April 11, 2009

The day was sunny and warm, so I took a walk through the two parks near our neighborhood, Bluff and Hoyt Park. These parks basically touch each other. Bluff park is a much smaller park, but has an interesting feature; within the park there is about a 2 square acre area of prairie that is managed by the UW. It is managed in that the plants are native prairie plants, and there are periodic scheduled fires for the prairie. The charred grass still emitted the smell of being burnt, so there must have been a burn just recently.

I didn't see the hawks that live there and come down to our streets once in awhile for a quick sparrow snack.

After going through the parks, I arrived near the Forest Hill Cemetery; quite a big cemetery. I decided just to quickly walk through some of it, and was able to see the confederate graves of soldiers that were brought here to Camp Randall as prisoners of war and died here. I also came across a grave for a Harry Steenbock, a very straightforward rectangular stone that has inscribed on it his accomplishments - the isolation/discovery of Vitamins A and D. He died the year I was born, 1967.