Residents in Nature; second edition

With a bitter December morning wind in his face, State policeman (ret.) Jim was in training for a half Iron Man competition when we crossed paths. I suspect that it was a little too cold for the swimming and cycling portion of his training; but I am not ruling out that he also trained in that today. Those Iron Man competitors (and policeman for that matter) cannot be underestimated. 

Annalise and John adding a bit of pizzazz to the sunset with a great Pokemon hat. I saw Annalise not too long after with a different hat on! I'm thinking about stepping up my fashion sense a notch while enjoying nature around Vernon. 

Wayne carries everybody's poles at the end of an outing on the Vernon Rec trails. This is another reason why it's a great idea to bring a friend with you while adventuring!

This skier flagged us down one afternoon. They appeared to have been outside for quite some time, so I rushed right over. "Do you need assistance?" I queried. Receiving no response I tried again, "Perhaps a mug of hot chocolate?" It was then that I noticed that he had no skies on at all and was perhaps only giving me a friendly wave. 

 I was pretty excited to capture an elusive snowmobiler this morning, especially since all the snow was soon washed away with a Christmas Eve storm. I had been tracking snowmobiles since two feet of snow fell on the 18th without any success until today. This snowmobiler was so quick that I didn't get a name.  If anyone has any pictures of  residents enjoying the great outdoors in Vernon, send them to me with names and a caption and I would be happy to feature them. 

We met Marilyn and Tom January 4th on the Red and White trail in the Vernon Town Forest. There was an inch of new snow on the trail with plenty of squirrel and dog tracks around. Marilyn however, had seen something more exciting the day before. "Did you see the moose tracks on the State Line Trail?"  she asked. Tom added that the tracks were big, "It was a big moose!" I'll admit that moose tracks in the forest are exciting; but hiking in the forest two days in a row? Well that's an inspiration! 

While not exactly in Vernon, our small town got a big enthusiastic shout out at Joshua Tree National Park in CA. from former resident Kayden Manning who is wearing the Vernon VT Nature Finds T-shirt that her brother Ethan designed and gifted to us for Christmas. 

It seems that Vernon's resident ice fishermen are a bit camera shy once on the ice and I wasn't having much luck getting one to agree to a picture. I was pleasantly surprised to come across Leslie Hobbs however, who though not a Vernon resident, he had bragging rights to a good sized Yellow Bellied Perch! My luck couldn't have been much better on the Vernon setback as Leslie is a fishing celebrity on Instagram. You can follow his fish tails at Hawbiz11. 

Bri, Leslie and Tanner stand in front of their fishing hut on the Vernon setback with some of their tip ups. Leslie said that I had just missed lunch which was grilled VT venison steaks. They hail from around Springfield and had passed by the larger Brattleboro setback because it seemed too crowded. I'll catch lunch with you next time Leslie!

A shout out to Vernon's road crew who are always first to tackle whatever nature drops on us! They clear the way so that we can get out there. 

Bob was just headed out near the end of a sunny day on Lily pond when I asked him if I could take his picture for Nature Finds. After he agreed, Bob admitted that he had thought that I was only kidding. He was a good sport and allowed it anyway. After we chatted a bit about several sets of moose tracks discovered in Vernon and an otter slide that Bob had discovered, he himself slid across the ice into the sunset on his Nordic skis.  

You may recognize Joshua from my last Residents in Nature feature when he was running on a fall day. I discovered Joshua, Ronan and Nick feeling at home in ice skates on Lily Pond. Their zipping back and forth and around in circles got me to thinking that perhaps Vernon should play mixed age groups intramural hockey! 

Chilling on the Ice

 

When US Senator Bernie Sanders boasts of our good old Yankee hardiness on the national stage, one doesn't ask questions, you just load up your best gear and you get out there! The trouble is, it had been a lot of years since "getting out there" meant ice fishing for Wayne and I. Though our coats in my estimation, are on par with Senator Sander's, the rest of our gear looks like something out of the 90s. Truth be told, my jigging rod is actually one of our children's first fishing poles. Wayne was feeling a little outdated when we arrived at Lily pond and wasn't entirely certain that he wanted to use his heavy pry bar as an ice spud when the other guys out there had gas augers. I mentioned that my grandfather used to use one just like it and suddenly we were in business!

There wasn't really any need at all for anyone to question Wayne's methods. If anyone knows how to handle a pry bar it's Wayne who honed his mad skills by removing tree stumps with that bar and a maddox. That long red bar has an arc that Wayne put in it twenty years ago when standing on it while convincing a stump to give up. 

It takes a lot of thinking to load an ice fishing sled with such precision. Is is any wonder that I make Wayne crazy when I suggest things like we should bring the dogs too. Wayne won that argument by pointing out that it was around twenty degrees out and the dogs would get too cold.

Suddenly it was my turn to do some heavy lifting. I didn't volunteer mind you, he just handed it to me and stood back.

 

With five inches of ice, a lure at the end of my line and a five gallon bucket on which to sit upon, there was nothing left to do but take in the scenery, watch the other people fish and wait for a bite.

Fishing in the crisp (freezing really) clean air of Vernon offers one the rare opportunity to quietly contemplate the beauty of the winter season. It's either focus on that or the gradual loss of feeling in your extremities. Just when I was wondering if it had all been worth it, a rainbow cloud formed over the tree line. I know that it truly was a cloud and not just my windswept frozen eyeballs playing tricks on me, because I actually managed to tap my purple finger on the camera icon and captured it!

It's amazing really how the day just slowed right down. If it weren't for the ice popping, groaning and threatening to drop right out from under me, I might have drifted off to sleep. The Clark's house sure did look warm....

When the shadows had crept over the ice, one of the families began packing it up. Fearing that I was about to miss the social scene that so many love about fishing, I hollered over to them. "Did you catch anything?" seemed like an appropriate ice breaker. Adam said that it had been a long cold day, but they had caught three pickerel and one was sixteen inches. Knowing that some fishermen closely guard their choice of bait, I kept it vague and asked if he was using live bait. It seemed that I was beginning to gain a few social skills on the ice. To my amazement, Adam immediately offered to share some of his minnows with us which I gratefully accepted. How nice are the people of Vernon? They are Adam nice!

With live bait, Wayne decided to set his tip ups,

and Adam called it a day.

In all we spent two entire hours on the ice and the only fish we saw were bait in the bucket. 

I suppose there's always tomorrow. - Norma Manning

Special thanks to Lilli who made it possible for me to fish along side of Bernie. Is seems that Buffalo NY has a few nice people too. 

Speak From Your Heart

 I have a friend who is an artist who asked me to speak from my heart right in the middle of an online "conversation" about politics that to my mind I was clearly winning. Anyone who knows me well, understands that I am a plow when it comes to conversations and so when Lisa explained to me the rules of her topic it stopped me in my tracks like a flip flop deep in clay. Forget about my statistics?  Research, definitions, logic, resources are against the rules? Speak from the heart? How can she be serious? 

Now after a long day of pretty much standing still waiting for what was going to be next, Wayne and I were settling in for the night when of course Luna needed to go outside. When we returned, Wayne asked if anything was happening out there yet and I responded, "Oh it's happening, it's all happening out there, all of it, out there, it is surely happening." So this is what cabin fever is like. 

My brother in law Gregg just celebrated his birthday by climbing a mountain. It wasn't one of those small Putney Mountain type mountains, this was Smugglers Notch in the winter time. If you are going to climb a mountain on your 58th birthday in the winter, make sure it is one of those real mountains where skiers and snowboarders are coming at you like Atari Asteroids, then make sure to call your sister in law who was thirty minutes into a ten minute nap after work and tell her all about it. 

This was supposed to be my blog about the American eel. It such a misunderstood fascinating creature that has locally been known to make adult men who have tossed back a couple of beers while ice fishing utter the most unacceptable words and it's found right here in the Connecticut River. (I really need get out there to do some ice fishing). I won't go too much into the eel right now, but I do want to ask how it is that a female American eel can lay four million floating eggs before she dies and yet American eel populations are dwindling?* It's crazy really, more crazy than talking politics online, discussing Vermont's Act 250 with a developer, explaining a carbon tax, convincing a Capitalist of the importance of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, or seeing where I am going with all of this! 

Speak from the heart without facts? Without winning?  This is just crazy!  The American eel is an ancient fish born in the .......spends it's life ........ends up in Southern VT before it is pulled out of an ice fishing hole scaring the bejesus out of grown men.. It goes through no less than......changes before...Speak from the heart...You mean like John Denver singing about eagles?

I'm tired of comeback stories. We are all supposed to cheer and feel accomplished because we saved the Bald Eagle from extinction when we are the ones who caused their peril. Let's polish our red apples on our polyester button downed shirts because the Green Mountain ridgelines were preserved until some politician paved the way for them to be cemented over for green energy. Let's study for three years, how doing so impacted the animals that depended on what was the largest Beech stand in the state! Speak from the heart? My heart is too troubled! (It's easier to hide behind stats!) Why must profit and progress be the asteroids that our environment continually faces? When does freedom stop meaning the free will to dismantle the web of life that we all depend upon? 

And yet for a day we stopped. Perhaps because the power was out, perhaps the roads were too slick and the skies were bloppy, perhaps it was a good day to nap on the couch with the dogs. Perhaps we discovered along the way, that while we rested, others took up the challenge. We were reminded by an artist, that in order to speak from the heart we must release the crazy notion of winning and replace it with a desire for understanding. Perhaps right now, it's not all that important that Joan Norton and Gail Mouradiain mentioned me in their comments, it's 1:34am... and I'm ready to sleep. -Norma Manning

*American eel, Wikipedia

A Great Time to Hike

 Wayne and I have been determined to go hiking at least once a week this winter and staying right here in Vernon is a great option. It seems odd this late into the season, but the only time that we have used snowshoes was on the Vernon Rec trails. Even though we were all geared up, we could have managed the outing with a good pair of winter boots. The trails have recently changed course in back of the Rec due to construction in the area. Wayne and I have been trying to determine where the new configuration loops around and heads back to the Rec. We have been on the trails twice this season, and both times had to backtrack rather than follow the snowmobile trails to Newton. We will have budget more time in the future and trek in a bit further. 

It was suggested to me that a better way reach the falls at Roaring Brook Wildlife Refuge this time of year is to take that first left when the road splits. Apparently this option stays above the falls and eliminates the need to cross the brook which is currently "roaring." I'm tempted to give it a try in spite of my being nervous about hiking around icy falls. The logging road which runs past the entrance to the White trail, is currently deeply rutted. I wouldn't relish hiking too long in those conditions and am hopeful that trail to the left is in better condition. I'll most likely wear a good pair of waterproof boots, my new crampons and use hiking poles. I'll also need to plan to start in the morning so that I won't feel rushed by fading light. 

I have noticed my neighbors heading out across the field on Nordic skis towards the gentleman's farm at the end of Lily Pond road. There they are able to  pick up the snowmobile trail that comes down past the farm from Huckle Hill. This trail also crosses through the Village and back to Huckle Hill road where the ball fields are. From this point, crossing Lily Pond Rd will get you to the Rec Trails. Last Autumn, Wayne and I hiked a distance on this trail. We picked up the trail on the North side of the town forest where the forest road and the White trail meet. When you hike a right there, instead of entering Roaring Brook straight ahead, it will put you on the trail.  I'm not convinced that I would try that end of the trail on Nordic skis however as it is very steep! I suppose what I am trying to say here, is that Vernon has an interconnected trail system with enough variety to satisfy those who relish a challenge and those seeking a relaxing family stroll. Here is a link to a map of Vernon's 25 miles of snowmobile and ski trails.

It has taken me more paragraphs than I had intended to get to my favorite place to hike in Vernon and so I think that I will stop writing and just post the peaceful photographs that I took last week in the town forest where the winter light is perfectly uplifting and the air crisp- Norma Manning