Spring is as beautiful as the fall in the color of the leaves, except the forest turns pastel colors of buds and new leaves. On the walk today, we saw small deer tracks in the soft mud. I'm sure they were from a a fawn. The white tail deer have their fawns earlier than ours. One year in April, a coy dog killed a white tail fawn at the back in our deer pen. I was surprised that it was so early, as the snow was barely gone.
Again, there are many returning birds from their winter homes. Some passing thru and some that will stay. We haven't seen any more ducks at Matty's Pond. Yesterday we did finally get a pretty good photograph of our nemesis Woody Woodpecker, the piliated woodpecker. We found their favorite tree, judging by the holes in it. And I thought I heard them as we approached. They were not there, but on a whim I sat under the tree and waited. Matty couldn't understand the wait and kept poking me and nudging me to move. Let's go, there is hunting to do. I wouldn't budge. And it paid off, as a pair of woodpeckers landed in the tree. I got the shot. Speaking of hunting. You will probably not see a lot of photographs of the larger forest animals in my albums. One reason is I always walk with Matty and he is good at running ahead and spooking any chance of stealth approach. In a way that is a benefit as he also flushes out small animals and birds that I might not otherwise see unless they move. Another reason is that we really don't hunt, we always backtrack. It is not our intent to chase down or stress the wildlife. Or should I say, not my intent. Matty has his own ideas so don't tell him he's going the wrong way. And the last reason is that we don't bait or feed animals to get pictures. I do have a bird feeder which I only put out after the snow is on the ground and bring in just before the melt. That way we minimize the attraction for the bears. We would rather document the coming and going of the wildlife by their scat and tracks. We have become pretty good at that.
Today, Joe was out in the deer pen cleaning up some of the hay that fell out of the feeder during the winter. I love the smell of hay. In that regard, there is very little smell from the deer and what does drift in the wind after a rain is not unpleasant. Someone told me that they don't raise chickens because of the smell. My chicken don't smell. Maybe they need to keep the coops a little cleaner.
The daffodils are up and the tulips are beginning to bud. I'm still waiting for that first morning I can sit in the sun on the front porch with my first cup of coffee and read the paper.
I remember when I was young, about 7 or 8 and we use to go to my Grandmother's house in E. Concord. On spring mornings, while my sister and I were still asleep, my grandmother would put a little table and two chairs on the end of her pier in Hot Hole Pond. That was the first place the sun would shine and warm up on the chilly morning. When we woke up she would give us our breakfast plates and we would go out on the pier to sit and eat. Breakfast was usually an "Egg in a Hole". She would make a hole in a slice of buttered bread and put it in a frying pan. Then she would crack a fresh farm egg in the center hole and cook it till the white was firm and the yolk a little runny. Yummy. But my favorite part was the piece for bread from the "hole" with butter on both sides and fried. We would put it on top and call it the hat. Funny but it doesn't take a lot of effort or a lot of money to make a lasting memory with your children, sometime the simplest things are the best.
I love those little memories.
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