Winter sun

 The winter sun sits far down in the southern sky and provides no heat. Often it shines through wispy clouds, diffuse light coming from a dim circle. It’s not cheerful.

The sun behind clouds

Nevertheless, I got off my sorry ass and went for a walk. It does always perk me up to get outside, even if it’s just invigoration from the cold. In spite of some gale-force winds, some of the goldenrods along the shelter edge of the field still have their seeds. They look exactly as they did in bloom, except for the muted tan color.

Goldenrod seed heads

The absence of color is pervasive this time of year. The trees are bare; the fields are either full of corn stubble or plowed, leaving them tan or black, respectively. As the reed canary grass dies back, the secrets of the thickets are revealed. Here two trails lead to bare ground, perhaps where deer bed down for the night.

Two paths lead to bare ground under the young trees

This poor seedling has been broken and scraped to death. I suspected a buck rubbing velvet off his antlers.

Sapling destroyed by rubbing

I did not have to look far to find a pile of deer poop to support my hypothesis. Deer had been in the area.

Deer poop

The creek is very low again, as we have had little precipitation this fall. It has an edge of ice that formed when the water was higher.

Ice on the creek

We finally gave up our experiment with fruit trees in the high tunnel. The peach tree got too big. We had a few years of peaches, but the branches threatened to grow right through the plastic. Also, trees pump gallons of water from their roots to their leaves every day. The extra humidity caused mold to grow on my tomatoes and cucumbers. The cherry tree never did much because the peach tree shaded it. So Terry cut them both out.

Empty high tunnel--only the peach leaves remain

I helped load the branches into the Gator so Terry could take them back to the burn pile. We were sad, but wiser. If climate change were, in fact, just global warming, we probably could grow peaches and cherries. The trouble is that the climate (as I have said before) is wonky—hotter summers AND bitterly cold days in winter. Bah.

Peach and cherry wood on the burn pile

The parsley has finally given it up. The stems are bleached white while some of the leaves underneath are still green. I noticed piles of dirt here and there around the plants. I moved the leaves aside to find tunnels and paths of mice, voles, or ground squirrels. I don’t know what they are finding to eat, but perhaps they are aerating the soil in a helpful way.

Rodent paths and tunnels in the parsley

Our Christmas tree is “interesting” again this year. Because of deer damage early in life, some of the concolor firs ended up with multiple stems. Terry picked a tree that had a twin growing closely next to it. Our tree has no branches on one side. This is handy because it takes up less room in the house, although it’s hard to get it to stand up straight because there is, obviously, more weight on the side with branches.

A tree and a half--our Christmas tree is the top of the tree on the right front

Here’s a picture of the stump.

Just right and below center, the white circle is where Terry cut the trunk

Once the tree was decorated, it looked great. Most of the ornaments were gifts or craft projects. Each one has a memory. It’s like spending time with old friends to get them out each year.

The decorated tree

There were a few flakes of snow in the air this morning. A white blanket over all the gray and tan would be nice, but it seems like we’ll have rain first. And we’ll be grateful for the water. Meanwhile, we can be warm inside and admire the cheery colored lights of the tree.

Cheerful colored lights