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Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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November 20, 2007

Dave Bonta November 20, 2007

Dripdripdrip — rain on the roof. Off in the darkness, the explosive snorting of a deer: coyote? Bear? Human? Something with the wrong odor.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged deer

November 19, 2007

Dave Bonta November 19, 2007

Under a low cloud cover, the mountain still white with snow, dawn grows from the ground up. My growling stomach is the loudest thing.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow

November 18, 2007

Dave Bonta November 18, 2007

Puffs of white smoke where squirrels forage in snow-covered birches. One squirrel falls twenty feet to the ground and lands with a soft FLUMP.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged gray squirrel

November 17, 2007

Dave Bonta November 17, 2007

An hour before dawn, I sit motionless, watching Venus climb slowly through the leaves of an oak, dazzling first my right eye, then my left.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged Venus

November 16, 2007

Dave Bonta November 16, 2007

A strong gust of wind brings a red oak leaf into my lap. I watch high-flying leaves cross paths with a flock of waxwings.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged cedar waxwing, oaks

November 15, 2007

Dave Bonta November 15, 2007

Wind and rain. On the ornamental cherry tree beside the porch, fat drops dangle from the bare spots between yellow-orange leaves.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged cherry tree

November 14, 2007

Dave Bonta November 14, 2007

White sky, white noise from the highway over the ridge. The goldfinches wake all at once, a querulous babble of squeaky wheels.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged American goldfinch, I-99

November 13, 2007

Dave Bonta November 13, 2007

Rain drumming on the roof. A single bar of white-throated sparrow song, and then the factory whistle dividing the dawn from the day.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged factory whistle, rain, white-throated sparrow

November 12, 2007

Dave Bonta November 12, 2007

A pair of ravens fly low over the house, invisible in the fog. I’m lost in thought about trickster gods, and right on cue: Arrk! Arrk! Arrk!

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged fog, raven

November 11, 2007

Dave Bonta November 11, 2007

My left thumb itches, but nothing wickeder than a nuthatch materializes. The sun comes up.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged white-breasted nuthatch

November 10, 2007

Dave Bonta November 10, 2007

White on green: the lilac bush heavy with yesterday’s snow. Chickadees bicker, working out a pecking order that will last until spring.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged chickadee, lilac

November 9, 2007

Dave Bonta November 9, 2007

A doe trailed by a scrawny 5-point buck. The soundtrack includes a train, a raven, geese, a wren, and a low-flying plane with a wide eraser.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged Canada geese, Carolina wren, deer, plane, raven, train

November 8, 2007

Dave Bonta November 8, 2007

Dawn finds the first snow — a faint dusting. It’s very still. Down in the pines, a screech owl quavers. The slow footfalls of a deer.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged deer, screech owl

From 6:00 to 6:30, it’s… November 7, 2007

Dave Bonta November 7, 2007

From 6:00 to 6:30, it’s quiet except for the distant whine of truck tires and the wind in the treetops, more rattle than rustle now.

Posted in Plummer's Hollow
Tagged I-99, trucks

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On This Day

  • June 23, 2024
    Overcast. Sunrise is when the crows wake up. A large brown moth tucks itself into the eaves.
  • June 23, 2023
    Rain. A groundhog rummages loudly under the porch. A bumblebee moves to the bright side of a porch column to dry her wings.
  • June 23, 2022
    Fog and mizzle. The usual doe and fawn graze in the springhouse meadow, their ears swivelling above the sodden vegetation.
  • June 23, 2020
    Three Carolina wrens kvetching on and on in the heat. Up in the woods, a Cooper’s hawk chatters twice. Could they be nesting again?
  • June 23, 2016
    A blue jay skulks through the trees at the woods’ edge but still a nuthatch spots him, and within seconds a mob of small birds…

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

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Detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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