June 16, 2024

The Clearing

This morning, we slept in until 6:30 AM. My wife fed the dogs a little early, since they were awake and ready to eat. After, my wife and I sat outside to watch the sunrise, sipping our tasty coffees. While listening to the forest come alive, we made plans for the day. After we finished, we went into the woods for a walk.

My wife handed me a stick to clear the webs built by spiders during the night and asked me to lead us down the trails. The forest was peaceful, and the temperature still felt comfortable outside. As we made our way up the pine grove, I admired the sides of the trails where industrious squirrels had sifted through the pine needles.

Several weeks ago, we cleared these needles off of the trail, leaving long rows on each side. Over time, the squirrels had rummaged through the needles for food, leaving spiraled divots that gave the piles an artistic look. There were hundreds of these swirls all the way down the pathway.

We heard something move in the forest and instinctively froze to listen while watching for movement. As we made eye contact, we wordlessly conveyed that it was a deer. We never saw it, but I was pleased how sensitive we had become to the wildlife on the property. Thinking back, I remembered my first few months of exploring the trails. I never saw wildlife and wondered if there were any deer at all. Back then, I just wasn’t keen enough to detect all the life that was around me.

As we walked, I replaced the SD cards in each of the trail cameras, formatting the cards and readjusting the cameras. While walking, I asked my wife if she was hungry and she answered no. I smiled, telling her I wasn’t hungry either, but in my head, I wondered how much time would pass before hunger struck.

We made our way to Beaver Tooth Rock, where we took a brief rest. The entire area was thick with vegetation, blocking most of the creek’s view. Tiny white flowers smaller than a pencil eraser covered the boulder’s surface. They were everywhere. The air smelled sweet, and I noticed the moss that an animal had peeled back the day before looked more in order.

While walking on the westernmost trail, my wife heard something moving in the dried leaves, where she spotted a box turtle with bright yellow and orange markings on its legs. The yellow design on the shell matched perfectly with the surrounding leaves, making it hard to spot the small turtle. My wife cleared the nearby foliage with her boot, making it easier for the turtle to crawl through the area. Nearby on the ground, we found small purple flowers, but we couldn’t tell which tree they fell from. Before we made it out of the forest, my wife told me she was starving.

At home, we debated whether we should go into Wilson to eat breakfast. My wife felt like we had eaten out too much, but she was obviously keen on the idea of breakfast. I voted we should go and ten minutes later; we were driving off the property in our official Sunday breakfast uniforms, sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

Going to breakfast was a superb choice, but the restaurant was, once again, super loud. We ate our food and got out of the place as soon as we finished. Over breakfast, I told my wife about a project I had envisioned. I wanted to build a feeding station in the forest where I could photograph birds. 

For the bird feeding station, I selected a clearing in the forest, but I needed a few supplies to put it all together. After we left Cracker Barrel, we drove to Lowe’s, picking up a few items. I bought four large bags of cedar chips and various types of bird food, including mealworms and a mix for the hummingbird feeders. I purchased everything I needed for less than forty dollars. After leaving the hardware store, we filled my wife's SUV with gas and ran it through the carwash at Puddles Auto Wash.

We occupied the day with easy indoor jobs. Later, my wife put together the trellis, and we took a walk into the field to find the septic tank. My wife made an appointment to have it emptied, so we checked out the area before the company would come on Monday. I put in a paper and pen refill order for my wife with Jetpens.com, the best pen and paper supplier on the web. We also placed two large racks of pork spareribs on the smoker. Once we finished, it was time to get busy working outside.

I fished the weed eater out of the shed and filled it with gas before carrying it to the clearing in the forest. There, I cut down all the vegetation, making the place look neat. I chose this clearing because it always had plenty of light, something I needed when taking photographs. Next, I moved a large deer feeder out of the area and placed it in a more secluded location in the woods.

My wife put down poison to kill any biting insects. After, we hauled two hundred pounds of cedar mulch into the forest and laid it down over the area where my ground blind would sit. The cedar was a natural way to repel insects and since ground blinds didn’t have floors; it was important to control any pests that found refuge in the tent-like structure. Luckily, cedar also repelled snakes.

My next task was going into the pine grove, folding up my ground blind and then hauling it to the clearing. This took a little work, but once I arrived at the cleared location, setting up the blind was quick and easy. I made a trip back to the house to pick up two rakes we used to spread the mulch. After, we set up the blind over the area.

We spent the next half hour searching the woods for cool pieces of wood or rotting stumps covered in moss. We found several pieces and hauled them to the clearing. My wife found a long sapling we had cut down, and I broke off some of its branches, giving a minimalist shape to the dead tree. I planned to use the stumps and logs to hold food, while placing dead trees on the ground where birds could perch. These perches would create ideal photo opportunities.

I made another trip back to the house to get some bird food, pouring it on some of the hollowed-out logs and large strips of bark. I would work on fashioning the feeding area later, but gathering the items was enough work for today. Before going back to the house, I walked to Beaver Tooth Rock, where I removed the trail camera and fastened it to my blind in the newly cleared area to track the birds.

Wildlife in the area would need a week or two to get used to the new setup and all the scents I left behind, but the camera would allow me to monitor wildlife movement in the area. I gathered all the tools and supplies, loaded them into a large cart I used to haul everything back to the house. Between the hard work and the heat, I felt beat.

My wife took a quick shower while I cooled off under a ceiling fan, drinking down some cold water to rehydrate. After, I took a shower and got cleaned up, and then hung out in the kitchen with my wife while we cooked off the ribs that had been smoking all afternoon.

I always loved a good meal, but after working so hard in the woods, the pork ribs, steamed Kagayaki rice, grilled pineapple, and pineapple salsa my wife made were glorious. Tired but in excellent spirits, we ate our meal, replenishing all the calories and minerals we had lost.

After I fed the dogs and my wife did the dishes, we stopped outside in the front yard at last light. My wife walked through the grass barefoot, something she loved to do. From our yard, at the edge of the pine grove, we stood watching dozens of fireflies playing in the forest. We crossed the yard to the opposite tree line, where we smelled the mimosa flowers, which were still in bloom. A firefly landed on my wife’s hand. After it lifted off, my wife told the insect that she loved it and that she’d be back out tomorrow to see it again.