The Free Radical

(Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day by Jethro Tull from their 1974 album War Child on vinyl)

On the eve of the Blood Moon and its winking eclipse, storm clouds and councils gather to discuss the setting of the New Earth foundation– the inner unfolding of ancient maps held in safekeeping for this generation.

Suddenly, our corner of Earth is bustling with activity. We moved from one adventure to another.

It began with Toby chasing a deer straight toward me. If I’d been quicker with the camera, I might’ve captured her startled look as she scooted past. Thankfully, Toby was easily called off from the chase.

Shortly thereafter, we cautiously approached something lying out in the open field, heaped and bright red. It was fun to watch Sitka approach with extreme caution even after I’d identified the anomalous thing.

I’m not too sure how you lose your clothing without noticing… but that might not be all that was ‘lost’ this day.

This abandoned truck was a fair bit south of our normal route. The pic is taken with maximum zoom– and minimum focus, apparently. It appears to be in a location where definite road turns into definite swamp in an instant. I’ve tried to ride my mountain bike there before. Impossible! It’s quite the quagmire… giggity!

If they manage to retrieve their truck, hopefully they’ll notice where I’ve located the lost & found.

Immediately after that, we encountered two fresh deposits from carnivores in the area.

I usually assume that the lighter coloured scats belong to Bobcat, Lynx or Cougar, but I’m not sure if that’s actually true.

This one is more typical of Bear, but it’s hard to tell because of the lack of telltale vegetation usually mixed in. It’s too early in the season for dandelions and berries.

Then, immediately after that, at the swamp, I saw Toby chasing a fat mouse out onto the thin ice covering the pond. The mouse was scooting along on top of the ice as Toby was following closely behind like an arctic icebreaker.

Eventually, the poor mouse fell in… and by the time Toby found him…

…it was too late. I honestly don’t know how Toby would have treated him if he was still alive; she seemed very gentle with his corpse.

At the river, we were watched closely by Hawk who flew just above the treetops keeping pace with us. When we came to the beach at a new fishing hole, Hawk flew back up beyond the Mesa… and let us be.

This is definitely where the cool fish hang out.

Fishing season doesn’t begin until the middle of June. In the meantime, the dogs are finding fish along the shoreline who had gotten trapped in the shifting ice. This day, Toby rolled in the fish that Sitka found the day before. Fortunately it was only very small and hardly smelly. Yay cool weather!

Finally, we all gathered around this squirrel– three dogs and me. We were all being politely attentive, but Squirrel played the shyness card when we asked him about the missing fur at the base of his tail. We all noted that he was rather plump and quite content, so we moved on unconcerned.

There is much happening, both overtly and covertly. Adventuring with Mother Earth can’t be beat!