Discovering the world around me.
On a cold and windy January day, Bryan and I and my Seeing Eye dog put on our boots and trudge through the snow in the field across the road. The snow is knee-deep, and the crust that had formed on it can’t hold our weight. Each step punches through the crust to land knee-deep […]
Continue reading The Newton and Northwestern Railroad
We’ve decided to build a new building to serve as a shop. But before we can do that, we have to clear the space where the shop will stand. In that space are trees that must be taken down, including two particularly tricky ones, a hackberry tree and an American elm. Along with the trees […]
Continue reading A bit of Sleuthing: Milk House
The barn was one of the aspects of Owl Acres that drew me to the place. It’s old, proudly flaunting its birthdate—1915—in big white numbers on its red front. The brothers who farmed the land around Owl Acres in 1915 probably used local timber to build the barn. They had a sawmill powered by a […]
Continue reading Paean to the Past: Barn
Owl Acres is a busy place after the sun goes down. Owls and skunks are out hunting, raccoons are out foraging, and mice and rabbits are out and about looking for supper. All this activity goes more or less unnoticed most of the year, but when there’s a new snowfall, suddenly there’s a whole story […]
Continue reading Ferocious Hunter: Least Weasel
On a winter day just after a blizzard, Bryan was cleaning the snow off the bird feeder when a small hawk swooped past him. At only three feet above the ground, the little raptor skimmed between the house and the bird feeder and glided up to perch in one of the elms in the north […]
Continue reading Little Raptor: Sharp-Shinned Hawk
One morning when the sun was just coming up, a red fox strolled across the driveway near the road on Owl Acres. In the time that we’ve lived here, that’s the only sighting we’ve had of Mr. Fox. That’s not too surprising really. Foxes are generally nocturnal and will claim and defend an area of […]
Continue reading Ever So Clever: Red Fox
The wind is blowing at 30 miles an hour, and snow is flying sideways past my study window. The birds on the bird feeder are facing into the wind, and the dogs are joyously cavorting in the snow. The temperature is around 32 degrees. The snow is wet and sticky, plastered to the vertical surfaces […]
Continue reading First Snow
One of the most familiar sounds on Owl Acres any time of the year is the scolding of house sparrows. They seem to have a lot to say even when it’s really cold out. We hear them as Dave, Clancy and I head off for our morning walk. In the spring and summer, their noisy […]
Continue reading Shakespeare again: House Sparrows
Most of the trees on Owl Acres are elms, walnuts, boxelders, hackberries and cedars. We only have one oak. It’s a red oak that we planted along the driveway about fifteen years ago. It was a sapling then, battling with the rabbits for survival. Those little creatures of the night wanted to eat its tender […]
Continue reading Red Oak
As we start our daily walk, Dave and Clancy and I hear a crow calling from a tree in the woods. Its harsh and easily recognized caw-caw occurs throughout the year, including through the winter. I don’t think we have any crows staking out territory on Owl Acres. We do have visitors quite often, though. […]
Continue reading Family Life: American Crow