Forest

I Will Huff and Puff… and Sneak About

Speaking of things that lurk in the forest, it looks like we had a visitor in the night.  Actually I think that there were four or perhaps five of them.  It is hard to guess because the footprints are all mixed up.  They were travelling East.  This visitor left paw prints as big as the palm of my hand.  I think he must be a very big boy!

Can you believe that I never heard a peep or a howl.  Incredible since they were very close to THO, the snow is so crunchy and I sleep with my head next to the open window.

I wish I would have seen them!

Big paw prints

Categories: Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

Splurge on Illumination

Beware the ides of March!

Out in the forest there are a lot of things that go bump in the night.  I love this about THO!  Being so close to nature is brilliant.  Even so, I have been very nervous about letting my dogs out after dark.  In 2011 our poor little handicapped Phyllis (who died in 2012) had a very close call with a fisher even though I was just a foot away from her.  If you have never heard one here is a little video.  Imagine how scary is was to have that thing screaming outside your house for hours after scooping up a little dog and bringing her in to safety; bloodcurdling!  The creature was mighty mad that it missed the poodle meal!  Despite what the ladies in the video said, it is my experience that these fishers seem to have little fear of humans, I hear them outside very frequently.   This is why I only bring out the dogs individually on a short leash after dark if they ABSOLUTELY have to go.

I purchased a powerful but costly little 12 volt spotlight last year when I was getting the wiring for the house but at the time I did not have a ladder to get up there. Now that it is warm enough and I have a ladder, I got the light into place.  I wish I had the sort of camera that worked well in night conditions so that I could show you how bright the candle is for this little light, but since I don’t I will estimate that it is similar in brightness to a 200 watt bulb.

Poop Garden spot light

It looks terrific and is bright!  In fact, the dog garden lights up like a ball field.  Obviously, I don’t want to light pollute at THO and keep away the fireflies and other wild wonders, but it is great to be able to get the dogs out and feel safely able to see what is out there.  This said, I won’t use it except to let the dogs out and also to help people see to get to their vehicle at night.  Despite the $100 cost it is a very nice safety feature to have.

Categories: Dogs, Forest, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

Wood Spirit and the Wolf

I have finally installed the wood spirit that I purchased from wood carver, Steven Kenzora.  When I wrote about the purchase in an earlier post, I said that it would be put in a place of honour.

Since picking it up I gave quite some thought to where this would be. I decided, finally, to secure it in the arms of an ironwood tree and is facing the entry door of the house.  The tree is due North-West of THO which marks the line between black and white, earth and air and is directionally the mark of the winter solstice with respect to THO itself.  What is interesting, at least to me, is that the tree, an ironwood (considered to be magical by those who practice Wicca) seems to have grown in the specific location and shape to hold this carving.  Ironwood is a slow growing tree with a 7.0 growth factor; so this tree, with a ten inch diameter is about 75-85 years old.  I guess this tree is a sister to Twerp (so named for Tolkein) who is due South-West to THO and perhaps 20-30 years older than what is now named, Wood Spirit Tree.  Interesting too, I think, THO has ironwood trees that are at all four directional cusps and each is within a couple of hundred feet of the house at each of the cusp directions.

What I did not notice until I joined the two is that there is a howling wolf that was carved by nature into the wood which Steven carved into.  Like the Wood Spirit the wolf is a symbol of community and communication, but the wolf is also a loyal guardian.

A lot of symbolic meaning hidden in plain sight.  If you know about these things than you may have guessed that I have been recently influenced by a viking.

Can you see any other symbolism that I failed to mention here?

Categories: Art, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Magical, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

Snowshoes

It is great to get out on a sunny afternoon and snowshoe!  Yesterday, my husband and I strapped up and headed out.

There are lots of tracks out there in the forest.  The little arrows of wild turkeys, our own tracks, coyote/wolf/dog tracks, the little tracks that look like human babies but are really racoons and another long fingered critter perhaps the dreaded fisher.  On our walk about we also found a few holes which may belong to weasels.  Sadly too, it looks like one of our paper wasp colonies died this winter.  Their entire hive was shredded and opened.

What in life could be better than having your own little place and some land to walk on?

Categories: Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Drips

Arrived safe at THO.  It was only minus 1 degree celsius in the house.  I started the heater and emptied the car while Hj shovelled up near the doorway and the gate.  I am grateful to my cousin Kenny who keeps me ploughed out.  I have been able to drive right up to the house so far any time I have come and today was no exception.  The snow banks are about half the size of the house… which isn’t saying too much… tee hee…

As soon as these few little tasks were accomplished, we tapped the maple trees.  They are dripping now into the buckets.  All feels right in the world!

Snow and buckets

Categories: Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: | 6 Comments