January 1, 2024
Happy New Year!
I opened my eyes at four thirty in the morning, ready to start my day. I think people accept a new year, or any opportunity for a fresh start, as a positive thing. As for me, I am excited about this year.
We started off our morning by walking six miles at Lake Wilson. I’m not sure how many sunrises or sunsets the average person witnesses, but those who have adopted this ritual understand that every morning looks a little different. Sometimes the colors are brief, lasting only five or six minutes, and other times the sky is swathed in deep pinks, golds, and magentas for over half an hour. Sometimes you barely notice anything and other times the entire area looks ethereal; transformed. And the lake is sometimes choppy and gray, and other times it is a smooth mirror with reflections so perfect you can barely tell the difference between the sky and water.
This first sunrise of the new year was spectacular. The colors were cheery and bright and the lake was glassed to perfection. During our walk, we spotted an elusive beaver that frequents the area. While we were watching it swim away from the bank, a large blue heron was flying, its large wings flapping slowly, looking like it was flying in slow motion, right over the beaver into the light of the sun. It was a sight to remember.
We saw a cormorant swimming in the lake, a waterfowl species I had not previously noticed in this area. Although Lake Wilson is not especially deep, cormorants can hold their breath for long periods and dive as deep as one hundred and fifty feet. Its black feathers contrasted sharply against the bright water, beaded from the splashing water, as the bird kicked past.
When we arrived home, I wrote for a few hours before changing clothes and heading to Buckhorn Reservoir to fish. A local fisher stopped by to talk, checking if I was having any luck. We traded fishing holes; him offering that the pond at the entrance to the reservoir held bass and was not private property, and me sharing the parking space on the side of a road by a bridge that had a footpath that led to a secluded, sun-blocked fishing hole, perfect for hot summers. I fished for one hour and caught one smallmouth bass that was about six inches long. The fish and I both arrived to our respective homes safely.
In the evening, my wife and I took kitchen scraps out to the woods where we have a feeding area strategically placed in front of a trail camera. It’s a good place to dump scraps or uneaten food. This eatery is popular with the squirrels and rabbits by day, and the raccoons, opossums, and foxes by night. Usually a deer or two will stop by to peruse the area, looking for watermelon rinds or berries.
I replaced the batteries on two of my four trail cameras and moved them to different locations. There are already two other cameras out, one mounted near the aforementioned feeding area, and another near a large deer feeder in the central part of the forest. I mounted one of the fresh cameras near the large rock where something has been pooping the teeth of its prey. Earlier today we checked the excrement and found what looked the front teeth and molars of a baby beaver. I placed the fourth camera at a location near the creek where a beaver has been leaving small teeth marks on a large tulip tree that was over one hundred and thirty feet tall. Beavers are industrious little fellows.
I’ve been off work for a couple of weeks for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Tomorrow, however, I will go back to work. The alarm will go off at four in the morning, so I can write a little before my wife and I head into Wilson for a five forty-five yoga practice. I’d better get some sleep.