Brrr... It was clear and cold with a brisk wind today, but the sun felt warm in-between wind gusts so Radu and I decided to go for our Sunday hike anyway. In order to stay out of the wind as much as possible I headed down to the valley and Meetinghouse Creek. There I figured we could walk along the creek's banks, or hop rocks down the middle if possible, and let the wind blow over our heads.
We hiked downhill on the sunny side of the pipeline, stepping high over stubble and small stumps from the last mowing, with only occasional briers catching at my fleece pants. Overhead a crowd of crows flapped and cawed. The hawk they harassed seemed totally unconcerned with the situation. Once they flew beyond the pipeline the only sound was wind in the trees until we got to the creek and were treated to the splash and rippling music of water.
Along the creek were tracks galore - raccoon, deer, squirrel, and opossum, as well as crawfish lines in the fine mud. A tiny track that looked somewhat like that of a tiny ghost crab came up from the water's edge for about fifteen inches, made a loop and disappeared back into the water. Don't know what that could be. Also along the creek were lines of acorns left by high water of our last gullywasher. They were cracked and sprouting. Fat green and/or deep red roots circled out of the acorns and disappeared into the sand. The outer shell of the acorns had opened and displayed the thick, bright green "leaves" hiding inside.
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