Saturday, January 30, 2010

Stonehenge (II, That Is)

Kerrville, Texas

Weather: low 25 degrees, high 52 degrees, clear skies

Last night, the first full moon of the new year occurred. I was outside about two hours after the sun went down, and I can't remember a brighter moon. According to information I read yesterday and today, the first full moon of the year, also known as the wolf moon, was about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than at any other full moon this year. That's because the moon is closer to the earth than at any other time in the year.

In American Indian tradition, the wolf moon is associated with wolves howling in the cold midwinter, according to National Geographic.

Just a little more useless, quirky information that I like to find and share.

And today, I have even more quirky stuff to share. We took a trip to Stonehenge (II, that is). A few miles west of where we're staying on FM 1340 is a replica of the Stonehenge attraction that is in England. A local lawyer was fascinated by the original Stonehenge monument, and had the idea to build the copy. A builder friend worked with the lawyer, and they developed the monument to be about 2/3 the size of the original Stonehenge. There is no charge for admission to see the monument, but they do accept contributions to help maintain the site.

As if a copy of Stonehenge was not enough, the developers decided to copy some of the monuments from Easter Island. Now, I understand the motivation of the Texans who copied these monuments, but what in the world possessed the people who built the full size monuments so long ago? Is there anything earthshaking about the monuments we saw today? No, but I'm sure the builders had an idea of what they were trying to do. Maybe it was like the movie A Field Of Dreams. Remember the message was build it and they will come? Well, when we were at Stonehenge II today, there were about 30 other people there. This is not an easy place to find, so that may have been the motivation behind the local builders......

When we left the Stonehenge site, we continued west on FM 1340. Carolyn had a good day with the vertigo, and she wanted to see what was over the next few hills. Before we knew it, we had come up on these cattle, which I think are called Watusi cattle. According to Wikipedia, they are from Africa, and have performed well in dry, poor areas, such as here. This is the first time we've seen this type of cattle here, but we have seen many exotic game animals on the ranches.

Another day of quirky stuff. I love it!

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Daytona Beach Shores, Florida: Life Is Way Better Here

Not all who wander are lost.

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