The Free Radical

The first thing to report is our encounter with a jack rabbit. (Okay, I can’t say for sure that his name really is Jack.) During the preceding weeks I had definitely noticed many bunny tracks in the lingering snow. It was clear they are everywhere. It is however exceedingly rare that I actually see one. In all the years of roaming these mountains, this is only the third one I’ve seen.

It was right around the place where Cougar had initiated Sitka into the Forest Life. She suddenly took off through the dense trees in pursuit of something… I usually never get to find out definitively what she’s chasing. In this instance though, ol’ Jack gave her the slip pretty quick and doubled back toward me. He paused a moment where we met and then quickly took a new tack into the brush.

He was mostly white with a patch of black appearing on his back. He was in transition. (Aren’t we all!) He looked a bit like a patch of snow with a bit of bare earth poking through… so most appropriate!

Sitka came back fairly quickly. Good dog.

Then down by the river we saw more contrast. The new buds are getting ready to burst despite the many many layers of ice sheets still languishing in the shadows.

The ice is actually much thicker than it appears in the above photo. We still have layers of the old bull to cut through. But there’s plenty of spring melt to keep the positive vibes flowing.

We still have one more week of preparation before the New Vision is ushered into place and fully anchored in the month of April. Hang in there kids… New Life is just opening its eyes… and we should do likewise.