Christmas Shopping

Christmas Shopping

I went out past the birdfeeder

And the clothesline frame

On three excursions across

The property.

At three compass points.

The fourth compass point will have to wait.

The Chickadees at the birdfeeder did not notice.

The clothesline frame was empty with the hangers

Scattered on the ground.  I

Did not stop to reflect on that.

On the first excursion I went along the ridge

Above the pond to the

Old White Pine at the high spot - crest.  Then down

To the pond’s edge where

The beavers have cut down three popular trees and

Harvested them for their winter.

It was raining when I stood on the dam.

Actually, it was just drizzling.

I went back to the house up through the forest to the

Old White Pines below the cranberry bog.

At the house I checked the fire.

They had told me that they were going to

That store and there would be many animals there

Including the dogs that bark inside cars in the parking lot.

I went back outside and was a little worried

That I startled the Chickadees but no they were

Just fooling me

In the drizzle.

The second excursion I committed to crossing the stream

On the plank bridge.

The planks are not nailed down so the recent waters had

Floated them around and clogged their tops with old leaves.

I didn’t want to fuss with that so just stepped nimbly across

Like the deer eating the last of the brussel sprouts in the garden

Had stepped away into the wood when I came outside

The house.

“Isn’t there going to be something

Made of pretty colored plastic for me to

Find here in the woods” I asked myself

On the other side of the stream.

Then I went up the trail through the hollow

Past the oak stand to the

Stonewall that, today, had an old dead branch

Fallen across it

That I didn’t touch.

On the third excursion I went from the clothesline frame

Out on the deer ridge to its overlook at the end where

If I cut down all the old trees there I could see the

Atlantic ocean.  I know that because I have

Climbed up one of the old trees and did

See the Atlantic Ocean from there.

I found a blown-down (storm broken) crown from a

Balsam Fir so planned to drag that back after

Setting it out near where I’d be coming through

From below the ridge.

Down there, on the far side, I found a standing dead

Ash tree.  That is pretty unusual on this property.

Eight inches in diameter.

Perfect firewood.

I walked back so as to fetch the Balsam crown

And dragged it back to the woodshed where I

Use them to block out the snow

That blows in

During the winter storms.