Louie

Got outside and had a delightful ramble in the woods. I realized that I didn't go out at all yesterday! Well, it was pretty wet and windy. Today is cool and showery, but the sun came out a little while I was out there, filtering through the trees.

I love the way these cedar boughs drape gracefully above the water. The cedar tree is beautiful, and was called the "tree of life" by the native Americans. They used every part of the tree for day-to-day living - the branches for bedding and roofing, the bark for clothing and baskets, the wood for canoes, tools and housing, and the roots for lashing and fishing lines. And of course much more! And, it is still extremely important to the tribes now, for a lot of the same reasons.

And, here nestled into the dropped cedar leaflets at the base of a huge cedar tree, I found an owl pellet. It is rare to find one intact, as they disintegrate quickly around here.

And, even more rare, is to find an intact skull inside! A poor little mousey, I'm thinking!

And, deep in the woods, the pussy willows are out much later than those around the house. Most of them are pretty well finished now. I went out looking for the skunk cabbage in the swamp, and I did find some, but the deer had trampled over it and broken the budding leaves. I'm sure there will be more, so I'll keep an eye on them.