http://iowacomicbookclub.com/cgi-etc/quti.php?pass=shell A barred owl (Strix varia) arrived today, and despite having to fly off a few times when I got a bit too close – and whenever I pulled out binoculars, which he apparently hates – he has come back again and again, and watched over my garden all day, as I cut wood, as I […]
Category Archives: Life in the Catskills
Spirit of the Woods.
07-Feb-13Tapping, Tapping, Tapping.
06-Feb-13http://thehistoryhacker.com/2012/07/ Maple sap-tapping supplies arrived yesterday. The weather isn’t quite warm enough, I don’t think, to drive the taps in – it hasn’t gotten above freezing during the day yet – but the time is near. This gives me time to look around for my drill bits, which wandered off somewhere during the winter. I was […]
Tracking the Wildcat.
04-Feb-13Sometimes I hate the fact that I don’t wake up about an hour before dawn, when all the animals are doing interesting things. I woke up yesterday morning and went to the spring for water, when I saw an unusual set of very clear prints in the snow. All the local carnivores (except the bears) […]
A Winter Day.
02-Feb-13The day started sunny and cold and bright, good woodcutting weather, and I ended up bringing in something like nine bags of wood today. This is a good day’s work. I split some black cherry, which is so beautiful that I often feel a little bad about burning it. It supposedly takes the knife and […]
Cold, Cold Wind.
01-Feb-13Cutting wood outside today I found it colder than any previous day in the whole winter – even though it was 19 degrees, a good 15 degrees warmer than the coldest days we’ve had so far. The difference was the wind – a bitter, terrible wind. Not even chopping wood could warm me in that […]
Red Pears.
01-Feb-13Now’s the time of year when I start dreaming about my garden. I bought some red pears and just stared and stared at them, I find their color so beautiful. Now I’m wondering where on my property I can stash some pear trees. February is a great time of year for us garden-dreamers.
Farming and Classics.
01-Jan-13There exists a memoir entitled Of Farming and Classics, which to judge from the title seemed like something I might find relevant. I wrote a review of it for the University Bookman.
Back Home.
15-Dec-12The stars have been amazing the past few nights, and I’ve been observing the positions of the moons of Jupiter, which amazingly really do change position constantly. The Geminid meteor shower has been going on, and there have been occasionally amazing shooting stars. And two nights ago I had a fabulous conversation with a pack […]
Windfall Profit.
15-Dec-12Snow is predicted for tonight, so I worked overtime filling up my truck – which I can still drive to the cabin over the snowless ground – with firewood from a more distant part of my property. The wood is from one of the trees downed by Hurricane Sandy. It’s beautiful wood, fresh green maple. […]
Warmth.
13-Dec-12After writing about winter closing in, the weather made a sharp turn, became warm, melted all the snow, and late-fall conditions have resumed. This is a very pleasant time, especially with the hunters mostly gone: the views are excellent, the ground is highly visible, and it is cold enough to make hard manual labor (for […]