Day 4, Saturday, March 1

i've noticed, since going to my sit spot for three days now, that when i step outside to let the dog out or to take in the weather, the frantic racing of my mind eases into the quiet of observing nature more rapidly and more consistently. before my regular sit-spotting, it was more rare that i would shift my consciousness in this way, even when outside.

sat during the afternoon today. a robin at the tip-top of a nearby tree called as i went out to my spot. lots of thoughts, i wanted just to sense.
the branches weighed down with today's heavy snow made it feel like i'd left and returned 100 years from now, when the trees were more filled in and the branches touched the ground. everything felt old. as i sat, milk dripped.

when, after 20 minutes, i stood up to go back indoors, i thought i should just do the two minute loop through our back yard, since the babe was with my husband and i had the chance. shortly i came across a patch of disturbed snow with a turkey feather, thinking i'd found a turkey scratch spot. then i saw a band of turkey feathers and a small scat next to them, and knew it was a predator's tracks that marked the snow. i lifted the feathers and sniffed them, looking at the flesh fusing them at their base, and could smell canine urine. the tracks were quite fresh - the snow had only stopped about two hours before, and they had no dusting of snow in them. i put down the feathers and my tea mug, which had grown cool during my sit, and followed the tracks backwards, to see where else in our yard the creature had been, to see if i could find where it had eaten the turkey. i passed over and under spaces on the edge of the forest i'd not bothered to go before, them being off the path, and felt the exhiliration that comes from breaking out of the usual blind routine. quickly i came upon another small pile of scat, high on a mound of snow, with fur, bones, and what looked like seeds. following on, the tracks emerged from under one of our grand white pines, dense around the bottom with close bare branches, and i circled around the outside of the pine to find where the animal had entered its canopy. the tracks entered from the other side, but were covered in 1/4 inch of snow, so i knew i had to brave the sharp branches and crawl under the pine, to see where the animal had spent the end of the snow storm.


the tracks were muted by the snow all the way in to the trunk, and then there, under a cluster of low branches, was a round little spot of tamped down snow. i saw tracks leading around to the other side of the trunk, and lost my wool hat four times on the way around, branches snagging it off my messy, sweaty hair. on the other side of the pine were three more wonderful spots where the creature had lain down. based on the canine tracks, the wild scat, and the petite little bed, i guessed it was probably a fox. (time to return to my kamana one work!) i collected two little tufts of fur that were stuck in the snow of the beds, and followed the tracks a bit more. but i knew my son would be growing hungry, so in i went, carrying my story and the fur with me.