Alive Outside

Alive Outside -- A New Jonah Center Artistic Endeavor

The Jonah Center is excited to launch Alive Outside, a creative writing initiative to celebrate and enhance human experiences in the “wild”— including the wild in our backyards and local parks.
Our debut feature by Middletown resident Tom Christopher, alerts us to the animal tracks that appear after a snowfall.

Wildlife Detective Work by Tom Christopher:
Garden wildlife reminds me of teenagers – the critters eat distressingly huge meals then leave without communicating about what they have been up to or where they are going. Except in wintertime, of course, when they (the wildlife, not the teenagers) leave a tale of tracks in the snow. I’m no great tracker, but with the help of my Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks I can at least tell the difference between a fox footprint and that of a dog, trace the travels of the rabbit around my yard, and discover that it’s a porcupine that has been nibbling the branch tips off the hemlocks. There are all sorts of insights to be had from these vestiges. The dog, for example, is likely to wander, sniffing here and there, whereas the fox typically trots in a straight line – one is sure of an ample dinner while the other knows that it cannot afford to waste a single calorie in this harsh season. And by back-tracking the porcupine, I learn what crevice in the rock face across the road it has made into its den. That’s where I’ll set up my have-a-heart trap if the porcupines ravage my vegetable garden again next summer.

It was a string of five-toed footprints, each one not much bigger than a quarter, that told me to keep an eye on the wood pile. (Click here to continue reading.)