Written by Gloria Hildebrandt
Yesterday I took a long 45-minute walk around my property with the dogs after lunch. I stayed off Evergreen Hill because the wind was so strong. It roared overhead and the tree branches were clacking, hitting each other with a loud sound. The deep snow had melted down a bit over the last few warm days and was now covered by a crisp layer. But it’s not as deep so walking wasn’t as difficult, although Kelly my old Border Collie struggled at times when her legs sank deep into the snow. The poplar grove is now flooded with meltwater but it’s not frozen thick enough to walk on so we took the bypass to the corner of the property. When we were nearly back home, I saw a big dark bird fly up from the stumpery border and land in a tree nearby. It looked like a hawk but I couldn’t tell what kind. Soon it flew toward the house, near the birdfeeders, perhaps to hunt birds?
           Today I took a different route for our walk. I started by going onto the hill because there was no wind, unlike yesterday when I stayed low and sheltered. I like to give the dogs variety on their walks and actually, I like to see different parts of the property as well. The snow crunched under my feet and I didn’t hear anything else, also as my head, ears and neck were well covered. It’s cold out, but parts of the swamp had only thin ice on it or was still open water. In the cedar forest, the dogs found rabbit or deer scat, as well as racoon or small coyote scat, coloured orange probably from apples, and they ate both sets of scat until I shooed them away. The pond looked pretty much frozen and snow-covered. It had begun snowing thickly and it was still and peaceful. In the morning I had refilled the wire wreath with peanuts in the shell and all during breakfast, pairs of Blue Jays came to take peanuts and fly off with them. By the time I got back from the walk, the wreath was empty. I don’t think the squirrels managed to get any.
