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It has been so miserable that I don’t want to hunt coyotes. I feel bad enough for them and don’t have the heart to shoot them anymore even if I wanted to sit out there all night waiting on them. I’ve hunted in sub-zero before, but this winter has come with wind and some sort of nasty precipitation nearly nightly. In fact, it’s been so windy, I’ve been gathering things up in the field which weren’t tied down and have blown away. It’s just too nasty out there to allow it to be fun. I’m still looking for a four-foot piece of aluminum downspout. The downspout isn’t new and it has survived in one spot for over seventeen years, but this year, Old Man Winter, picked it up and tossed it away. I hope it didn’t hit a coyote.

I’m not really a songbird guy. I’m the kind of guy who gets interested in the birds I can eat. However, we do maintain some blue bird boxes around the farm, and I am fond of the pairs that use them, particularly the nest within view of the kitchen window. To my surprise, they were back checking out the nest last week! I am aware that some bluebirds do not migrate in the winter. “Mine” are a couple that do disappear usually from October until late March or early April annually. They spent the day checking out the nest in the freezing weather. Then they picked up and left and I haven’t seen them since. Where did they go? I’m sure they will be back; the nest is older than my downspouts. But where did they go to weather out the rest of winter when they’ve already returned? They certainly didn’t go back to the south, if they did, I’d have to chalk it up to yet another amazing thing about nature that surprised me. 

I need to run south for a bit. I tried to throw on some work jeans yesterday, jeans that I wore all summer doing projects around the farm. I couldn’t button them without sucking in and I didn’t want to move around much in them. I usually put on a little love muffin starting in hunting season and peaking during the holidays. Usually, I also revert back to my “normal” weight by now. My condition may have something to do with hiding inside from the weather this year so it’s probably not a coincidence. 

I also missed the jerky making season due to leaving my deer meat up at Muddy’s house. I doubt he will make the meat for me. So, maybe when I pick it up in April, I’ll bring it back and make it on the smoker rather than a stove. 

Speaking of stoves, the maple sap boiling season is still slow, locally. Southern PA is getting harvest and boiling. Here the runs have been short, small and spotty. I’ve only boiled once so far, and it was a small run. Maybe another reason I can’t get the weight off is I’m not running around carrying sap out of the woods. I’ve even left a number of trees untapped yet as there is no real advantage to having trees tapped for weeks before the regular runs. So, guys aren’t too worried about the short season, they’ll just boil into April. I don’t have the same situation. I start fishing in April, so my maple season ends on a real man-made hard date! Hopefully, next week I can complain about good weather and being overrun by gushes of tree sap!

See you along the stream