Tracks in the snow.  

    Steve Apps Photo

“Just tracks in the snow,” the person said when glancing at this photo.  For some people that’s all they are.  Merely tracks.  But to my dad, tracks in the snow were much more.  They were nature lessons.

            By the time I was able to walk and wallow along in the snow, I would tag along when Pa went for a winter walk.  When we’d see a track in the snow, he’d say, “Look close. That’s a cottontail rabbit track.  Or that’s a fox track, or a squirrel track, or maybe a tiny field mouse track.  Or maybe a huge jack rabbit track—jack rabbits were commonly seen at the farm back in the 1930s and 40s.  But that’s not all Pa wanted me to see and learn.  Not only did he want me to identify what kind of critter made the track, but he wanted me to figure out what they were doing when they made the track.

            “See this squirrel track,” he would say.  “See what the squirrel was doing, where it was going.  We’d follow the track and see where the squirrel did some digging in the snow.  “Looking for something to eat,” Pa would say.  “Looking for some acorns it buried last fall.”

            We might follow a rabbit track, and then see some strange looking marking along side the track and then see the rabbit track no more.  “Hawk got the rabbit and flew off with it,” Pa would say. Or, we might follow a fox track for a bit and see where the fox dug in the snow, looking for something to eat.  Maybe a field mouse.

            Tracks in the snow are nature’s history lessons, who was doing what, and how.  Lessons that I never forgot.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: So much to learn from an animal track in the snow.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

See my book Whispers and Shadows for more about nature’s lessons. You can buy my books at your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in north central Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They have a large selection of my books.