New book, old problem

I was thinking about Rice Hollow Wednesday and about the impressive number of large downed trees, casualties of the February ice storm.

I was thinking about the severely eroded creek banks there likely caused by the March flood.

I was also thinking about my lower back pain and how hiking Rice Hollow and Garden of the Gods over the weekend appeared to be therapeutic. However, sitting in the car seemed to aggravate my injury caused by an embarassing act of twisting my torso carrying around a heavy basket of laundry.

These images were swirling in my head. I was trying to make sense of them and make sense of this year of unpredictability, made more so by the latest games over Illinois' U.S. Senate seat and news of Israeli air attacks on Gaza.

But all this left my head when I noted the discomfort of my left arm elevated too high for comfortable typing. The December 2008 Verizon Yellow Pages book under my elbow needed to go.

Then I finally paid attention to the photograph on the cover of the phone book and was delighted at the image on the front. It was a photo of our Camel Rock at Garden of the Gods.

The photo was taken in early fall with leaves just beginning their change. The camel stoically gazes across the Shawnee Hill country, the same as he has for eons.

Then I was a little disappointed to see a man wearing blue was on the camel's head. People in photographs are often unavoidable, but sometimes sully the natural appearance. I enjoyed the scene, but could have done without the man in his blue sweatshirt, jeans and ball cap with the yellow brim.

But then something else occurred to me. The man was crouched atop the camel's head looking downward. His posture explained his mental state at the moment photographer snapped the picture.

The man was no longer thinking, "What a wonderful autumn day in one of the scenic wonders of the midwest." Instead he was thinking, "How do I get down off of here?"

I've been up on that camel head before. The climb up is exciting and the view is nice. People at a certain age can hardly help themselves from climbing it. The problem is the back of the camel's head juts over the camel's neck. Climbing down a person can't see where his feet will land. The only way down is taking a leap of faith of several feet. If the climber is lucky -- as I was -- he will land fine and vow never to climb the camel's head again. If he is unlucky he faces a snapped ankle or, much worse, a tumble down to the forest floor and a trip out compliments of the Equality Fire Department and an emergency helicopter.

Many have been unlucky dismounting that camel head. The poor man on the cover of our phone book is definitely in a predicament. We can only hope he landed safely and is admiring his image on his new phone book.

If he was unlucky and believes he has a case, he can look at the advertisement for the law firm beneath his photograph with the screaming word "INJURED?" and motto, "We Don't Get Paid Until You Do."