Meador Manor

Fall Break 2012, Day 2: Pinnacle Mountain

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Granger Meador

October 19, 2012

The second day of Fall Break I awoke in Maumelle after a rough night of heartburn, feeling a tad queasy at breakfast. I suspected the pizza I’d had the previous night did not agree with me and I might be paying for it later in the day.

Rocky Valley Trail

Pinnacle Mountain (click image for slideshow)

But I felt well enough to drive over to Pinnacle Mountain State Park and hike the Rocky Valley Trail and take the East Quarry spur off of it to form a 3.5 mile hike. My first stop, adjacent to the parking lot, was an overlook of the Arkansas River. I could see Pinnacle Mountain bulging up to the east, with a bird flying overhead.

While at the viewpoint two older gentlemen from Great Britain walked up, saying this was their last day of a two-week stay in Arkansas, tramping about “without the wives”. I asked if they had been to Petit Jean, my favorite Arkansas park, and they had and they waxed enthusiastically over the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock and about a wonderful couple they had met in Hot Springs who had been married 64 years and were still active.

After our chat we parted with them heading to the parking lot, I believe, while I set off down the Rocky Valley Trail. Adjacent to me was a large abandoned quarry, with a pool below outfitted with paddleboats. This was where sandstone was quarried in the 1960s for the McClelland-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.

East Quarry Trail

East Quarry Trail Overlook

The trail wandered down to the Maumelle River and I took the East Quarry spur over to the other abandoned quarry. It had some large prickly pear cacti and I walked along the rock face a bit and then climbed up it to another river overlook with a sweeping view of the Maumelle River to the left about to merge with the wide Arkansas to the right. I could see Pinnacle Mountain above the Maumelle as well.

I followed a trail along the top of the quarry ridge to the H.L. Dickinson Overlook, crafted by the Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel Company when it donated the 40-acre quarry site to the state in 1975. I had a nice view of Pinnacle Mountain and other smaller peaks. I wandered on along the quarry ridge to where the trail ended at a warning sign to proceed no farther.

Backtracking I passed a tree decked in autumn red leaves and peered down a crack in one set of boulders to find a cache of quartz crystals. I returned to finish the Rocky Valley Trail loop, passing a butterfly along the way. I sidetracked to follow an old road to the top of the West Quarry.

Back at the parking lot I found the eastern terminus of the 223-mile Ouachita Trail. I have previously hiked a bit of its western terminus at Talimena State Park over in Oklahoma and five miles of it from Queen Wilhelmina State Park to the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. But today I wanted to climb to the top of Pinnacle Mountain, so I left the Ouachita Trailhead behind and drove a few miles west to the West Summit Trail.

West Summit Trail

Atop Pinnacle Mountain

The West Summit Trail climbed 750 feet to the top of Pinnacle Mountain and the sign isn’t kidding when it warned the trail is steep and strenuous. There is an even more challenging East Summit Trail, which is steeper and requires hands-and-feet scrambling, versus the upright walking along the western slope.

My stomach was churning, my muscles ached, and I knew I would be facing a rough night with what was likely minor food poisoning. But I made this trip specifically so I could climb Pinnacle Mountain, and felt I could make it up the West Summit Trail and return along it this afternoon before my symptoms worsened, likely preventing me from hiking the following day.

The trail soon became a long series of stone stairs, only occasionally interrupted by uphill gravel slopes. Along the way the vista south opened up for a view of what I term Antenna Ridge, festooned with communication towers. The trail became much rougher with large uneven boulders. I crossed a boulder field and the trail grew even steeper.

My aches and rumbles kept my pace down and I was amused at younger folks scrambling past until an elderly gentleman with amazingly youthful-looking and firm legs, displayed by immodest biking shorts, zipped by me. He complimented my hiking poles, saying they were the best out there, and then hurried on up. I would see him descend and re-ascend the mountain several times on my journey, which was a humbling experience.

I finally reached the summit, a long ridge of boulders with hikers gazing out in all directions. Pinnacle Mountain is an uplift of Jackfork Sandstone, exposed by 275 million years of erosion. It is a peak along a miles-long ridge running east-west, a lower portion of which I’d followed on the Rocky Valley Trail earlier in the day. I had a magnificent view of Lake Maumelle to the north with the Arkansas River winding past to the east. The eastern slope of Pinnacle Mountain was a major source of rock when they built the Lake Maumelle Dam back in the 1950s.

A party ahead of me on the ridge had a young African American lady who became lost in peals of laughter, much to everyone’s amusement. I think she was probably nervous from the treacherous climb and imposing view, but she was a good sport about it. On the far end of the ledge a woman was seated, gazing out eastward across the terrain. The buildings of Little Rock peeked out above one of the distant ridges.

I posed on top of the mountain and then made my way back down, pausing above a boulder field for another shot of Lake Maumelle and later grabbing a shot of a caterpillar along the trailside. By the time I’d finished the 1.5 mile round trip I was more than ready to head back to my hotel.

As predicted, what followed was a very rough 18 hours of gastroenteritis. I would not be fit to leave the hotel until 2 p.m. the following afternoon, when I would head out to see the Arkansas Art Center and Riverfront Market area in downtown Little Rock.

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike

Fall Break 2012, Days 3 & 4: Little Rock & Mount Magazine >

< Fall Break 2012, Day 1: The Old Mill

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Fall Break 2012, Day 1: The Old Mill

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Granger Meador

The Old Mill (click image for slideshow)

On my first day of Fall Break 2012 I drove to Little Rock, Arkansas for a few days of vacation. The only photogenic stop was in North Little Rock at The Old Mill in Pugh’s Memorial Park. The Old Mill’s greatest claim to fame was that it was featured in the opening scene of 1937’s Gone With the Wind (jump to 1:40 in this clip to see it).

Constructed in 1933 by Justin Matthews as a replica of an old-water-powered grist mill, it was designed to look like an Arkansas mill from the 1800s. It is mostly tinted concrete over steel and copper rods, fashioned to resemble wood, iron, or stone.

I posed in front of the pretty scene and toured the area. One tree sported a large fungus and there were colorful tiny flowers and traditional flower beds. The park includes an odd but entertaining arched bridge with tree limbs, cacti, stones, and more crafted out of concrete by Dionicio Rodriguez of Mexico City and repaired in recent years by his grandson. The lovely mill and park were designed by Frank Carmean.

I am spending three nights at the new Holiday Inn Express in Maumelle, several miles northwest of Little Rock. I had never heard of Maumelle previously and was surprised to discover it has the highest household median income in Arkansas, is the fastest-growing city in the state, and over half of its population has an associate’s degree or higher, making it the best-educated Arkansas city as well with over half the population in managerial or professional occupations. The area had a small farming town dating back to the 1800s and there was a large munitions factory and storage facility here in World War II. It eventually became a master-planned city in the 1970s with five villages that grew together.

I wondered about the city’s name and was amused to find its origin is the French word for breast, because of the conical shape of the nearby mountain, which once was also known as Maumelle but has been renamed Pinnacle Mountain. That is where I shall hike tomorrow.

Click here for a slideshow of The Old Mill

Fall Break 2012, Day 2: Pinnacle Mountain >

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Ode to Joy: The Spark of the Gods

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Granger Meador

I believe in miracles, or at least in miracles of human achievement against the greatest odds. I invite you to invest the time to contemplate the following miracle:

There are many great human achievements on display in that wonderful 1960s performance extract. There is the symphonic achievement of dozens of skilled musicians and vocalists of the Berlin Philharmonic, guided by the gifted if dictatorial conductor Herbert von Karajan, who also directed the film. In clips no longer freely available online, there is the powerful singing of the quartet composed of bass-baritone Walter Berry, tenor Waldemar Kmentt, contralto Hilde Rössel-Majdan, and soprano Gundula Janowitz. There is the beautiful concert hall designed by Hans Scharoun.

But of course the miracle on display here is the fourth movement of Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony in D minor, commonly known as the Ode to Joy. He based it on a poem by Friedrich Schiller and created the world’s first choral symphony by featuring the human voice on the same level as the symphonic instruments. The miracle is that this, one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, was brought to completion when Beethoven was completely deaf from tinnitus.

When I hear the 9th I always think of how, at its 1824 premiere, Beethoven made his first on-stage appearance in 12 years to a packed hall in Vienna. Michael Umlauf and Beethoven jointly conducted the work, obliged to do so since Beethoven couldn’t hear a blessed thing. When the work ended, Beethoven was several measures off and still gesticulating. Contralto Caroline Unger walked over and turned Ludwig around so that he could see the audience’s cheers and applause. He received five standing ovations. Ludwig van Beethoven truly had Götterfunken, the poem’s “spark of the Gods”, in his humbled, handicapped, human form.

Below is how the miracle is portrayed, with Hollywood changes, in Immortal Beloved. I do love how they portray the harsh reality of what his ears could actually perceive against the joyous music in his mind.

Here is the libretto, with Beethoven’s additions to the original poem by Friedrich Schiller shown in italics:

German original	English translation
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen, und freudenvollere. Freude! (men’s chorus: Freude! ) Freude! (chorus again: Freude! )	Oh friends, not these tones! Rather, let us raise our voices in more pleasing And more joyful sounds! Joy! (Joy!) Joy! (Joy!)
Freude, schöner Götterfunken* Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder Was die Mode streng geteilt; Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.	Joy, beautiful spark of the gods* Daughter of Elysium, We enter, drunk with fire, Heavenly one, your sanctuary! Your magic reunites What custom strictly divided. All men become brothers, Where your gentle wing rests.
Wem der große Wurf gelungen, Eines Freundes Freund zu sein; Wer ein holdes Weib errungen, Mische seinen Jubel ein! Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!	Whoever has had the great fortune To be a friend’s friend, Whoever has won a devoted wife, Join in our jubilation! Indeed, whoever can call even one soul His own on this earth! And whoever was never able to, must creep Tearfully away from this band!
Freude trinken alle Wesen An den Brüsten der Natur; Alle Guten, alle Bösen Folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, Und der Cherub steht vor Gott. Vor Gott!	Joy all creatures drink At the breasts of nature; All good, all bad Follow her trail of roses. Kisses she gave us, and vines, A friend, proved to the end; Pleasure was given to the worm, And the cherub stands before God. Before God!
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.	Glad, as His suns fly Through the Heaven’s glorious design, Run, brothers, your path, Joyful, as a hero to victory.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muss er wohnen.	Be embraced, millions! This kiss for the whole world! Brothers, above the starry canopy Must a loving Father dwell. Do you bow down, millions? Do you sense the Creator, world? Seek Him beyond the starry canopy! Beyond the stars must He dwell.
(the finale repeats the words:) Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. Seid umschlungen, Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Freude, schöner Götterfunken Tochter aus Elysium, Freude, schöner Götterfunken Götterfunken!	(the finale repeats the words:) Be embraced, you millions! This kiss for the whole world! Brothers, beyond the star-canopy Must a loving Father dwell. Be embraced, This kiss for the whole world! Joy, beautiful spark of the gods, Daughter of Elysium, Joy, beautiful spark of the gods Spark of the gods!

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The Kindle Paperwhite

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Granger Meador

This month I received my Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, the fourth Kindle I’ve owned and the best thus far. I love the “electronic ink” screens since they are easier on my eyes for extended reading than the backlit displays on my iPhones and iPads, and the convenience of having many books available to read in a small package, with no need to prop open the pages for reading, means I always try to read a book on a Kindle unless color illustrations are its major focus.

Generation	1	2	3	5
Purchased in…	June 2008	February 2009	September 2010	October 2012
My Cost	$360	$360	$139	$139
Resolution	600×800 (167 ppi)	600×800 (167 ppi)	600×800 (167 ppi)	758×1024 (212 ppi)
Connectivity	Cellular	Cellular	WiFi	WiFi
Major Improvements		Improved forward/back buttons; 16-level grayscale instead of 4	Further button refinements; better contrast with Pearl display	Front lit; improved contrast and resolution; improved battery life
My Review	Kindling	Kindle 2: Evolutionary, Not Revolutionary	The Case of the Crashing Kindle	This post

I skipped the fourth-generation Kindle Touch, since the display improvements were minimal and I was quite content with my third keyboard model and didn’t see much added value in a touch screen. I discarded the defective Amazon case, skinning my third Kindle with an attractive vinyl overlay on the front and back and carrying it around in a soft BUILT sleeve.

But the fifth generation Kindle Paperwhite brings a front-lit display with improved resolution, so I decided to upgrade again. I again face the choice of a WiFi-only or WiFi with Cellular model and opted again to save money by getting the WiFi-only model, plowing $40 of the $50 savings into the ad-free option, which provides attractive “off” screens instead of displaying ads when you turn the unit off. I’ve been using the $139 ad-free WiFi model for over a week now, so I am ready to share my impressions.

The Paperwhite (left) is smaller but sturdier than the Kindle 3

Smaller Size but Similar Heft

My first impression of my new Kindle was surprise at its seemingly diminutive size. It is only slightly narrower than my third Kindle, but the loss of the keyboard makes it shorter, which made it seem smaller than I had expected it to be. The weight is down from 0.54 pounds (2.4 newtons) to 0.49 pounds (2.2 newtons), but the decreased size disguises the reduced weight in the newer unit’s slightly greater density, amplified by a more rigid body.

Sturdier Feel

Overall the new unit feels sturdier and less likely to bend and break. It is the best casing thus far. The first Kindle had a weird shape with horrible large side buttons which were too easily triggered, while the second one had much better buttons, but the case did show marked signs of wear after a year of use. My Kindle 3 was known to pop open at the seams on occasion when flexed, and the Amazon add-on cover was useless since it would change the pages or crash the Kindle when closed and transported. I could easily snap the Kindle 3 back together without any annoyance, but the new unit feels much more substantial. It fits down in my old Kindle 3 BUILT soft sleeve for travel. I don’t intend to put a skin on my Paperwhite since the back is now a matte soft-touch plastic and is comfortable to the touch, providing a good grip.

The Touchscreen

Tap zones on the Paperwhite

The Paperwhite is only available in a touchscreen version, and I was leery of that. I don’t enjoy having to wipe off the screens of my iPhone and iPad, which easily smear, but thankfully I have yet to encounter annoying smears on the Paperwhite. I had wondered how responsive the Kindle’s touchscreen might be compared to the Apple products, but the inherently slower speed of the e-ink display, although much faster than previous generations and far less annoying, disguises any lag.

Losing the hardware keyboard is no great loss since interacting with the touch screen controls is fast and easy. However, I do miss the dedicated hardware forward and back buttons on the sides of the unit. It isn’t hard to tap the right spot on the Paperwhite to change pages (and I do mean “right” when advancing a page, and that is not completely comfortable for me as a southpaw), but I liked the old way I could grip the bezel and just click the buttons underneath my grip to change pages without moving any fingers. The new bezel is wide enough for comfort, but I wouldn’t want it to be any narrower.

Frontlit Display is a Big Improvement

The Paperwhite has a front-lit display with several white LEDs at the bottom of the screen shooting light through waveguides across the screen. The text area is lit evenly enough for my taste, although you can easily perceive where the lights are because of uneven lighting at the bottom of the display below the text. This is not annoying in use, and the lights greatly increase the perceived whiteness of the background and improve the contrast of the display. You can adjust the light level and turn it off, but the screen looks far better with having it on all of the time. I found a single light level which is comfortable for me both in a lit and an unlit room. And reading the Kindle in the dark is a new experience, since all of the previous models relied on ambient illumination.

The frontlit display is a big improvement

Silence, Please

My earlier Kindle had speakers and text-to-speech recognition, so it could read a book to me if the book’s publisher didn’t disallow it. But I almost never used that feature and won’t miss it, and I’ve never used a Kindle to listen to music or audiobooks since I always have my more capable iPhone at hand (with improved ear buds on the new iPhone 5).

Interface

I’m getting used to the changes in the interface design because of the touchscreen. When selecting something to read, the Paperwhite defaults to displaying the covers of books instead of a text listing, but I was able to switch it back to the list view, which I prefer. I leave the WiFi on all of the time, whereas on my Kindle 3 I would always manually turn the WiFi on and off to improve battery life. Thankfully the Paperwhite’s long battery life withstands both the frontlit display and always-on WiFi with aplomb and I have yet to recharge it despite hours of reading. This means WhisperSync can keep my Amazon-purchased books in sync across devices – when I’m not carrying my Kindle on the road I can instead read with my iPhone’s or iPad’s Kindle app, and those apps and the Paperwhite keep the books in sync when I switch devices, so I don’t have to hunt for where I left off. This was true for the Kindle 3, but didn’t work in practice because I kept its WiFi shut off.

Conclusion

So I’m very pleased with my Kindle Paperwhite, and the only change I would make, if I had my druthers, would be having dedicated page change buttons on its left and right sides. I’ll send off my Kindle 3 to a new life somewhere, as I did with my earlier Kindles. Unlike most electronics when they become obsolete, I can’t stand to throw away a Kindle – it would feel just as wrong as throwing away a good book!

Posted in books, technology | 2 Comments

October in the Osage Hills

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Granger Meador

October 8, 2012

Sand Creek (click image for slideshow)

With highs only in the 50s, I was bound to be lured out on the trails this past weekend. I had some advance work to do in preparation of an inservice day next week, since I’ll be starting that day with a presentation to most of the secondary school teachers across our district. But right after lunch one day I planned to make the quick drive west to Osage Hills State Park to get some hiking in on its very familiar terrain.

My hike was delayed by home improvements

My hike was delayed, however, when my 31-year-old house key broke off in a door lock. I moaned because I knew the only remaining keys were some lousy Wal-Mart copies which only worked in a few of the aged knob and deadbolt locks on the house. That and the fact that two of the doorknob locks had become inoperable over time forced me to finally take the plunge and change out the three door knob and three deadbolt locks scattered about four different doors of Meador Manor. (Yeah, I know, a real manor would have more doors with keys than that.)

So I trudged to the home improvement store and bought three matched sets of knobs and bolts and proceeded to swap out all of the house locks. That took some puttering about to get everything oriented just right so all of the locks would operate, but now I’m delighted to have a bunch of locks and knobs which all work perfectly. Well, except for the back door which has sagged and has to be yanked upward to make the deadbolt operable, and I’m not tackling shimming that door up anytime soon. Even better, I have six bright and shiny new keys which all work well. I can lose five keys and still get in the house – not bad!

Spillway Bluff

With that chore completed I drove out to Osage Hills and parked at Lake Lookout. A dock has been added so that boats can now be tied up instead of having to be beached, and they evidently added some paddleboats over the summer, but the summer heat kept me away and I never got to see them. I walked along the dam and climbed down to the spillway area to visit one of my favorite spots where the bluff has fallen away, creating a shallow archway in the side of the bluff. If I hadn’t lost time to the door locks I would have stretched out on the huge boulder there for some rest in the sun, but instead I gazed out over the calm waters of the lake and then headed out along the trail toward the ruins of the old CCC camp.

I was surprised to find the trail blocked off as I approached the camp, but the signs showed the part I was already on was closed. I’d noticed some fresh gravel strewn along part of the trail while earlier sections were a bit overgrown, so evidently trail maintenance was underway but not an active project this day.

Tiny Trail Flower

Near the tiny old CCC amphitheater hewn from the bluff rock I took a macro shot of a tiny flower and followed the trail to the old observation tower. I climbed up and saw a bird, probably a turkey vulture, gliding across the gently rolling hills in the distance. I hopped on a picnic table for a view of the blackjack oaks and other cross timber trees dotting the hills in the other direction.

Descending to the campground, I found the social trail leading off from one campsite to a fire ring out in the woods I’d discovered some time ago, and then backtracked to the campground and took another social trail shortcut over to the bluffs trail. A couple and their small child were heading toward the bluffs, so I opted to bushwhack down the dry streambed all the way south to Sand Creek itself. Several large trees along the streambed had exposed roots – with a bit more erosion they will tumble, as some of their neighbors have already done, forming temporary bridges across the channel. One fallen tree had a large gall which had rotted open.

Sand Creek Bluffs

I bushwhacked my way over to the bluffs and gazed over the still waters of the creek below. I then backtracked to the cabin trail, trailing behind the family I’d spied earlier. When we reached the group camp, I paused atop the high bluff to shoot the creek and give them time to move on down the trail. When I reached the falls, I found the drought had completely stopped their flow. That made it easy to cross the ledge to the other side of the creek and I bushwhacked my way uphill to find the park fence line. Then I returned to the trails, making my way back to Lake Lookout, with a stop for some high swinging in the playground along the way.

There was more trail maintenance going on with the lake trail closed where you can turn off toward the tower. I worked my way around the blockade and followed the lake trail until I could easily bushwhack to the Lake Lookout road and my car, having completed about five miles on all of the main hiking trails except the creek loop. On my next visit this fall I’ll probably hike the bike trails for a change of pace…literally.

Hot Hamburger

It was dinner time when I reached Bartlesville, and since I was on the western end of Frank Phillips I was lured into Murphy’s Steak House for their famous hot hamburger: a patty on bread with a mound of french fries on top and gravy over all. That no doubt gave my Lipitor a challenge. Then I indulged further with a tasty slice of lemon pie. Ribbons of cloud crossed the sky, illuminated by the setting sun, as I reached home.

It won’t be long until Fall Break, right after that inservice day when, as usual, I’ll be leading meetings instead of being led, which is a mixed blessing. Hopefully the weather will allow me to take an overnight trip to hike some trails more than a day trip away.

Click here for a slideshow from this day hike