Plenty of things to think about during long winter
Like most other local people, I’ve had enough of this weather. I bet you figured that out from last week’s column.
So I was trying to stay positive this week, thinking of others and all that good stuff. As I look out the window at a gray and white landscape my heart goes out to those creatures that have to endure this exercise in endurance and survival.
The squirrels that usually chatter and dart across the yard are absent. Running along the electric lines can wait for a warmer day as they curl up in their nests or hollow trees.
They might have the right idea. I move myself to the couch and put myself in a fetal position. “The Outlaw Josie Wales” is on the television. This is one of my favorites, as what would it be without the elderly travelling companion of Clint Eastwood? The poor squirrel doesn’t even have Sandra Locke to keep him company. Of course it might be better off.
Can warmer weather be far away?
In the spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of baseball. Spring training is finally here. Did you know Harvey Haddix and Elroy Face were hunters?
The squirrels are just napping but the black bear is in a deep sleep.
Everyone seems to think bear need a cave for a winter hideaway, but they can be found in a deep-winter sleep with little more cover than a blown down tree.
It might be just snuggled up against the trunk or the maze of roots.
From a human standpoint that is little cover from the fierce winter storms but does give evidence of what a good layer of fat can do in cold weather.
One of the best tapes I have ever seen on the black bear is the one from the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Forget those hokey television programs and get your hands on the one from the commission and you will learn quite a bit about bears.
It contains the tapes of a bear that was hibernating yearly under someone’s house without paying rent. In fact, it had been spending winters under the house for some time unbeknownst to the resident.
While on the subject of bears, I saw a photo of a medium-sized bear that was taken in southern Washington County. I know this photo came from near here because I have spent hours on this particular farm, and I recognized the background in the photo. One of these years someone is going to bag a bear here in Washington or Greene counties.
Both the groundhog and the chipmunk sleep most of the winter. The groundhog will wake up around now to breed and to forecast the weather. Every year as he predicts a long late winter, I regret not shooting it during our summer hunts.
One of these days!
Both the chipmunk and the chuck will store food and make a nest. They also create a tunnel that is used like a farmer’s outhouse.
I have often wondered what else they have down in that underground haven. Probably things like corn, apples and maybe some hay for bedding.
But when my imagination runs wild – and doesn’t it always – I picture the hog watching the hunting shows or maybe modern farming practices on television while he guzzles clover beer.
Don’t argue the point. Just because you have never seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
When we long for days outdoors and feel slightly depressed, remember that February is a short month. At least those were my late mother’s words of wisdom. It won’t be long before we will feel trout pulling on our line and the crosshairs of our rifles will be plastered on a bull’s-eye. It will get better. Hang in there Mr. Squirrel.
George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.