November 28

Last Sunday, because of deer hunting season, I took a break from hiking the Heartland Trail and instead hiked in the safer confines of Chipp-a-waters Park in Mt. Pleasant. The early morning weather was sunny with a temperature of 23 degrees and no wind. After parking the car, I walked a short distance to the edge of the fast flowing Chippewa River where I noticed a gathering of noisy Mallards swimming near the far shore. Heading west on a paved path next to the river, I spotted a leafless Buckthorn bush filled with berries. Needless to say, this fruit is a starvation food source for birds and is normally left alone as it weakens them and gives them diarrhea. Continuing west, I followed the path through a wooded area that was once a dense forest dominated by mature Ash trees. However, due to Ash Borer disease, most of those trees have died and either fell or were cut down, leaving a totally different landscape. Turning around, I followed another trail south over the river where I paused on the bridge and gazed west to see a nearly leafless bank except for some browning Beech leaves. Across the bridge, I followed a circular path through a section of Veit’s woods where the canopy remained partially closed by some leaves still clinging to mature Oak trees while other leaves had fallen to the ground. For several minutes, I paused to watch a dozen or so squirrels running, climbing and perching including: Eastern Fox Squirrels as well as the gray and black variants of Eastern Gray Squirrels. Not surprising, these animals are most active during this time of the year when cold weather motivates them to find and bury winter food. Also, they begin to eat more, fattening up to help them through the winter. While all of them are active during this early morning time, Fox squirrels will remain so throughout the day while Gray’s will take a midday break, rest and reactivate latter this afternoon. Exiting Veit’s woods, I retraced my steps across the river and back toward the parking lot where a patch of the highly invasive and lush green Garlic Mustard caught my eye. Finally, I found the car and headed back to Alma.

November book closes

Most pages read

Month of memories

Stir around my head

From trees of green

Decaying to brown

From a red canopy

To a leafless crown

Creatures of the wild

Miles of asphalt trail

Missing my companion

His white wagging tail

D. DeGraaf