Apr
21
2011
I´m getting things ready to head out into the woods. For probably most of this coming summer I´ll be immersed in the woods with a small group of people. That also means that I won´t be posting here, since there will be no computers available. If you´re interested in reading about the immersion, there´ll be a blog about it at
http://teachingdrum.org/intothewoods/
which will be updated sporadically with writings, pictures or sound recordings thanks to some people who will transcribe and post the material for us primitives.
The lakes around here still have a layer of ice, soon they will look like this…
It´s been great sharing here, and I´ll probably continue doing so once I get back from the immersion in the fall.
Enjoy the spring/summer!
Thomas
Apr
19
2011
This year, spring and winter seem to be switching back and forth a lot in the Northwoods…
Here are some pictures from a trip I recently took to a remote wilderness area. The picture above shows a natural grassy meadow on the floodplain of a creek.
Grassy knolls are the first to thaw up in the sunlight. The creek is still frozen over.
A beaver colony that ran out of food took advantage of an open creek and started cutting some new vegetation.
This spot seems to be a popular site for an otter. I observed her as she came up out of the waterhole, wallowing herself in the snow on the other side of the creek and basking in the sunlight. Otters are very playful creatures and fun to watch. Upon closer examination I also found that this spot was also used as an “otter toilet” with some of the scat dating back to earlier in the winter.
With warming temperatures the last of the snow melted off and the lakes started thawing up.
A few days later…snow covers the ground again, and it keeps snowing. Yet the creek shown here was open enough to be paddled.
With the approaching spring, I´ll be immersed in the woods with a few other people. My plan is to be there for most of the summer (not being around computers etc. for that time) so updates will be very sporadic (if i find someone to post them for me) or not happening till later this summer.
