Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Snowshoeing In January.
Greetings on this very beautiful January day! Hard to believe it’s the same month as it was 3 days ago. I mean, going from -24F on Tuesday all the way up to 35F yesterday, and almost as warm today, is really quite hard to believe. Now, it’s not hard to believe cold weather for the first week of January around here, but mild, melting temps are just not a common thing. It does happen. Rarely. So I was outside for a bit yesterday and today enjoying the sunshine and the fact I didn’t need to wear gloves while taking pics of my little feathered friends.
Unfortunately that nasty shrike showed up, scaring the little birds into hiding, and oddly the blue jays were nowhere in sight. The shrike was too high in the tree for me to scare him away. And those little birds were not going to move until the shrike left. One poor little nuthatch was on the suet feeder at the time but was on the side away from the shrike. He was motionless however, until he noticed the other birds starting to fly around again.
I used to enjoy snowshoeing at one time, when my health was still good. I found it a very nice way to enjoy the solitude of the winter forest. But it is best to do with someone else, like most outdoor activities. Just in case. Problems can arise that we just do not anticipate and if alone, that can be dangerous. Didn’t stop me however. No one else shared my enthusiasm for snowshoeing. Or hiking. Or canoeing. Or most any other outdoor activity. So I usually was off by myself enjoying the winter beauty of the boreal forest. One year in January, not as cold a year as my last trek I talked about. But there was a lot of snow that year, almost 3 feet of snow on the ground. Great for snowshoes. This day as I started out it was -15F, so not bad at all. And I was dressed warmly. That was a good thing as it turned out.
But as usual I didn’t tell anyone where I was going or how long I would be away. Something that definitely should be done when going out alone. It was really beautiful. The sun was shining brilliantly through the pines. And it was quiet. The only noise was me. Periodically I would stop and listen. Nothing. Just quiet. No sign of life at all. Except at one spot a squirrel was sitting at the base of a large pine eating a pinecone. He paid no attention to me when I stopped to watch. Those cones are rock hard but he had no trouble biting it open to extract the small seeds inside. Unfortunately I didn’t bring any food with me or I would have shared some with him. I was heading off to an area I hadn’t been before. It was simply breathtaking looking off into the trees, the sun’s rays shining through and glistening on the snow. After a bit I turned back toward a more familiar area as there was a small cliff along a valley and I wanted to go down to the valley and then swing back to another trail I had made a week before. Even with snowshoes it was hard going at times and I was starting to get a bit tired when I arrived at the cliff edge.
I was wondering if I should turn and head back or go down to the valley below. It was a new part of this cliff area but there was a nice easy sloped way down to a ledge about 30 or so feet down the cliff. So off I went. About half way down this ‘slope’ I heard some cracking sounds and then…WHUMP! I fell the last 20 feet. My nice slope was actually two dead trees that had fallen against the cliff edge many years before and had been so covered with that deep snow that I couldn’t see any of the small branches that would have given it away. And one of my snowshoes got tangled in the trees twisting my ankle rather badly. I figured that ankle would be terribly swollen before I got back home. Sigh.
So now what? There was no way back up. And it was at least 20 feet down to the next level. And who knows what might be hidden under that deep snow. So I figured jumping down was not a good option. Besides, that ankle was hurting quite badly, jumping would likely make things worse. It was 1 pm when I left, it was now 2:30, so I still had a bit more than 2 hours of daylight.
Sorry, you’ll have to wait until Monday for the rest of that story. I hope you all enjoy your weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
New Year’s In The Country.
Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my readers far and near! I know, I’m a bit late. But it is still January 1. So I’m on time even if I’m late. I think. It is a very cold start to this new year. When I went out to feed the birds first thing this morning I just couldn’t believe how cold it felt. Should have had my gloves on. But at least I wasn’t out there long. How cold you ask? Okay, it really wasn’t so bad, -24F, and -42F with the windchill. Frostbite zone. Too cold for this guy. Apparently it was warmer 1,700 miles north of here. Amazing. We were one of the coldest places in Canada today. There was one place colder. Sigh.
The poor birds were frosty looking today. Their feathers fluffed out to cover their little feet. And they were busy. Eating steadily all day long, making sure they had enough stored energy to last through the long cold night. If those little chickadees don’t get enough to eat during the day they won’t make it through the long cold night. The birds here certainly get enough food. I make sure they always have plenty. And there are a lot of birds.
Of course there are certain birds I wish would not come. Ravens. What an amazing difference in size between those big beasts and the little chickadees, nuthatches and pine siskins. Problem is, when the ravens show up the other birds are too scared to come to the feeders. Those ravens are mean critters and deliberately chase away other birds. Sigh. Today I had to stand outside to make sure the ravens would stay away so the gray jays could come and get some food. The gray jays are getting more brave and will now come to the feeder with me standing close by.
I’m hoping to one day have them come to my hand to get food. However, right now it’s just too cold to stand out there long enough for that to happen. And time is running out, they will be gone in February. Off to a quieter location for nesting. Crazy birds. Nesting in the middle of winter. Amazing. Oh well.
Okay, my title seems a bit off. I don’t live in the country. It’s town life for me now. But it’s quite private here and the animal life makes it somewhat country like. At least I can ‘think’ country while watching the birds and other critters.
On another new year’s day years ago it was also very cold. But colder than now. It was -50F and sunny, but no wind at all. And there was only a foot of snow so I thought it would be a good day for a short hike, about a mile in length for the location I had in mind. However, since it was so cold it was really not a good idea for a solo hike. So I managed to convince my brother it would be fun. I’m not sure he really agreed to the fun part though. But off we went. It was cold. It was actually hard to breathe at times, especially when walking uphill. And around here there is nothing but hills so there is a lot of up and down. We came to a small cliff and climbed our way slowly down. Hmm, not sure if it’s possible to ‘climb’ down. But anyway, we made our way down to the bottom. There was a large beaver pond in our way and going around it would add quite a bit of extra time to our little hike. So we decided to just cross it instead. After all, with the cold weather we had that pond should be frozen well enough to hold us. And we made sure not to go close to the beaver lodge (or house, if you prefer), because there the ice would not be safe. We made it about a third of the way when we heard a loud crack! We stopped. Now what? Keep going or turn around? Being the adventurous types (or is that foolish?), we decided to keep going. Only another two steps and the ice gave way and down we went! And we hit bottom, which was about 4 feet deep at that point. I could just imagine the shocked look that must have been on our faces! Makes me laugh just thinking about it. However, when it happened, laughter wasn’t really what we thought about. Falling into ice cold water with the air temp at -50 and being more than half a mile from heat, is not exactly a pleasant thought. However, after hitting the bottom of the beaver pond and expecting the rush of ice cold water, there was nothing. Not a drop of water. The pond had obviously been drained after it had frozen. I went under the ice for a bit but it did get dark once away from the hole we made. Couldn’t see much except frozen mud, stumps and sticks all over the place. And a few rocks here and there. We were quite thankful we didn’t find any water. The walk back would have been even colder than it was. More could be said about the hike, but enough for now.
I watched until the last chickadee left for the night.
They fly quite a distance to wherever they spend the night. They want just the right spot, usually a nice bunch of spruce or balsam, which gives them good protection especially if there is wind.
Muffin is enjoying her after supper nap. It’s cold in here this evening, and the heater was just on. Sigh. Hawaii is the place to be when it’s this cold. Again, Happy New Year and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
Steve`s Country 