Seriously. I love the waterfall. While on the catwalk under the Bridal Veil Falls, I noticed grass growing under the falls. I also noticed insects flying about in what I thought was a tremendous air current caused by the falls. What goes on in, around, under, and behind the falls? What lives there? Are there animals living behind the falls? Is this an ecosystem? \n\nI would have assumed it was fairly void of life under all that pressure, but the grass survived. What else is there?\n\nAlthough I am specifically interested in that "Small Square" under the Bridal Veil Falls, I would love to hear about other falls ecosystems. Please be specific about which falls you are referring to if you include the names of animals or plants specific to an area.\n\nThank you so much for any thoughts.
131635
First of all, thanks for the link about the world's oldest chimpanzee Cheetah, that was interesting and so is your this question. \n\nWell, I cannot answer specifically about Niagara Falls ecosystem as I have never been there but, I'll try to provide some info about the typical natural "terrain near a waterfall" ecosystem.\n\nWe can classify such an ecosystem in two broad categories-\n\n1- A little slopy waterfall with a lower intensity flow and lesser amount of water.\nIn India (where I live), such waterfalls can be seen in the lower parts of Himalayas. These are mostly formed by the smaller tributeries of a river.\nEcosystem-\nThe terrain is rocky as the flow of water isn't intense enough to soften up the soil, so, the vegetations are scarce near it BUT, one might find some herbal outgrowths in the slits in the rocks. The abundance of moisture leads to the blooming of some algal, fungal, moss forms. Lichens are also found abundantly there. The chances of finding an animal form there are very low as the water content isn't enough to support enough nutritive stuff for the animals. The animal forms found mostly there are fleas, small frogs and hopping insects.\n\n\n2- A steep waterfall, abundant water, high intensity flow.\nSuch waterfall is generally made by a river/tributory in the first stage of its course.\nThe terrain near a steep waterfall can again be classified into two types-\na) Terrain behind the fall.\nIt is rocky and is same as the terrain near a slopy waterfall.\nb) Terrain around and below the fall.\nIt is muddy and grassy. As the sediments washed by the river or tributory get deposited all around the fall. The most obvious vegetation there is- grass type. The ground is slippery due to the Lichen, algal and moss out-growths. The animal forms most abundantly found in such an ecosystem are bigger (in size) species of frogs and toads, hopping insects like grasshoppers, crickets etc, other amphibians, small fishes, fish-eating animals, some insect-eating birds (e.g. songbirds) etc.
144466
Tonight, I was out with my 10 yr old and I was spraying some water on our plants. A toad came "running" out of his bush cover to sit in the spray. He was really liking it.  After a couple of minutes laughing at him, a spider crossed the walk about 4 ft away. That toad went on a beeline charge up to the spider. They sat about 4 inches apart - neither one so much as twitching. We froze and watched.  After 2 minutes, the toad pounced in! He tongue-flicked that spider and had a good meal.\nIt was a great moment to share and very educational for him. It cemented some of the things we have spoken about in the past about nature being brutal, but efficient and basically well-planned.\nGo forth and critter. \n\nIf the neighbors think you are "different" - then Thank GOODNESS. Because you are!
86221
Wow, this poem is something else. By that I mean it is really abstract in its language and in its metaphors. I have a guess on it's meaning, but that is merely a guess. This author is using so much personal experience that it is hard for me as a reader to really connect well with what is being said, but here is my hypothesis:\n\nFirst of all, I think the title "Call It Fear" needs to be kept in mind when reading through the entire poem. The structure and the wording is suggestive of a person who is caught in the panic of fear ("call it an ocean of fear of the dark"). So, it can easily be assumed that this poem is analyzing fear and the essence of fear in the human mind.\n\nThe author has this deep fear, a fear of the dark, or possibly a fear of the unknown. The author is not alone however as she has found someone, referred to as Goodluck, who also has the same fear. They have come together to escape the fear, and their only escape has been found in the music that they have found on the radio, the church music that plays on a lot of stations on Sunday mornings. \n\nThere is also a question of the repeated imagery of "a string of shadow horses kicking and pulling me out of my belly." This image is repeated in the first and third stanzas and is linked to anxiety, the butterfly feeling that everyone gets in the pit of their stomach when they are controlled by fear. The idea of "shadow horses" seems to suggest the idea that death is pulling and tugging at the speaker of this poem, and it is the fear of death that drives the speaker to use music to escape the fear.\n\nThis is my guess on the meaning of the poem. . . I hope it proves helpful!
318246
It's been a while , but some years ago we vacationed in Kill Devil Hills..outer banks ,North Carolina.\nThey have what is called "high dunes" there..Huuuuge enormous dunes...and of course it is a tourist attraction...anyways..We bought a Kite...climbed them dunes all the way to the top and started flying the thing..Everybody did it...must have been tons of Kites in the air.\nSo , mine is flying and I tugged on the line and the thing bomb dives towards a crowd of people..I go...oh shi.t...and pull as hard as I can and just a few feet over the crowds head,the kite went up again...I go ..hmmmm...that was fun...lets try that again...and so I did...Bomb dives again and this time it came even closer to the crowd...they started yelling at us...how rude...lol...so , kite goes up and then again kite dives at them and..... oops...right into the back of some real big burly guy...Kite broke...guy screams...starts running towards us...yelling nasty things and we take off...running like hell , in loose sand down the dunes and half way down I lose my balance and tumble through the sand.....Big burly guy stood at the top of the dunes and gave us the one finger salute...how rude.lol\nDon't know why that adventure came back to my mind but what fun that was...lol
500840
Ok.. here goes. . ." Does God make the "Bad Deer" jump in front of cars on the highway driven by "Bad People" ? I LMAO.\n\nThen the guy gave me best answer, although I really didn't say much !!!
236253
I'm going there on my honeymoon this month.  We plan on checking out Waves Indoor Waterpark, Marineland, the Botanical Garden, the Aviary, and the Wax Museum.  I think they have some wineries too.  September would probably be a good time for that.  Check out this site for a list of lots of stuff to do in the Falls...\n\nhttp://www.niagarafallstourism.com/attractions.html\n\nGood luck to you!
214579
I moved from Great Falls Montana (pop of about 50K, but that includes alot of the surrounding farmland) to spokane (pop well in excess of 200K)... I Lived just on the edge of the city limits in Great Falls, but here in Spokane, I'm about 1/2 mile from downtown... It is HELL, and as soon as I'm done with colege, I'm going strait back to Montana!... there are a few things that I can get here, that are not available in Great falls, (namely my college) like, more job oportunity, more events, more shopping, more resteraunts to go to, more local music (not to say better, but certainly more), more radio and TV stations (sadly, Great Falls lost it's only rock/metal/alt. station about a year ago when I was back for summer), and they have a good 1/4 mile drag strip... I used to visit here at least once every year (for the drag races), and it was allways fun, and I will probably continue my once or more yearly visits once I return home... but let me tell tou from expirience, that living and visiting are two completely different things. When you visit, you don't notice, or even experience many of the things that anoy you when you live here... such as: the traffic, the smog, the poiltical corruption, the higher cost of living, the lack of courtesey/respect/manners/good amoungst the local population, the high crime, the lack of outdoor activities... I could go on and on, as a traveler, most of these things went unnoticed or were jut a minor nusance, but when you live here, you must deal with them every day... and it all becomes a royal pain in the @$$... I also hate it because baisicly from Coeur d'Alene Idaho to seattle Washington, its just one big damn city (the locals would dissagree, but most of my fellow Montanans would probably agree), and when I want to go fishing, backpacking, hiking, biking, rafting (any outdoor activity), I cannot without seeing another person (anywhere in the whole state)... and since I love the outdoors, living here is particularly hellish for me... For example: I hardly used a computer, but once every couple weeks in Montana and was hardly ever home, but here I have nothing better to do (very sad)...\n\nSo, if I were you, I would give it some serrious thoungt before just making the move, consider what you like, what you hate, where you want to live (the area of town), how much it will cost you to live there, what your personal values are... ect. you may enjoy it, or you may not, that really depends on your personality... I know there are pleanty of people in Great Falls who would love to trade places with me, and other Montana natives here who are glad they moved... but I don't think (I know) I'm the only one who wants to go back to Montana...\n\nso don't just "up-n-leave", give it some serrious thought, so you don't regret your decision!
179402
Well, us folks who live in Eugene and Springfield Oregon think it is here. They are across the river from each other. A couple of times they have even had sister city debates. Some of the environmentalist things Lisa gets into are right out of S/E. The terrain is much like Oregon. Also one of the writers, sorry I can't remember which at the moment, lives in Springfield OR! I have heard them say, if you can believe them, that is a place in the mind.
535620
Tis truly a flower. And good looking up on her. In a book I have called Severed, the killer is from my home town of Canton, OH. Whether this is true or not I do not know. But damn it  is weird going by where he used to live as the houses still stand. It is by the Timken Roller Bearing Co. (And hear I though the most f*cked up thing to come from my area was my friend Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson LOL) Too bad the movie they did did not do anything for her.
332177
the quest of the Golden Toadstool. Anyone knows anything about this story? I think my student may have copie? \nI gave an assignment and one student turned in a story about a gnome a golden toadstool and a dragon. The gnome keeps the toadstool in the forest. The dragon takes it away, destroying the forest. The gnome goes and finds the dragon, kills it and returns the toadstool to the forest and the toadstool being magical puts the forest back together. \nThere is no way this student wrote this picture story book.\nThanks for any help!
324136
Hey.  What type of stuff do you want to know?  I live near Ski Wing and know a little bit about it.\n\nYea it is haunted (or so they say) I've only been there once or twice and I never saw anything.  It is really creepy though.  I believe a little boy drowned there a really long time ago & he supposedly haunts the area.  Some of my friends claimed they saw people in ski uniforms in the distance (but that could have been them trying to scare me).  Right before it was closed a few people tried to rob Ski Wing and unfortunately my uncle was working that night.  He was murdered.  They still haven't solved the case.  Every once in a while there is a story on the news or on unsolved mysteries about it but it was so long ago... every has forgotten about it.  If i think of anything else that's worth knowing I'll let add it or you can email me if you want to know anything else. (forness27@yahoo.com)
127593
That IS weird! We had something really weird happen to us last night. While cleaning up this Avion trailer (that was brought here from somewhere else)with lots of junk in it that we were basically shoveling into a trash hauler, my husband found a photo. It was taken during the big flood, around 1990 I think. Our house is on a lake and every 20-30 years they flood the lake and our house is in the underwater zone! (Yeah, we knew this when we moved in! Now the lake is waaay out there, luckily!)Okay, so, the house in the picture is THIS HOUSE, halfway underwater! For sure. My grandson and I walked to the angle from where the photo was taken, and we I.D.d the tree in the backyard and the swing. HOW WEIRD IS THAT?
40593
my class just finished reading the Glass Menagerie. you mean the scarecrow is like a metaphor? I don't understand what you mean though about how the scarecrow does his job instead of standing in the bright sun...isn't the scarecrow always in the bright sun while it's doing its job?? Update your question to let me know...I'll check back and write back to you on it.
321019
I do believe in faeries, I do, I do! And so do many of my friends. Some even claim to have seen faeries When we sit around the fire telling faerie stories, They're all true. And we've all got our stories.\n\nLegend has it that faeries are immortal magickal beings, and so they aren't limited to the rules of this realm.\n\nHave you ever put something down when no one was around, and when you went back it wasn't there? Then a few days later it shows up exactly where you left it? That's what faeries do. Faeries are very playful. If you put out offerings, you get the stuff back sooner.\n\nOne time, on a camping trip, it was an especially magickal night. At some point, everyone in the camp noticed that something was missing, including a necklace from around one woman's neck. The area where we were camping was separate from any other areas and so no one came into the area. Suspecting activity of the Fae, everyone put out offerings, except for the woman who lost her necklace. She cursed the fairies. The next morning, everything was returned except the necklace. To this day, the necklace has never been found.\n\nOn another camping trip, I put my tent right in the middle of a natural faery ring. When I camp, I always have a flashlight with me at all times. The only place I could have lost it was in my tent, so I searched my tent, and the flashlight was not in there. Then I had two friends search the tent, and they couldn't find the flashlight. I put out offerings to the fae, and the next morning, the flashlight was back in my tent.\n\nAnother camp-out, We had a tarp structure in the most wind protected part of a wind protected valley. I've put up a lot of tarp structures, and it was put up very well. I've put up hundreds of tents and tarp structures, and I know what I'm doing. In and around the tarp structure where etched glass tealight holders on stands averaging about 4 feet high (it was beautiful). That night, the structure blew over (in a wind protected area) but when it fell, somehow it completely missed all of the etched glass. About mid way through the day, with no one anywhere near the structure, about half of it spontaneously stood back up.\n\nThese are just a few of my Faery stories. My friends have a great many more. We've seen many things which defy mundane explanations.
652913
One time, on a camping trip, it was an especially magickal night. At some point, everyone in the camp noticed that something was missing, including a necklace from around one woman's neck. The area where we were camping was separate from any other areas and so no one came into the area. Suspecting activity of the Fae, everyone put out offerings, except for the woman who lost her necklace. She cursed the fairies. The next morning, everything was returned except the necklace. To this day, the necklace has never been found.\n\nOn another camping trip, I put my tent right in the middle of a natural faery ring. When I camp, I always have a flashlight with me at all times. The only place I could have lost it was in my tent, so I searched my tent, and the flashlight was not in there. Then I had two friends search the tent, and they couldn't find the flashlight. I put out offerings to the fae, and the next morning, the flashlight was back in my tent.\n\nAnother camp-out, We had a tarp structure in the most wind protected part of a wind protected valley. I've put up a lot of tarp structures, and it was put up very well. I've put up hundreds of tents and tarp structures, and I know what I'm doing. In and around the tarp structure where etched glass tealight holders on stands averaging about 4 feet high (it was beautiful). That night, the structure blew over (in a wind protected area) but when it fell, somehow it completely missed all of the etched glass. About mid way through the day, with no one anywhere near the structure, about half of it spontaneously stood back up.\n\nA friend recently posted in her blog that she had lost a piece off her necklace, and it was no where to be found. One day her husband found it, right where he had been standing barefoot moments earlier, in plain sight, and in a spot where she had vacuumed earlier. There it was, in a place in plain sight where it hadn't been earlier\n\nAs a child the chandelier used to swing from side to side, and the radio would turn on by itself in the middle of the night.\n\nOne time on a camping trip I was walking back from the bathrooms at that moment right between day and night and I saw someone walk across the front of the site and stop behind a tree. So I figure one of the people is going to jump out and try to surprise me, so I pull out my flashlight, walk up to the tree, turn on the light, and there's no one there.\n\nOne time I was alone in a house, and I felt a presence. I looked at a mobile hanging motionless, and said, "If there is anyone else here, make the mobile spin." The next moment, the mobile began to spin.\n\nOne time I was driving into Ponca State Park to set up a large camping gathering, and the sides of the road were lined with spirits. All standing there, clearly visible to everyone, calmly welcoming us back.\n\nOn another camping trip, we felt a spirit near the bon-fire. We had a ring of 40 tiki-torches around the bonfire. It was a still and windless night, but all the tiki flames near the spirit bent in. One of the people in the circle had a fancy camera. After the campout she went to get the film developed, and all the photos from before the visitor turned out, but after that all the film was blank. She took the camera in to be repaired. The repairman asked if she'd been in a nuclear power plant. All the innards were fried from electromagnetism\n\nMy grandmother died while my niece was in utero. After my niece was born, she would look up at areas where no one was standing, and laugh and giggle. We all knew that she was looking at gramma, so we never showed her any pictures. Finally, at about a year old, she could speak, and my sister showed her the family photo album. My niece picked out her photo and said, "That's Old Gramma."\n\nThe myths of Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti describe it as a spiritual creature with hypnotic powers over those it encounters. People these days tend to believe that if they can'
149086
About butterflies: (Are you familiar with the greek story of Demeter, Persiphone and Hades? ) Well if you're not it goes a little bit like this: Demeter (mother nature) has a daughter (Persiphone.) One day when she (Persiphone) went out for a walk, Hades (king of the underworld) fell in love with her and rose to the Earth and abducted her.Once in the underworld Hades fed Persiphone with a pomegranate (fruit of the dead) and so she bound to him forever!!! Demeter did not like what had happened and she was very sad and with her sadness nature began to die out. But Hermes (clever lower god) managed to get an agreement between Hades and Demeter in an attempt to save life on Earth! Persiphone would spend three months with Hades and the remaining nine months with Demeter (hence we have three months of winter--when Demeter is sad because her daughter has left her) \nSO, for your story, you could write about how Mother Nature created the beautiful butterflies as a gift to her daughter. The daughter had just recently gotten married and Mother Nature wanted her daughter to keep something of her so that she could feel her close. Mother Nature knew how her daughter loved rainbows and colours, and so she made them of beautiful colours, and able to fly so that they could dance in the sky and be an amazing sight to watch and be entertained by. Mother Nature wanted her daughter to take them back to her house. The daughter was very happy, but a short time later she was saddened when she found that the butterflies had not survived the trip. The next time she went to visit her mother, she told her of what had happened and so Mother Nature agreed to make more butterflies for her but this time she would keep them in a safe place until the next time she would return. ...\nor something like that....
164934
The devil and I thought we'd go watch the passion of crist. Is it me or is he hung up on him or what? Any way, after the movie we are going for a walk along the river styx, he says it's beautiful this time of year.