Neale Woods
Fontenelle Forest also owns and manages land on the north side of Omaha. This is known as Neale Woods, a prairie-laden area that straddles the Douglas / Washington County line. I spent a sunny Wednesday afternoon exploring a good portion of the trails there, enjoying the quiet and stretching my legs.
Here are a few photographs...
The road this far can't be retraced
Along the western portion of the Iowa - Missouri border, it's very apparent that time has managed to pass by without much notice. The increasingly small towns are shells of their former selves, full of abandoned houses and buildings that appear as if they've been untouched for decades. Even if time appears to have stopped, it still takes its toll on everything here, from half-crumbling state highways to downtown buildings slowly disappearing one by one. The reasons for this are fairly simple: no major east-west highway through these parts and the disappearance of the railroads that once spurred settlement and commerce in these places. Such is progress, as they say.
Here are two images from a Sunday afternoon spent exploring this area and enjoying the incredibly gorgeous clouds that filled the sky...
Westboro, Missouri
Atchison County, Missouri
It's a tough job, part two
This morning, Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery assisted Nebraska Game & Parks in banding and testing the Peregrine eyasses (baby falcons) that nest near the top of the Woodmen Tower in Omaha. It was quite a scene, with numerous television and newspaper photographers all attempting to get images of these small, squawking birds. I really enjoy the resulting images...
Photographer's block...
Much of my Sunday was spent exploring places I've never been in Western Iowa while attempting to come up with new ideas. The weather was fantastic but I couldn't shake this feeling that I'm in a bit of a rut. I'm sure it happens to most everyone who has creative pursuits. Your work is your work, after all, and it's difficult to abandon yourself in even a small way when you're trying to make something uniquely yours. One day is tough, the next is amazingly creative, and on and on it goes.
Keep on keepin' on, as they say.
Schleswig, Iowa
Defiance, Iowa (Detail)