Home Again

Greetings from Minnesota again. Bruce and I took a short little trip this past couple weeks. The most important part of the trip was going to Missouri to spendsome time with Grandson Zach on his birthday. It was nice to see his parents and other grandparents but he was the gem of the trip. We hope to have him spend some time with us again this summer. I asked Zach if he wanted a 1-night or 2-night canoe trip (his first). He answered, “One week.”

After returning from Missouri we spent some time in the Twin Cities, or at least, I did. Bruce flew down to Kingston, Jamaica to interview students for jobs in the States this summer. For 10-12 hours, all he did was interview students in an un-air-conditioned office. I, meanwhile, contended with Minnesota cold. Much of my time was spent at the Minnesota Historical Society library.

So Saturday we arrived home. Since then we have both been battling horrible colds. Bruce brought his home from Jamaica and graciously shared it with me. We both feel like death warmed over. Hopefully we are over the worst now.

Winter is still with us in the north land. The ski trails look good but there is not a huge snow base like previous years. Even so, Lee says that people are getting out and having a great time.

I see Lee is now adding pictures to his blogs. Soon he will gently suggest that I join the modern world and learn how to do it myself. Maybe later this month when the three California grandchilden are here.

As usually, one of our animal neighbors found a novel way to welcome us home. Freddy the Fox, Jr. (he is smaller than Freddy the Fox) appeared at our window yesterday morning. Underneath our kitchen windows we have built up a wall of sand held in place with rocks. It really adds lots of insulation to the exterior walls.

So I walked into the kitchen and Bruce immediately said, “Be quiet.” It’s not our usual morning greeting. He pointed and I looked out the window. Junior was crouched with his butt to the window and his head looking over the edge of the rock wall. We figured he must have smelled one of the animals that make their homes in our rock walls. For about five minutes Junior remained motionless.

Then suddenly he pounced down. He had caught a mouse. The mouse wasn’t quite dead so Junior dropped him. He rolled the mouse over so the animal couldn’t bite him. A couple more chomps and the mouse was dead. Two more chomps and the mouse was eaten. There was literally nothing left of that mouse.

It isn’t often that we see this side of the animal existence in our woods. Even though we all know this happens, we have a tendency to put these more messy parts of animal life into the back reaches of our mind, just like we bemoan wolves killing deer. Yet we need to be reminded that this is part of the natural selection process. I have to tell you, that is was amazing to see an expert hunter practice his trade.