other has flesh free remains that are soaking in a peroxide bath to whiten. Much of these are already heavily nature cleaned so they won't likely need degreasing.

Fingers crossed this works without a terrible smell coming into the house.

In My Cabinet of Oddities: Part 1

I've collected strange things since I was a child. Many of those I still have. But probably my most desired collectables were not acquired until later on when I had more money to spend.

I'm going to feature a few items from my collection from time to time. Today I present to you:

A Faux Shrunken Head Made From Goat Skin:



I was told when I purchased this that it was made by a member of the Jivaro tribe of the Amazon River forests, of southeastern Ecuador and northeastern Peru. They make real shrunken heads from the heads of their enemies. Trophies of war, they were believed to be powerful talismans. Since the skull would not shrink, it was removed prior to boiling and other preparation. Since the 1940s, it has been illegal to import shrunken heads into the United States. So the Jivaros now produce imitation shrunken heads fashioned of goat skin for commercial purposes.

Perhaps I will try to make my own shrunken head one day from roadkill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrunken_head

Dog Skull, Vintage Camera & Medical Tools:



Besides bones, I collect vintage (and a few new) medical related items. Here you can see some of them including a modern hand operated bonesaw. The box that reads "A.S. Aloe Co." contains a real used vintage electric bonesaw. I'll open it up and get photos for another edition of "In My Cabinet of Oddities".

In the vintage glass Pyrex lab containers are various used medical tools. Including a metal syringe, some very intimidating pliers, and an assortment of other various tools. I can only imagine how they were previously used in surgeries.

I have medical books dating back to the 1800s. The beliefs and procedures back then seem barbaric and more like torture now. I will get a full set of photos of these to share in the future, including diagram examples.

Badger Skull & Working Vintage "Musical Jolly Chimp":



When I was young my family would sometimes go to this pizza parlor in Tampa, for dinner. It was a sit down novelty theme place that had bubbles that would fall from the ceiling and showed silent films. While you ate and watched movies there was a man that played piano on a pedestal in a spotlight. He had a creepy toy monkey that would play cymbals along with him and when it behaved badly he would strike it on the head with a mallet. Then it bared its teeth, screeched and eyes popped in and out. Disturbing.

I wouldn't say I was "scarred for life" but it certainly left a strange impression on me. As much as the monkey frightened me it also intrigued me, and so I wanted my own. Many years later with the birth of eBay I sought and purchased the exact same style of toy monkey, in working condition.

I have since unintentionally made someone cry when I showed it to them. Ooops.

You can hardly see it in the photo but he rests on a fossilized manatee bone my father gave to me as a gift. And in front of him is a badger skull I picked up at a fantastic roadside store on a highway in the middle of nowhere, in Colorado.

You can see the same kind of monkey working here: