Massive Snake in Alabama

The Eastern indigo snake may be non-venomous, but its ability to grow over nine feet in 

length makes it daunting.

Massive snake discovered in Alabama for just the second time in 60 years! The discovery of an Eastern indigo snake is very exciting, since there has only been one other Eastern indigo snake observed in the state since the 1950’s. 

Eastern Indigo snakes disappeared from Alabama nearly 60 years ago, but scientists and conservationists have been working with the Eastern Indigo Project to bring them back to the state.

Eastern indigo snakes are native to the southeast United States, and once thrived in the state of Alabama. However, in the 1950’s Eastern indigo snakes had completely disappeared from Alabama, primarily because of habitat loss and human persecution. 

Additionally, because of their docile nature, domestic and international pet traders collected these snakes (which is now illegal). Furthermore, rattlesnake collectors (illegally) gas gopher tortoise burrows in hopes of collecting snakes and end up accidentally killing many Eastern indigo snakes as well.

Today, the Eastern indigo snake is a federally threatened species and is protected by federal and state laws. To even interact with an Eastern indigo snake in Alabama requires a legal permit—assuming you can find one of these snakes. 

For the past 60 years, sightings of Eastern indigo snakes in Alabama were unheard of. Which is why this most recent discovery is so exciting!  READ MORE...

Dark Zone Art

The cave winds two miles beneath northern Alabama, with mysterious so-called dark zones, deposits, waterfalls, and passageways that turn into deep pools. Ancient footprints are embedded in its farthest passages. Union soldier names from the Civil War remain scribbled on the wall.

Crouching because the ceiling was so low, Alan Kresler took off the light from his helmet on July 30, 1998 and raked a beam across the surface above him.

I can see the artwork of fellow humans who lived centuries ago. Probably a round-headed bird.

“When I see it, I think it’s OK,” Cresler, who currently works at the US Geological Survey, said in an interview this week. “Talking about it gives me chills today. I recognized the imminent importance of it.”

Mr. Cressler, along with archaeologists, 3D photography experts, etc. In addition, he explored for many years the cave known as the 19th Anonymous Cave and its art. This week they published their findings in the journal Antiquity. This study reveals art that was initially invisible when Mr. Cressler was too close to the ceiling over 20 years ago to see a complete array radiating in all directions above. He emphasized the role of 3D technology above. he.

Jan Simek, an archaeologist at the University of Tennessee and co-author of the dissertation, said cave art is one of the largest found in North America, deep in complex dark zones out of natural light. ..

Using radiocarbon dating and analysis of pottery debris, researchers have found that art has replaced mid- and late Woodland eras, or agriculture, hunting, and gathering have replaced the region’s food production and sedentary lifestyles. It is estimated to date back between 500 and 1000 AD.

There is a human-characteristic figure, a coiled snake with a rattling tail and a bifurcated tongue, and a 10-foot-long snake that winds across the expanse. Some designs incorporate ceiling features, such as snakes that appear to emerge from natural crevices.  READ MORE...

Largest Cave Art in Alabama

American photojournalist and founder of the Ancient Art Archive Stephen Alvarez in the 19th newly identified but unnamed cave in Alabama. (Image credit: A Cressler; Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Archaeologists in Alabama have discovered the longest known painting created by early Indigenous Americans, a new study finds.

Indigenous Americans crafted this 1,000-year-old record-breaking image — of a 10-foot-long (3 meters) rattlesnake — as well as other paintings, out of mud on the walls and ceiling of a cave, likely to depict spirits of the underworld, the researchers said.


The cave has hundreds of cave paintings and is considered the richest place for Native American cave art in the American Southeast, the researchers said. 

To investigate its historic art, the team turned to photogrammetry, a technique that involves taking hundreds of digital images in order to build a virtual 3D model. Using this method, the researchers spotted five previously unknown giant cave paintings, known as glyphs.


"This methodology allows us to create a virtual model of the space that we can manipulate," study first author Jan Simek, a distinguished professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, told Live Science. 

"In this particular case, the ceiling of the cave is very close to the floor. So your field of vision is limited by your proximity to the ceiling. We never saw these very large images because we couldn't get back far enough to see them."

Made in America

This morning on FOX News, it was reported that in Biden's first State of the Union Address to Congress. in addition to pushing his extremely bold and costly spending agenda and not really mentioning the crisis at the boarder, he articulated in no uncertain terms that his administration was going to push made in America or purchased in America which is somewhat redundant; however, it is the same rhetoric that was originally used by Donald Trump about which the Democrats and the liberals would not support...

Many of us should find that ODD INDEED.

Destin, Florida

I am watching FOX News in the breakfast room of Days Inn in Montgomery, Alabama because my wife and I are on our way to a vacation at a private condo with a private beach in Destin, Florida... and driving from TN to this location took us about 5-1/2 hours instead of the 8-1/2 it would have taken if we had driven straight through.  As we get older we understand and respect the fact that we can no longer drive long durations without stopping.

I awoke first and decided to have breakfast while my wife continued to sleep which brings me back to the origins of this post.

My breakfast consisted of several cups of coffee which always seems to taste better away from home than at home and a couple of tiny bran muffins that were sprinkled with oats on top.  The bran muffins were perfectly cooked and tasted better than most that I have had as I recall...  and, while I ate my breakfast, I watched FOX News on the screen mounted on the wall.

The trip to Montgomery was for all intents and purposes uneventful except for a couple of areas where driving through congested cities slow the traffic down a "tad," but for the most part, the vehicles on the interstate drove no slower than 80 mph and most of them were clipping along at 100 mph and wanted you out of their way immediately as they approach you from the rear.

Since we were not in a hurry, I maintained a speed of 75-80 mph which was still 5-10 miles over the posted speed limits  while most of my fellow drivers took those posted speed limits to be a suggestion rather than the law.

No matter where we stopped...  either at a rest area, a fast food, or a gas station, NO ONE was wearing their facemasks...  except us...  even though my wife and I have had both our COVID shots and it has been a month since our second one.

This morning we are going to remain at the Days Inn until we have to check out because the rest of our journey is only going to take 3 hours and we cannot check in until 5:00 pm so even if we left at noon, we would still have a 2 hour wait until we can get settled in...  knowing that, we decided that we would probably do our grocery shopping while we waited.

This is our first vacation in over a year due to COVID, the 3-4 maybe 5-6 that we normally take each year were cancelled or not booked because of COVID.  We are hoping that the weather will be nice on the Gulf Coast.