Thursday November 20, 2008

 

 

Snow ~ White Oak Tree ~ Field Mouse

 

 

This morning’s light snow squall gave me opportunity for a few pretty photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit later – after most of the snow was gone – I walked to the southeast corner of our yard to see what was happening with the large White Oak tree that our Amish neighbor Eli had cut down a few minutes earlier.

 

 

I’m always sad to see one of our large trees succumb to a storm or disease.

 

 

As I got closer, I noticed my brother Clair (owner of the tree), Eli’s daughter, our neighbor Brian, and Eli looking at something.

 

 

It was a long-tailed field mouse.

  It seemed dazed, maybe from the fall, or it could have been in a dormant state.  I read that field mice do not hibernate, but they nest and become torpid during cold weather.

 

 

This rot or disease was what caused the top part of the tree to die.

 

 

However, the bottom section appeared healthy.

 

 

Clair was able to salvage a twenty-foot part of the trunk for lumber.   He said the diameter at the base of the trunk is thirty-six inches, and the smaller section nearer the top is twenty inches across.  Clair told me that Eli counted seventy-five rings – meaning that was its age.

 

 

Eli’s wagon was waiting in the field to be loaded with firewood.  Brian also got some firewood.

 

 

This afternoon I noticed Eli loading his wagon.

 

 

He wasn’t the only one getting exercise on this cold, windy afternoon.  The brave walker is our granddaughter Abigail.  She has a two-mile (plus) walk  when she goes around “the block” – and still has a mile to go when she gets to our house. 

I admire people who walk on wintery days.  (That’s when I walk on our Air Stepper – inside our warm living room.)