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!
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