Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

In pursuit of Bambi April 16, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:56 AM
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OH, FOR A TELEPHOTO lens on my camera…

Since that is not in the cards, the budget or the plan, I find myself often lamenting missed nature shots. It’s not like I can holler to Bambi, “Hey, hold still, will you, so I can take your picture! Move that way a little bit. Just one more shot.”

Nope, can’t do that.

So I shoot anyway, firing my camera in the hopes that once, maybe once, I’ll get something decent on my CF card.

So…, Wednesday evening my husband and I are checking out the rivers in Faribault. We are driving toward Teepee Tonka Park from the viaduct that crosses the Straight River and railroad tracks. And there they are. Four deer. Standing. In a yard.

I am so excited. But already the deer are fleeing, alert to the danger of our approaching van and a car driving up the hill toward them. My only thought is to photograph this quartet.

But I am frustrated because the lollygagging car is in my way. Can’t the driver see that I have a camera? Probably not.

Oh, well, I try anyway, shooting seven frames through the van’s windshield.

And although the results are not stunning or fantastic or overly-impressive, I’ve managed to capture at least one photo that is good enough to show you. And that, folks, is all I can ask for without a telephoto lens to shoot Bambi.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Those of you who live in southeastern Minnesota are probably wondering, “How did she shoot these photos on Wednesday when we didn’t have snow on the ground?” You would be correct in questioning that.  I wrote this three weeks ago and forgot about it in my post drafts. However, since we got snow overnight here in Minnesota, I thought it appropriate to publish today.

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Watching the Straight River in Faribault March 24, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 3:12 PM
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The river watcher points to the Straight River that has flooded Teepee Tonka Park and tells me how much the water has already gone down. The park often floods in the spring.

DAILY HE’S TREKKED across town from his north-side home to the downtown area and then crossed the bridge to check on the river.

I met him early Wednesday evening near the banks of the Straight River at Faribault’s east-side Teepee Tonka Park.

We didn’t waste time on chit chat, didn’t even introduce ourselves. We simply talked about the river and flooding and how he’s driven here daily recently to watch the river rise.

We look from the bridge toward flooded Teepee Tonka Park, where waters have already begun to recede.

He has reason for concern. During last September’s flash flood in Faribault, sewage backed up into his home from the sanitary sewer causing $15,000 in damages. He doesn’t live on a river. The Rice County Fairgrounds on one side, buildings and land on the other across a roadway, sit between his home and the Cannon River. His 20th Street Northwest home is buffered from the rivers, the Cannon nearest his home and the Straight that joins it nearby, flowing north past Teepee Tonka where he’s kept a watchful vigil.

He was optimistic, though, on Wednesday evening, telling me the Straight River had crested that afternoon and gone down. He wasn’t worried. The water was no where near the level during last fall’s flash flood. I could see that and so could he.

We turned away from the park bridge, toward the viaduct, to check the river level.

The Straight River has stayed mostly inside its banks near the historic viaduct.

And so I left this river watcher, braving the slippery, iced sidewalk to step onto the park bridge and peer into the raging waters of the Straight River.

The river watcher turns and walks back to his post on the bridge.

I leave the river watcher peering over the bridge at the churning Straight River.

CHECK BACK for more river images from Faribault.

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Navigating through flood-damaged Teepee Tonka Park October 5, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:34 AM
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UNDERNEATH MY FEET the ground felt spongy, earth saturated with too much water. So when I could skirt the matted-down, unstable lawn, I did. I moved onto the sand, sculpted across the ball field where once there had been grass.

Sand sweeps across a ball field at Teepee Tonka Park.

This is Teepee Tonka Park in Faribault, some 10 days after torrential rains caused the Straight River to rise and inundate this city park. Situated next to the river on the city’s east side, this low-lying park is prone to spring flooding.

But this time the floodwaters swept across Teepee Tonka in a rare autumn flood, wreaking havoc on a park that is now closed for the season due to all the damage.

Sunday afternoon I walked across the bridge, which just 10 days earlier had been covered by rushing Straight River waters that rose an estimated 10 feet. It seemed nearly improbable to me that the waters could already have receded this much, back into the confines of the river channel.

During the flood, the Straight River flooded the bridge into Teepee Tonka Park.

Waters have receded, allowing entry across the bridge into Teepee Tonka Park.

As I walked across the park, across the grass flattened to the earth, across ballpark fences slammed to the ground by the powerful floodwaters, past bleachers swung into awkward, out-of-place positions, I marveled at the force of nature. Imagine how impressed I would be with buildings shoved by the angry river.

Floodwaters twisted and flattened ballpark fences, swirled bleachers and redeposited sand.

A displaced dead tree limb in the ball field.

But on this Sunday afternoon, calmness prevailed. A young boy dug, with his parents, in piles of sand, for earthworms. And nearby, within its banks, the Straight River, which is misnamed given its winding path, flowed strong and steady.

During the flood, the Straight River rose over the Teepee Tonka bridge in the foreground and overflowed its banks underneath the viaduct in the background.

I shot this image of the Straight River from the Teepee Tonka bridge Sunday afternoon.

Floodwaters have receded from under the viaduct just outside Teepee Tonka Park.

I took this photo during the flood, when the Straight River overflowed its banks under the viaduct.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

 
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