Friday, February 4, 2011

in which space aliens make snow angels on our lawn

I woke up feeling like my throat had been pumped full of golf balls and finished off with a coating of sandpaper. The next round of chorus starts next week, so I’ve got a few days to wrestle this into submission. What did I do today? I have no idea – my brain’s melting.

But at some point I noticed tracks in the backyard that weren’t there yesterday.

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Zooming in on the end point of the track closer to the garden shed…

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Naturally, my initial impression is that the space aliens came for a visit and couldn’t resist making snow angels. And now for a close up of the one closer to the house…

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It occurred to me that maybe instead of space aliens, it was, um, birds. Grouse, perhaps? I hear them in the woods in the fall, and then of course there was this other time a grouse visited the premises. Two trails led off into the woods. As nasty as I felt, I strapped on snowshoes and headed out the door.

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Can you see both tracks, below? I’m going to highlight them…

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As I thought, the two tracks melded into one…diverged briefly…

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…and terminated into another set of winged explosions.

I’m sad to say, I’m not sure if they landed here from a spot in the trees and walked up onto the lawn and took off, or if it happened the other way around – a lawn landing, a foray into the woods, and a leap up into the trees. I also can’t tell how many birds it is – one bird, three journeys spread out in time? The top trail – the one closer to the garden shed – is definitely a two-fer.  Experienced trackers would probably have a clue. Not I.

Additional data, for my tracking friends (Arianna, help!):

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It wasn’t long after my return to the indoors that the nap fairies abducted me for the afternoon. Again, I say unto thee, “Blegh.”

2 comments:

  1. I prefer the alien explanation. And naps are never "Blegh" :)

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  2. Sarah, I think you have a flock of turkeys visiting. Love, Arianna

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