Good News from Unexpected, January 2009
Happy New Year!
A little over a year ago the local telephone company discontinued the time and temperature recording — you could dial a number and the nice lady gave you this information for free. In this day of gadgets that automatically provide this information, people apparently just stopped calling her.
Well, I am here to tell you that the time is now 9 a.m. Saturday morning and the temperature is 15°F. A lovely time to cuddle up in the cabin with a roaring fire and a cup of tea and tell you about what has been happening here.
Those of you who patrolled this year probably pulled up to the cabin and thought I was telling tall tales in our October issue. Due to several days, and several inches of rain just before six-day shotgun season Main Pond was pretty full. Not only full of water, but waterfowl as well. They were noisily enjoying this unexpected restoration, however temporary. Right now it is a brilliant glassy-white plate, frozen solid from several very cold days and nights.
Deer season is almost over, and to date, it has been fairly quiet. Every year, there are fewer hunters out, and it was nice to have a good group of patrollers walking around to show these stragglers that we still care. But it is such a stressful time of year, especially as the Refuge grows in size. I cannot express the gratitude I feel for the time everyone on the patrol team spent helping protect this gem. I certainly could never do this alone.
As many of you know, we park the truck at Station 6 during Six-Day. To get there, you must drive through a very, very deep mud hole — not a puddle — a hole. After the week was over, I took the truck to an attendant car wash, so that I could then take it in for service. I got in the queue, and when it was my turn for the attendant to scrub the wheels, he walked all around the truck looking closely at the bumpers and wheel wells. He walked up to my window and tapped on the glass, shaking his head. Apologizing, he told me the truck was too dirty to go into the bay. I was told to go elsewhere — perhaps somewhere coin operated. I was so proud.
On the last day of patrol at dusk, Janet spotted a beaver chugging upstream in the pond. We watched him swim undeterred, heading somewhere rather important. Since then, I have been hanging out on the Dike and occasionally on warmer evenings, leaving poplar branches. I have heard a single beaver munching on poplar, or perhaps lily roots, treading water in the night off the south side of the cove. I guess with the return of the pond, the beavers have resumed their explorations here. They are such interesting and flexible creatures.
Main Pond transformed yet again
I also have good news after a follow-up conversation with the Township Administrator. It would seem the Township is seriously considering our offer to take possession of the road. We have a lot of red tape to cut through yet, but I am hopeful that eventually the beavers will be able to return and create their water wonderland in the Miller Pond again. They obviously like it here!
Walking around the Refuge this fall and early winter, I have been listening to the night sounds. Both the Barred and Great Horned Owls have been calling for partners across the property until early pre-dawn hours. (The Dalessandro Farm is home to a Barred Owl). The raccoons have been arguing loudly over food and ground, with heated bouts of fierce snarling and hair-raising screams.
I particularly enjoy listening to the song of the coyote. A small band lives here, and in the evening they talk to each other with high pitched yips and yelps and barks. Eventually one of them will break into a long mournful howl, followed immediately by an enthusiastic chorus, all of which rolls down through the dark still wetlands like a bowling ball down an alley. Some Native American cultures view the coyote as a trickster or hero, and the canine often appears in myths of creation.
While trimming trails in November, I did get a ghostly gray glimpse of a coyote swiftly and silently slipping through the woods, very near where the songs seem to generate. Coyotes mate during the winter months, so I expect to hear more melodies of the Canis latrans.
Thank you everyone for your Holiday cards and letters. I always enjoy reading about what you have been doing during the year. Thanks also for thinking of Unexpected Wildlife Refuge with that year-end donation. And thank you, Walter, for fixing the roof!
It has been a very difficult economic time for the last few months, and it may get a little rougher before it gets better. But when speaking with most people about their Holidays, it would seem the general responses were, it was: wonderful, quiet, close, low key, family oriented, relaxing.
With this recent global financial belt tightening we were forced to cut back on our purchasing this season. Many of us did not buy those gifts that others didn’t need just to give them something they didn’t want. Perhaps this allowed us to turn our attention to other, more important holiday activities, like doing kind acts, talking and spending quality time with friends and loved ones. Hence the generally positive holiday experience, in spite of (or possibly because of) less stuff.
For eight years, we have been told it is our patriotic duty to get out there and spend. Perhaps this year is the year to exercise a little more introspection and a little less consumption. After all, the best things in life aren’t things.
Have a healthy, happy and introspective 2009!