Paying attention to home. It's something everybody should do. Cycles become apparent,neighborhood critters become known, and you find your sense of place.
To the south of my home is a grove of trees,mostly white birch, with some white spruce,balsam fir, northern white cedar, red maple,a couple white pine,some aspen and one red pine. On the west side is a white pine and 2 white birch. In a cone from that white pine traveling northeast, you will find some white pine seedlings spaced throughout the field. The field ,in fact all the fields were mown prior to my arrival. I want to see what, and how they grow. I also have a couple of apple trees in the field.
Now in the grove, (locally called the Buffalo,) I have a bird feeder and the past 2 winters. red squirrels would travel along the roads from woods to the Buffalo and visit the feeder. Some went as far as to move into a couple of the birches ,but just for the winter. This year I haven't seen a squirrel, so knowing that reds have a cycle, we must be at the bottom of their population. I have also noticed an increase in red fox and coyote tracks around here.
It's been snowing here the past 3 days or so. I lost track, it doesn't seem to matter, but right now, this very instant, the sun is coming out. Gotta go!
