As we were driving towards home a few days ago, we saw steam rising out of the creek in our pasture! After all of these frigid days, how could there be an open spot in the shallow water in that creek bed? But as an old friend says a lot, “ So it is. So it was”. Nature is just interesting , isn’t it? In the white of winter, it is also amazing what your eye can spot. Seems to be more apparent than sometimes on a busy summer day when so many colors and activities distract us from catching the fleeting creations in nature.
While we were eating breakfast yesterday we watched a large rabbit up on top of some round bales stored on the yard waiting to be fed to the cattle. He was jumping around the snow- capped bales, looking here and there, and suddenly disappeared. We think he must have a nest somewhere down below, out of the wind and harshness of winter wind. Those creatures sure have the ability to survive even in the worst of weather.
Then there are the squirrels that scamper across the farmyard several times a day. One furry little guy stood straight as a pole the other morning while munching on some leftover corn in the hopper of the auger. I wasn’t even sure it was an animal until I watched for several seconds before he moved at all. He just shone in the sunlight. They are fun to watch out the window in the darkness too, spotted only because the yard light casts its glow in their direction. I wonder where they are headed in the dark of night.
We also have one very large raccoon that waddles across the snowbanks this winter. Not sure where he hides out when he is not in sight, but he makes his rounds every few days. They usually are a nuisance, but he has actually been kind of interesting to observe in the white landscape. Always makes me glad that I am on the INSIDE looking out when the wind and snow is swirling around.
Dan and I counted 26 deer the other morning in a field just a few miles north of our farm. A couple were still running across the blacktop as we approached the area, so we slowed down as they all reconnected with each other. Most of them were grown, but there were a couple young ones snuggling in beside the herd. I love to watch their gracefulness as they leap into the air. They didn’t seem to be headed anywhere, just enjoying the winter day together. Some were standing still, but several were moving here and there.
These days we are enjoying our old farm dog, Holly. She has never been a house dog, and for the first fourteen years of her life she would not even come into the garage for shelter. She would run like the wind behind the tractor in the summer up and down the rows, seemingly never to get tired. In the cold of winter she could be seen out chasing a rabbit or squirrel, most of the time getting what she was after. The last few years, not so much. She likes the comfort of her blanket and soft bed inside the garage. When she does go out in this sub zero world, we soon hear her bark to tell us she wants back into the safety of four walls. Not to mention the break from the wind. She was such a pain as a puppy, chewing everything in sight, but I have to admit I would miss her if she wasn’t there in the cold mornings to greet me with her big brown eyes.
My grandmother always loved to watch out the cold winter windows, and this poem reminds me of her. She taught me to throw bread crumbs out onto the snow laden yard so the birds would not go hungry. Then we would watch through her kitchen window as they scurried out of no where to enjoy their find. Do look for nature’s surprises this winter, while you are warm inside your house or car!
REJOICE
God of the sky, God of the sea,
and bird and tree,
you are also the God of me.
The pebble fell.
The water stirred and stilled again.
The hidden bird made song for you.
His praise you heard.
You heard him sing from in the tree.
And searching still I know you’ll see
The love that wings to you from me.
Luci Shaw
lbeerman68@gmail.com
