back to cold

this week has gone by, a rollercoaster

with porcupine visits every day or two.

porcupine has gotten very, very un-cautious.

so has the little deer,

and as we moved back into the deep freeze.

events...

i love my subaru, but our local dealer has not treated me well.

(except two of the sales people and one service guy) over the many years

i've dealt with them (they're the only one around).

this week i'd had it.

 after "having it" and all that that entailed,

i have new back brakes, snow tires on and beautiful, 

and the head gasket completed.

i sat in the waiting room 5 hours this week alone.

also, i've got a little respect.

i begin to feel like porcupine

who persists 

(nevertheless, she persisted)

balances precariously, 

goes where she wants,

gets a tummyful

and isn't too concerned what they think of her.

tippy top and precarious

with a teenager down below

symbiotic relationship

being at the edge of the trees is not scary

i've learned to adore edges.

taking risks

porcupine made a house call

while my hair gets more uninteresting with age and hormones

this one has some real excitement going on.

riding down low yesterday and almost falling it seemed,

but not at all.

tail works like a rudder and strong hands/feet do good work

the box elder that grows with this cedar

was cracking like breaks

repeatedly with the other trees

in this frigid weather.

more leavings for the teenaged whitetail

as temperatures plummeted and my toes froze up.

i'm happy that i can navigate the driveway now

observeed by eyes doing porcupine things

eating, watching, not very worried about me, but aware.

not worried 

just being porcupine eating arbor vitae.

so the hot and cold water froze in the kitchen

again and

i made cookies today,

watched silly british tv shows on the mac.

the dark comes later and later and YOU CAN SEE and FEEL it.

there were things i wanted to write about,

but it's all about cold and porcupines and cookies and 

arbor vitae.

not a bad week, after all.

thanking porcupine

a large flat package came with the instructions

don't open till the 25th, or sooner if you wish.

 i waited

ian made us a drawing of home.

home in the woods

(these woods are actually overgrown farmland, marginal at best, 

 logged before once or twice, and before that, woods)

the front of the house faces a meadow and the ridges that form the land.

 the back, where the back door, bridge, and side door live

is the side where the work happens.

 i see some odd beasts in the snowy woods

 the sun came out after the big snow.

that's when it gets cold.

  walks this week have been painfully cold

so much so that i barely go out.

(don't listen to my complaints about car troubles, over 2K worth,

and the fact that these old knees don't like the cold any more,

and the fact i'm housebound)

 this is when the snow set in.

 the stream that winds through and out and away

 i think this is wool grass

 gin might know

 when it gets this cold,

so cold that a face mask is essential.

i need to stay at my place to keep an eye on things

the new place also has to be kept warm, a different task.

 hauling wood and feeding the stove is straightforward hard work, 

here it's a furnace and potentially freezing pipes. 

 the new place is warmer and tighter with 14 in. outside walls.

i become grumpy when i have to drive 5 hours for a post op check.

i spotted this small fierce one yesterday, finally,

and went out later when s/he returned to the woods.

i'd seen evidence of eating activity in the arbor vitae

deer and porcupine already.

here s/he is.

 porcupine has begun feeding the cedar (arbor vitae) by my diveway

 s/he was not happy about me speaking and photographing,

and tried for a bit to enter my garage.

 i found that porcupine did not like having snow tossed at it

s/he turned away and was off.

 i was presented with the armor side, 

and if i got closer that tail would have tried to bop me one.

they can move surprisingly quickly.

when i first moved to the north country i lived in star lake in the adirondacks.

i found dead porcupines, and harvested some quills, with thanks.

they became part of a coil basket, and some were umbilicaria lichen dyed

and given to silversmith friends.

which were given back to me as earrings!

anyway, my neighbors stopped once,

asking me if i need help.

i was taking some quills from a roadkilled one. they thought i'd had an accident. 

needed help.

i thought they were worried i wouldn't take care of (relocate) the body.

a lesson in perspective and gratitude.

it's hard to maintain both practices isn't it?

hard frost, coyote scat and porcupine

it was a tough weekend

a memorial for a friend and later

i was sick

with a foul intestinal scourge

 so for four days i had no walk

also

 i'm tutoring a student after school

 but today i set out

in late october sunshine

after last night's hard frost

22 degrees at 7 am.

 today was my third encounter with this

small one

 i become disconcerted when it walked straight towards me: bold!

eyes on me

on the roadside

what's up, little one?

i side stepped, and asked 

 why are you risking yourself

you who are called varmint?

why come out to the roadside

just to savor the new growth,

succulent though it is

when hunters are out with guns everywhere?

 the response was uncanny, 

but i know i was heard

and i know that this one decided to go back

 across to the north side of the road

and into the thicket

gray dogwood and poplars

as i marveled at those amazing feet, 

turning in toes, long, strong, and clever.

it was a walk in the crisp

colorful and cidery cold afternoon

and along the road, 

here and there

coyote scat. 

just to remind me there are jokes

i don't understand.

evidence of changes

 while driving to colton

 i spotted a strange thing

on a silo

my brave little canon

caught a closeup

i couldn't sort it out visually

till my camera did!

 the light has changed

markedly

and it's certainly fall

 light

 and color

 wild (space fruit) cucumber

 in the hedgerows

 and then there was this one

 wouldn't even acknowledge me

and wasn't posing for the paparazzi

but i did snag a shot or three

 so i looked over to find

three sisters

one wrapped in flowering glories

not out that evening.

 then the sun fled

and marked a backbone

on the fenceline

a week of warm weather

was so welcome

even though

the nights are quickly lengthening.

because of that,

i have some new printed papers

folios for books.