The Reindeer Keeper

Off in the field just outside our back door wild asparagus plants grow. I've cooked a few spears and somewhat enjoyed them. But the real enjoyment of having them as neighbors is watching them throughout the year. As autumn draws to a close, they turn a colorful canary yellow as shown in the 2nd photo. Those wild asparagus plants endure all sorts of weather. The field where they live is wide open to all the elements so when the wind howls, they take a beating. Sometimes they end up flat on the ground. Sometimes they lose lots of their ferny. Sometimes in winter they get buried in snow. Or covered in ice and lose more of their ferny. Spring rainfalls can get treacherous. If the wind picks up, I hesitate to look over in that field, not wanting to see if they survived. So far, so good. One morning a few weeks ago I looked out and discovered it had snowed overnight. A winter wonderland was in place, even on those wild asparagus plants. With my winter gear on and phone for photos in my h...

I recently took the attached photo showing geese coming back to a creek where I played when growing up in the country alongside cousins and siblings. We were always outside playing and going on adventures and that rambling creek was most always included no matter the season and no matter the weather. This time of the year, as shown in the photo, the creek would overflow its banks in a spring thaw and we'd be right there; standing as close as possible to the edge of the creek trying not to get soaked. But most times we'd get drenched as we'd take turns throwing chunks of ice or, if the conditions were right, throwing snowballs along with the chunks of ice at larger chunks of ice moving along the open water. Sometimes when eating supper we'd watch muskrats sitting on those big chunks, hitching a ride down the creek to wherever the big chunks took them. Summer found us making forts along the creek bed using fallen limbs and branches to hide us from the enemy. Inside ...