October 28, 2006
October 3, 2006
A Day Full of Didn’ts
Today was another day spent in the back country, full as usual with things to do and things to see and things to think about, but today seemed especially pleasant because of what I didn’t see and didn’t hear and didn’t have to think about. It was a good balance.
My mission was accomplished; a ton and a half of lodge pole pine brought back and stacked, some beautiful Fall scenery completely enjoyed and remembered (I’ll get to the pictures in a bit), and all the thoughts that the wilderness always stimulates were properly considered at length and in due course.
But I didn’t see or hear a television set.
I didn’t hear a car horn or a siren.
I didn’t hear any bickering or complaining.
I didn’t have anyone try to sell me anything.
I didn’t have anyone cut me off in traffic and make me angry.
I didn’t even consider politics.
I didn’t take a watch along, so I didn’t concern myself with time.
And perhaps the best of all, although I looked deeply into ten pairs of eyes out there in the forest, I didn’t see even one pair that just looked blankly through me, as though I wasn’t even there, and none were averted. Each pair of eyes I saw today looked directly at me, with intensity, and made me feel like a real living being, maybe even a person of interest.
The colors of Fall are now brightly spread across the palette of the wild country. They speak for themselves.
October 2, 2006
Overwhelmed?
Once in awhile a task comes along that seems at the moment to be just way too big. Sometimes I get that feeling when going out after a load of firewood, knowing I will have to fall at least four 70-ft trees, saw them into 18 inch lengths and load about a ton and a half of them into my truck.
Then I think about a beaver. He’s a lot smaller than I am (an adult can weigh around 50 pounds), and doesn’t even own a chain saw. Here’s what he can do:
(This tree is just slightly less than three feet in diameter and about a week after these pictures were taken, he had finished taking it down.)
Compared to my chain saw, his tools are pretty small, primitive, and strictly “jaw-powered”. This set I obtained from an adult beaver who had no more use for them, having departed for the big beaver lodge in the sky. The longer pair are his top teeth and the shorter ones are his lower. The orange colored sections are what are exposed.
After I review these photos, I think for a few minutes and understand how easy my task really is.