Welcome to 2022

A snow day from the past and a foraging deer
Photo: Ileana Johnson

It’s finally 2022 and humans are making resolutions for the New Year, leaving behind 2021, the year of Fright and Flu. A saturating rain is drenching the woods. The distant river is shrouded in a greyish fog, concealing the silhouetted trees with exposed skinny branches stretched to the sky but meeting half-way the low ceiling. The animals appear in hiding, save for a few chirping birds and the occasional sparrow.

A bag of peanuts in the shell is awaiting by the door. It’s too wet to trudge through the mud to feed the two resident squirrels, my treat for them for the new year. They are going to have to wait until the rain stops and make do with their daily foraging. They hid enough acorns in my flower beds to keep them for the winter.

I open the windows to air the rooms out – a European habit many Americans dislike – why waste a perfectly warm and cozy room and fill it with cold and humid air?

The neighbor’s Christmas lights are still on, twinkling, casting a reddish glow in the rain.

A foghorn blew on the distant river. Who was brave enough to take out a boat in this weather? Perhaps a duck hunter. I am not sure hunting ducks is in season yet.

On the first Sunday in January, that is tomorrow, the January firearms deer season begins and ends on January 31. One half hour before sunrise until one half hour after sunset, my deer family will be in grave danger. The required fluorescent orange and fluorescent pink clothing will be easy to spot by humans among the shades of brown in the woods. The deer can see yellow, blue, and grey colors but are not very sensitive to dark and bright colors like orange, pink, red, and black.

The woods are quiet, only silent to those unable to hear its pulse. It is alive with sound and dormant fall colors. Last night creatures went into hiding, frightened by the celebratory fireworks that continued way into the morning.

The rain drips off the roof, cleansing the driveway and making it more difficult for the squirrels to dig out their nuts.

The Canada geese are sleeping at the edge of the pond, huddled in their flock, small figures in the dim light of the heavy and steady rain.

The streets are empty, humans are still asleep, wrapped in their warm slumber, tired of the night’s revelries.

Welcome to the first day of 2022, another ordinary day in nature – rain and fog, full of life and miracles. Hopefully the Fog, Flu, and Fright will lift this year permanently, letting sun and the truth disinfect the falsehoods.