First day of Spring and we are snowed in.
The hawks are hungry for the mice have
gone under snow. The mice have never
had it so good – they can chew off young
apple trees four feet from the ground.
Halfway to Janesville there’s an old shed
with 7 small eared owls which have been
sitting there all winter. Sometimes they
come sit on posts along the road. I tried
walking around one once to see whether
I could twist its head off as it screwed its
neck around but it didn’t work. Going out
this pm to see thousands of geese along
Turtle Creek. The other day I saw a
thousand red polls. They go through here
in the spring on their way north. They are
about as big as a goldfinch, with a rosy
breast and a garnet set in their forehead.
2023 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Still building Athens.
