Winter reflections

Early Winter, and it is cloudy outside, giving the Mountains a misty, mysterious, brooding look. Fog hangs in the lowlands and hollows, and flights of small birds work the wood edges and hedgerows, gleaning things we don't ordinarily see. Temperature today is low 40's, and not much wind yet.

We have a new president in this country, and our sweet world may have a chance to recover from years of excesses and downright attacks. You know whose side I am on, don't you? I actually am glad, however, that the Dems don't have a filibuster proof majority; really crazy stuff will be harder to pass without a fight, like repealing the Second Amendment. That's right. I will address that later, probably losing a few more radical readers. Too bad.

Days are getting shorter here, and I try to spend more time in the field, and sometimes try to get Jake (Pug youngster) out with me. He is a great hiking companion, and really tries to help our drought stricken world by watering every tree, bush, vertical blade of grass, or even sticks that stick up... He is a precious little boy, and I love him.


I have discovered a new place to wander, near one of my old stomping grounds, not far from my grandmother's old home, a place in western Buncombe County called Sandy Mush Gameland. It is not far from the Madison County line, and is a great place to hunt if you are so inclined, as it is managed for Mourning Dove hunting, plus having a booming deer population. If you just like to go out and look, hike, or just have a day in the woods, go out on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday from September to the end of February (hunting seasons). It is a wonderful place, and has lots of breathtaking views. It has an old timey feel, and is wild, though close to town.

This photo shows one of the many views at Sandy Mush out over a dove field, and also shows the cloudy weather of mid winter that is common here.

I have gotten into a new hobby, geocaching, which is sort of an Internet treasure hunt. In this game, people hide something in a cache somewhere, post the coordinates online, and people hunt for it using a Global Positioning System receiver, which can get you within a very few feet of the cache. I have two in Sandy Mush, and hope to have more soon. You can find out more at http://geocaching.com. It is a fun hobby, and can be gotten into with any GPS receiver, some of which are getting rather affordable. Most of my caches feature something to do with tree identification before you can find the cache, and contain at least one piece of my handmade wire jewelry or a semiprecious stone.

Get outside, folks, and enjoy Nature!

Alex