This area was dangerous and many who had ventured there alone had never returned. But slowly over the course of this century settlers continued to push further west until regions such as West Virginia were populated with more and more adventurous young men and women. The settlement of these lands did not occur without difficulties and colonizers frequently came into conflict with the local Native American populations. Wills De Hass’s remarkable book History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of West Virginia is a fascinating history of how the lands of the west were first settled by white emigrants in the eighteenth century and how these settlers came into frequent strife with the Native American tribes who had previously lived there. Beginning with Columbus’ discovery of this great continent Wills De Hass charts the colonization of this expansive land. He records with brilliant detail the early encounters that Europeans had with the men and women that they found already living across the region and explains how various nations from across the Atlantic made their first tentative footholds on this newly discovered land. De Hass records how settlers were not only conflict with Native Americans but also with each other as this region descended into war, firstly during the French and Indian War and shortly afterwards during the American War of Independence. Particularly fascinating throughout the book are the biographical sketches of various well-known frontiersmen who were particularly influential in the Ohio Valley and northwestern Virginia. This book is perfect for anyone interested in the early settlement of western regions prior to 1795 and how this area was frequently in conflict as settlers attempted to assert their rights against the wishes of the Native American populations. Wills de Hass was a lecturer and writer on archaeological and historical subjects. His book History of the Early Settlement and Indian Wars of Western Virginia was first published in 1851 and De Hass passed away 1910.

    This perfect guide for both seasoned and novice seaglunkers reveals how to locate the best beaches and predict optimum conditions; understand coastal access laws; determine the personal and professional value of sea glass; and identify the source of individual fragments.

    "We'll rely on the kindness of strangers." And that's what they did. Mooching their way down the river and staying with strangers every night, Morine and Peard got an inside look at such issues as the demise of farming, the loss of manufacturing, gay rights, and Wal-Mart versus Main Street, and they were able to delve deep into the lives of complete strangers. But Morine soon realized the one life he never dug into was Peard's. After spending a month with him in a canoe, he had no idea that his friend's innermost thoughts had taken a fateful course. Written in the tradition of Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, this book will be treasured by conservationists, canoeists, and old friends still seeking a thrill. Everyone else will be delightfully entertained.

    His ability with the sand wedge and putter are legendary not only among fans but his peers as well, and it is his skill with those clubs that is primarily responsible for his winning 34 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including three major championships. In his first-ever instruction book, Mickelson explains in detail how to master every phase of the short game.Mickelson maintains that any golfer of average ability can become a deadly short-game player by approaching the subject with a blend of science (proper mechanics and setup) and art (imagination and feel). Mickelson does a fine job explaining both; combining the wisdom of his great teachers with his own fertile imagination, cultivated from 34 years of experimentation, trial and error.No golfer can afford to miss out on Mickelson′s secrets and tips.

    [Vigor's] practical wisdom gives you the know-how and confidence to prepare your boat for the sea.--Cruising World. Here is the book that answer the sailor's fundamental question--Can my boat take me offshore safely?--then shows how to make it happen.

    For almost a decade, they won 60 percent of their games while making it to the Western Conference Finals twice. However, what happened off-court was just as unforgettable as what they did on the court. When someone asked Blazers general manager Bob Whitsitt about his team’s chemistry, he replied that he’d “never studied chemistry in college.” And with that, the “Jail Blazers” were born. Built in a similar fashion to a fantasy team, the team had skills, but their issues ended up being their undoing. In fact, many consider it the darkest period in franchise history. While fans across the country were watching the skills of Damon Stoudamire, Rasheed Wallace, and Zach Randolph, those in Portland couldn’t have been more disappointed in the players’ off-court actions. This, many have mentioned, included a very racial element—which carried over to the players as well. As forward Rasheed Wallace said, “We’re not really going to worry about what the hell [the fans] think about us. They really don’t matter to us. They can boo us every day, but they’re still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street. That’s why they’re fans and we’re NBA players.” While people think of the Detroit Pistons of the eighties as the elite “Bad Boys,” the “Jail Blazers” were actually bad. Author Kerry Eggers, who covered the Trail Blazers during this controversial era, goes back to share the stories from the players, coaches, management, and those in Portland when the players were in the headlines as much for their play as for their legal issues.

    She wrote some of the best selling novels and well-received columns in magazines of the day. She became a wildlife photographer, specializing in the birds and moths in one of the last of the vanishing wetlands of the lower Great Lakes Basin. The Limberlost and Wildflower Woods of northeastern Indiana were the laboratory and inspiration for her stories, novels, essays, photography, and movies. Her first attributed novel, The Song of the Cardinal (1903) met with great commercial success. Her novels Freckles (1904) and A Girl of the Limberlost (1909) are set in the wooded wetlands and swamps of the disappearing central Indiana ecosystems she loved and documented. Although Stratton-Porter wanted to focus on nature books, it was her romantic novels that made her famous and generated the finances that allowed her to pursue her nature studies. Her other works include: The Harvester (1911), A Daughter of the Land (1918) and Her Father's Daughter (1921).

    In this astounding guide, renowned animal communicator Carol Gurney draws upon fifteen years of successful communication with animals to offer animal lovers what they’ve always longed for: a simple, effective method for “listening to” and communicating with their animals. Based on her successful 7-step HeartTalk ProgramSM, which has already helped thousands of people understand their basic telepathic connection with animals, Gurney outlines the principles of “heart-to-heart” communication, showing you how to open your heart to a more meaningful connection with the animals you love. Learn how to:* Understand your animal’s needs, feelings, and innermost thoughts so you can discover who he or she really is* Develop long-distance communication skills to locate lost or stolen animals* Understand animals’ physical feelings so you can help comfort them when they are sick or injured* Emotionally prepare yourself for the death of your beloved animal* Discover how animals can be your best teachers in helping you to love yourself* Actually communicate telepathically with the loving beings that share your world!Animals are not only our loyal companions; they are our guides, our healers, our link to the simple wisdom of the natural world. Filled with amazing real-life stories of human/animal communication, The Language of Animals is a must for every animal enthusiast–and a loving gift to the engaging, expressive animals who have so much to share.

    Unlike their human counterparts, who must alter their environment to accommodate our physical limitations, animals are adaptable to an amazing range of conditions--i.e., radical changes in a creature's physiology take place to match the demands of the environment. Winter provides an especially remarkable situation, because of how drastically it affects the most elemental component of all life: water.Examining everything from food sources in the extremely barren winter landscape to the chemical composition that allows certain creatures to survive, Heinrich's Winter World awakens the largely undiscovered mysteries by which nature sustains herself through the harsh, cruel exigencies of winters

    Beloved artist and teacher Claudia Nice leads you on an inspired journey through the great outdoors. With paints in hand, she shares with you her best techniques for creating landscapes that come alive with richness, depth and textured detail.Read this guide and start painting right away. As you follow engaging, step-by-step demonstrations and exercises, you'll learn to recreate the textural elements of a range of terrains and landscapes. Chapters include:Creative clouds and skiesMajestic mountains, hills and mesasTexturing trees, trunks and foliageRugged rocks and gritty gravelTransparent textures for rivers, falls and lakesFlowers of the fieldIn a special section, Claudia covers basic texturing techniques with mini demos using lines, dots, bruising, scribbling, spattering, blotting, printing, stamping and more. From paints and pens to sponges, leaves and facial tissue, you'll explore all kinds of fun and inventive ways to create amazing textures.And to help you put it all together, Claudia includes her masterful advice for creating compositions using reference photos, field sketches and your own creative license. Each demonstration features a large image of the completed landscape, so you can see exactly how Claudia's methods work - from start to finish.

    

    Much of the trail is on the rocky ridgeline overlooking Lake Superior with sweeping vistas of Lake Superior and inland forests, cascading waterfalls and remote lakes. Mile-by-mile descriptions lead the casual hiker or ardent backpacker through forests of birch, maple, spruce, pine and fir—a region thriving with spectacular wildflowers and diverse wildlife. Whether you have two hours or two weeks, an afternoon or a weekend, this guide will enhance your hiking experience. Provided is detailed information on trailhead parking, 90+ backcountry campsites located every five to ten miles that require no fees, permits, or reservations, and a mile-by-mile description of the trail as you hike along. The Superior Hiking Trail goes to numerous scenic spots including Ely's Peak, Hawk Ridge, Bean and Bear Lakes, Mount Trudee, Baptism High Falls, Egge Lake, Sonju Lake, Manitou River, Caribou Falls, Cross River, Carlton Peak, Britton Peak, Oberg Mountain, Cascade River, and Pincushion Mountain. The trail travels through eight Minnesota state parks: Jay Cooke, Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, Tettegouche, Crosby-Manitou, Temperance River, Cascade River, and Judge Magney. Complete trail maps are included in each section. In addition, it includes a "how-to" chapter on backpacking the trail and a chart with services in the towns close to the trail. It also includes informational chapters on wildflowers, birds, geology, and area history. The trail starts south of Duluth, MN in Jay Cooke State Park, travels through Duluth for 43 miles, and then heads northeast along the North Shore for 255 miles to Canada. Backpacking opportunities with backcountry campsites start at the northern boundary of Duluth. The Guide is written so each section of 5-12 miles can be hiked separately, a longer segment can be hiked, or the entire trail can be thru-hiked.

    Indeed, Flora Britannica is the definitive contemporary flora, an encyclopaedia of living folklore, a register – a sort of Domesday Book.It is unique in that it is not a botanical flora but a cultural one – an account of the role of wild plants in social life, arts, custom and landscape. It is also unique in that information has been supplied by the people themselves. Five years of intensive original research have aroused popular interest and ‘grassroots’ involvement on an exceptional scale. People all over Britain – both rural and urban – have been encouraged to record and celebrate the cultural dimensions of their own flora, and to send their memories and anecdotes, observations and regional knowledge to Flora Britannica.The result is a nationwide record of the popular culture, domestic uses and social meanings of our wild plants. It is both useful and delightful – superbly written by one of the most outstanding English authors on natural history and illustrated with nearly 500 photographs. Including trees and ferns, it covers 1,000 species, many of them in considerable detail. A new flora for the people, Flora Britannica is a testimony to the continuing relationship between nature and human beings, and a celebration that the seasons and the landscape, local character and identity, still matter in Britain.

    With anecdotes from his time spent at Keewaydin and stories from his life in the upper echelons of American business that illustrate the camp's continued influence, Eisner creates a touching and insightful portrait of his own coming-of-age, as well as a resounding declaration of summer camp as an invaluable national institution.

    Colin Elford spends his days alone - alone but for the deer, the squirrels, the rabbits, the birds, and the many other creatures inhabiting the woods. From the crisp cold of January, through the promise of spring and the heat of summer, and then into damp autumn and the chill winds of winter, we accompany the forest-ranger as he goes about his work - stalking in the early morning darkness, putting an injured fallow buck out of its misery, watching stoats kill a hare, observing owls, and simply being a part of the outdoors. Colin Elford immerses himself in the richly diverse and unique landscapes of Britain, existing in rhythm with natural environments. For fans of Robert Macfarlane's Landmarks, Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk orJames Rebanks' A Shepherd's Life, Colin's rare and uplifiting journey will unveil the true nature and beauty of Britain's countryside. 'This is nature for real . . . Elford describes woodland wonders in short paragraphs of luminous intensity' Daily Mail 'A poetic insight in the world of hidden Nature' Countryman 'Stalking sharpens the senses and there is an almost hallucinatory clarity to Elford's writing' Observer 'Refreshingly unsentimental. Contains some wonderful descriptions and sentences which are so profound they demand a second reading' Sunday Express Colin Elford is a forest ranger on the Dorset/Wiltshire border. Craig Taylor is the author of Return to Akenfield and One Million Tiny Plays About Britain and the editor of the magazine Five Dials.