Last night it snowed again. It was less than an inch, but the world is shrouded in white again. I must be a creature of winter because I felt my heart lift when I went out for my walk. The last few days , I have been deep in thought while walking. My mind has been dragging in the mud, seeing only the gray of the world. I hadn’t even been noticing the changes in the river.
This morning, I noticed that all the ice is gone from the river. It has been noisy, as it rages over the rocks and the small falls that I walk by. In fact it is noisy enough that I can hear the falls from the house. From what I can tell the three beaver dams seem to have been torn asunder by the ice and water. I still question why the beavers moved over here from the small stream and pond they had for years across the road; these woods do not have small tasty saplings of poplar or alder. These are relatively mature oak and conifer woods. I realize the y consumed most of the poplar, and maybe their population increased such that some of the members of the family had to move out and on to new pastures, or in this case new waters. Maybe it takes a few years for them to find that perfect spot, or maybe like some children, they don’t want to move too far from home.