I knew I shouldn't have put "global warming", I know how much you dislike that term, lol.
How’s the weather?
- Thread starter The Masked Shadow
- Start date
Happy Thanksgiving! (if you live in Kanada)
Snow in the mountains, elk are bugling, dodging bucks in rut daily on my way to work (3 blocks away) and today & tomorrow, here in RD County calling for highs of 79F (26C) Currently 37F (3C) @ 06:50
Snow in the mountains, elk are bugling, dodging bucks in rut daily on my way to work (3 blocks away) and today & tomorrow, here in RD County calling for highs of 79F (26C) Currently 37F (3C) @ 06:50
Very apropos to my morning! At dawn today I took Duke for his walk along the little gravel road where my house is situated. Temperature 41F, zero wind, clear skies, migrating birds everywhere. Duke and I veered off and did a couple kilometers along the decommissioned railway line that borders my land, checked out a bunch of fresh deer rubs, saw a few deer including a beautiful buck...and then, barely audible in the distance, I heard one of my favourite outdoor sounds. During a quiet lull in the overhead cacophony of migrating geese...another sound on the short list of my favourites...the haunting bugle of a bull elk. We have elk only a few dozen kilometers away, but hearing or seeing one actually here on my property is so rare as to be unheard of. And my property is just barely big enough to qualify for a land-owner elk tag each year, rather than entering the general elk lottery draw. I have a tag each year, because of course if I don't buy a tag I will be guaranteed to encounter a 7x7 monster bull in the back 40 and will be forced to let it walk.
Could this be my year? A mature bull elk is one of the items floating around at the very top of my bucket list; elk meat is my favourite variety of North American venison, and my wife and I have been mildly debating for about ten years as to where I would hang the monstrous rack of a big bull in our little house. Dang, I would love to re-animate that particular argument...
Admittedly, a bugle heard off in the distance is still a far cry from encountering the bugler on my land, during daylight hours, during the open season; I've never even found an elk shed or elk scat on my own land. But...hope springs eternal...
Best of luck on the Elk, John!
I spent many years in the foothills of the Rockies hunting Elk, Moose, Deer, etc, and still to this day consider the bugle of a mature bull Elk in rut as one of the most magnificent sounds to come out of a North American wild animal. Haunting indeed. The roar of a pissed off Grizzly would be a close second. lol
I spent many years in the foothills of the Rockies hunting Elk, Moose, Deer, etc, and still to this day consider the bugle of a mature bull Elk in rut as one of the most magnificent sounds to come out of a North American wild animal. Haunting indeed. The roar of a pissed off Grizzly would be a close second. lol
Fer cryin' out loud, Esox...do you want or expect to live forever?
Hint: you won't!
Although he's responsible for many memorable and meaningful quotes, I think that this one of Robert A. Heinlein's is among his best:
"At least once, every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness."
Now pull on your boots, get outside and face down a wild hedgehog or dormouse or whatever other dangerous critter is still found on the over-civilized British Isles!
Hint: you won't!
Although he's responsible for many memorable and meaningful quotes, I think that this one of Robert A. Heinlein's is among his best:
"At least once, every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness."
Now pull on your boots, get outside and face down a wild hedgehog or dormouse or whatever other dangerous critter is still found on the over-civilized British Isles!
Well, it's here...
The weather-guys were spreading their doom-and-gloom warnings a few days ago, using terms like "snow event" and "accumulation" and generally trying to scare the crap out of everybody as usual. We got a half-inch of snow that was gone by mid-morning.
They tried the same crap yesterday morning...we got another fraction of an inch, gone by suppertime.
Today was scheduled to reach +2C, with a possibility of flurries...and we just got a dump of fresh big flakes. Two inches or so on the ground now, still snowing energetically. There's already too much for it all to melt; the White Season is upon us. The yard is full of winter birds, the warm-weather nesters having all departed for the sunny south. Trees are all bare; deer are all dressed in their drab grey winter pelage; wood is all split and stacked; a black bear made his last (hopefully!) visit of the year to the yard yesterday and messed up all my bird feeders; an early Snowy Owl that first appeared a few days ago and who has been as obvious as a cockroach on a wedding cake as he sits in the fallow field...is now in his element and virtually invisible.
Merry Christmas!
The weather-guys were spreading their doom-and-gloom warnings a few days ago, using terms like "snow event" and "accumulation" and generally trying to scare the crap out of everybody as usual. We got a half-inch of snow that was gone by mid-morning.
They tried the same crap yesterday morning...we got another fraction of an inch, gone by suppertime.
Today was scheduled to reach +2C, with a possibility of flurries...and we just got a dump of fresh big flakes. Two inches or so on the ground now, still snowing energetically. There's already too much for it all to melt; the White Season is upon us. The yard is full of winter birds, the warm-weather nesters having all departed for the sunny south. Trees are all bare; deer are all dressed in their drab grey winter pelage; wood is all split and stacked; a black bear made his last (hopefully!) visit of the year to the yard yesterday and messed up all my bird feeders; an early Snowy Owl that first appeared a few days ago and who has been as obvious as a cockroach on a wedding cake as he sits in the fallow field...is now in his element and virtually invisible.
Merry Christmas!
Sunny and supposed to be in the upper 70's again today in NE Ohio! The weather has been mild most of this week but of course it will come crashing down soon.
Supposed to get into the upper 70s and into the 80s here in NJ - I’ll take it while it lasts!
