Inland hills.
A soft, overcast morning turned into a soft overcast midday. I spent much of it at my desk solving puzzles, and Jack spent much of it napping nearby, and crows spent much of it flapping about in the trees, I could see out the windows. A time or two, a little sun snuck through. Toward afternoon, after much puzzle-solving, I grabbed dog’s leash and we took a quick trip to town. Herring gulls, pigeons, a pair of starlings on a wire. Then we headed up to Beech Hill.
Beech Nut.
It’d gotten kind of late in the day, and there was no one there to greet us—just an empty Twisted Tea bottle some irresponsible dumbass had tossed off onto the snow a few yards from the parking lot. I figured I’d retrieve such obvious litter and managed to take a couple steps off the lot before my feet broke through the crust of the snow. Which happened to be knee deep snow, and I lost my balance and pitched forward into it. Went to get up, pitched forward again. I couldn’t help laughing—and Jack thought this game was pretty amusing also, I could tell. Finally grabbed the bottle, slogged back out, tossed it in my truck bed. Just as another another hiker drove in, we started up the trail.
The air was calm but frigid, so I figured I’d pull on some gloves. That’s when I noticed blood oozing from a couple knuckles of my right hand. Must’ve cut myself on the icy crust while floundering around in the snow. So I sucked on my knuckles a bit until the cold air stemmed the bleeding.
Such a lovely sky: clouds overhead, but a break over to the southwest right about where the sun was setting. Few people had hiked the hill today, I could see by the lack of fresh tracks—although the snow does tend to keep drifting around at such a high, open elevation. Beech Nut seemed particularly photogenic in the fading light.
Hillside.
We met Dharma the German shepherd (and accompanying human) on our way down. (We’d all met before.) Then, nearing the bottom of the trail, I heard a solitary tweet. Stopped to listen. Heard another nondescript tweet—and that was it. I have no idea what bird it was. For sure it wasn’t a chickadee.
Tonight the sky is clear, and a half-moon shines down. A bit of a south wind has risen. Still seems soft out there, though. Soft morning, soft evening, soft day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Unidentified passerine (voice)
Elsewhere
2. American crow
3. Herring gull
4. Rock pigeon
5. European starling
Tags: American crow, European starling, herring gull, rock pigeon, unidenfified passerine
