Saturday Stories. #7

Hello everyone! Well, it is time to sit down with a cup of coffee and relax with another story from my past. It can be hard to pick out a story to share sometimes since there are so many and I cannot remember what I have already shared. Even doing a search on my blog does not always help since it will turn up nothing and yet I am sure that I have shared that story before.

Oh well, for today’s story I need to turn the clock back a few years and hopefully I have not shared it before. It was a nice February day and a year we did not have much snow. There was about a foot (about 30cm) of snow on the ground, so I decided snowshoes were not necessary, I would just go for a walk. During a summer walk I had discovered a small lake and I wanted to see what it looked like in winter.

Heading down to the river.

The temperature was 5F (-15C), so not too bad, and the sun was shining. Off I went and as usual I did not tell anyone where I was going. I drove down this small forest road to a certain spot and parked. From here I walk. The first part was all very tall pine trees and not much undergrowth, which made for very easy walking.

The second part was more lowland area covered thickly with spruce trees, mostly black spruce and some balsam fir. After about an hour I finally could see the small lake in the distance. Really, I should call it a pond, not a lake. During the summer I could not get to the shore on this side of the pond because it was too marshy.

I noticed a deer had walked across the pond recently, so I decided to follow in it’s tracks and I was soon on the other side. I walked up onto a hill on that side of the pond and decided to stop for some coffee and a sandwich. The smell of coffee brought some Canada Jays looking for food. It probably was not the coffee that attracted them, but it sounds good for the story.

I shared my sandwich with the 3 of them, each one landing on my hand to get their piece. They each chirped “thanks” as they flew away. Canada Jays always do that. And it seems no matter where I meet them, they are willing to land on my hand to get their food. They were the first birds I had seen on this walk. After finishing my coffee I continued my walk.

Going downhill close to the river.

I intended on walking around this pond and back to my car. Okay, this pond was bigger than it looked at the beginning, maybe I should go back to calling it a small lake. It was already late afternoon by the time I was getting back to the side I started on, but there was still a long walk back to the car. Then I tripped on some roots of a spruce tree and down I went, hitting my knee on a rock and twisting my ankle and my wrist.

How fun. It seems I hurt myself a lot when I am by myself. Guess that is why Krissy always told me I should have someone with me. That did not always work out however. That certainly slowed my walking though. Good thing it was late February when the days are getting longer, or it would have been dark by the time I got back to the car.

Rocky hillside by the river.

As it was, it was dark by the time I got back to my car. Sigh. By that time my knee was incredibly painful and my ankle seemed to be swollen twice its normal size. During that whole walk the only bird life I saw were those 3 Canada Jays and one raven flying high overhead.

Oh well, it was still nice to get out and enjoy the day. Photos today are more recent and from spots along the river here. I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you can, get outside and enjoy the day! God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2024 Steve McLeod.