11/23/10 BEASTLY AND BEAUTIFUL

FIRST REAL SNOWSTORM OF THE WINTER
THE ROADS WERE TREACHEROUS
BUT THE WOODS INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL...
LOTS OF SNOW, AND THE DEER NOT MOVING

Tuesday, 10:00 PM. We awoke to 5” of new snow in the driveway this morning on top of the icy slush deposited yesterday. There was no getting around shoveling , which was a good workout. The roads were terrible yesterday afternoon and evening, and I felt sorry for the young woman who slid though the stop sign on Erickson Road and Washington Avenue as I was going out to the woods. Her car ended up perpendicular, nose down in the deep ditch on Cemetery Hill. Luckily she was not hurt but I don’t think her car faired as well. I would have had great difficulty climbing the bank but youth and adrenalin bounced her right up onto the road. I waited to see that she was alright as she made a phone call on her cell phone.
Once the snow stopped the cold set in; 12 degrees in the woods this afternoon, and no deer movement, not a track across the logging road. I think they are all down in the deep evergreen cover of the ravines. My own movement can best be described as a trudge, in the foot or more of snow now on the ground. The upside to all this bad weather is that the woods were incredibly beautiful under this afternoon’s bright sunshine and blue sky, the trees and bushes heavily festooned with clinging snow. It’s almost bedtime and I still haven’t made up my mind what course of action to take tomorrow.