November Changes
~ by Jim Eagleman
I
can usually tell from the amount of park visitation if fall color has peaked or is nearly over. A hint of yellow on autumn vistas continues to draw people. Even on chilly days, a few motorists pull over and scan park horizons. Warming temperatures by noon get them out of cars and onto trails.
But by late November it’ s as though iron gates were installed at the park entrances. There is hardly anyone on roads, trails, or campsites. At Brown County State Park, we head from late fall into early winter with only a handful of daily visitors. Like a last hurrah, a few remaining leaves flutter to the ground.
“ Where were these cool breezes when I needed them?” I asked myself one day this month. They would be more welcomed back in hot August. I see less“ fall color lookers,” sense the coolness slowly creep in, and feel myself slow down.
But not to rest! Squirrels remind me to pick up the pace. I see them scurry about with food storage a main priority. Blue jays— also acorn eaters— fly by with fat jowls, cache and store, and pick away at the nut meat back at a woodpecker hole. Newly-disturbed piles of leaves may be the place this winter a squirrel“ remembers” to locate the food stash. It is actually the smell that brings him back, not recollection.
Like every fall, household chores and maintenance take precedence. I walk around the house with caulking gun and rag. New cracks around windows sills are sealed and I inspect the weather stripping on the front door. Mice have found a warm garage inviting as I see telltale signs. Bird seed stored in rubber tubs is moved to metal trash cans. Feeders are repaired for winter use. And, finally, new topsoil is delivered for a flower bed. I’ m way off schedule. It is past time to assess
yard plants— too many leaves and a dwindling woodpile. I play catch-up and work past dark.
I’ ve learned we don’ t adjust well to cold. Meeting with winter hikers I often find them illprepared for the day. The longer we’ re out, the more we see. But stopping to look with cold hands, heads, and feet drives us indoors. When back out, muscles tense. We cover up, and move about like slugs. You’ d think warmth would return quickly, but we move too slowly to generate the calories for heat. After a while, even words come out slowly.
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44 Our Brown County • Nov./ Dec. 2014