I spy....

I spy - tracks in the woods

Shortly before we tied all of the orange ribbons to specific trees, marking them for falling, the children were spending much time outdoors each day after initially spying small animal tracks in our woodsy forest on the back of our property.

The very best education and "rabbit trail" learning curves seem to occur when least expected and I welcome all of it, anytime. Over these past few days, the children are following real trails, continuously on the lookout for new signs of life, using full concentrated efforts for hunting out the possibilities of finding where animal habitats might be located; browsing under trees, bushes and along the brambling bush areas for whom might be our new resident animals.

Animal tracking in general has sure captured their interests. Multitudes of reference books lay about the house, especially in the event of new sightings on any given day, something awaiting a chance discovery.

Simple websites like THIS ONE HERE offer instant tracking diagrams to compare notes to, and eagerly the children await meeting and greeting whatever, whoever, is living on our property. On our former property we thoroughly enjoyed visits from the wild rabbits, squirrels, our bird sanctuary with the odd blue heron and hawk, even several visits from mangy coyotes. In all likelihood we will once again meet and greet similar mammals here, but I really hope for no skunks, bear or wolf myself. There aren't supposed to be any, but one never knows with continued building expansions in the local area taking away natural lands from the animals currently residing there.

It's been exciting to see chipmunks for the very first time up close and personal through our windows, four to date roaming around the outskirts of our home in the gardens. As sweet and darling as they might be, the thought has crossed our minds as to "where" they might enter our home or how pesky they might become over time in the gardens. Something new...

As the snow continues to melt, and the deer have begun to roam, we are hopeful with what is to come. On the shopping list for the next run to the feed store is a large salt lick to place nearby to entice the deer towards our property edges. Something new...

Our woodsy back of our property looks quite open during these winter months, but below I've enclosed a photo snapped in early October when we sealed the deal on this home. More than likely it will give you a clear vision for the reason we are falling trees to allow the light in, to allow for more viewing space into the wild abyss of bush soon to sprout again. It's great to have a large piece of property, but realistically as much as we wish most of it to be left in a natural state; we would also love to "view" into the inner most center interior at the same time.

Our woodsy forest in Autumn, so dense we can
hardly observe anything from the outskirts of if all.