{"id":3973,"date":"2007-07-21T21:17:42","date_gmt":"2007-07-22T01:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=3973"},"modified":"2009-01-16T17:35:44","modified_gmt":"2009-01-16T21:35:44","slug":"field-notes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2007\/07\/field-notes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Notes #2"},"content":{"rendered":"

We might use language in our attempts to set boundaries, but language contains in microcosmic acts the macrocosmic thrust toward new form.<\/em><\/p>\n

November 4, 2006
\nThe trail into the canyon is rougher at November\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s threshold; run-off from recent storms took the same trail to the canyon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main water course that I must take. Old gullies have been deepened; new ones have formed, running ragged. In places, I consult the deer, reading their tracks for the best paths around obstacles. Like the water and I, deer seek paths of least resistance.<\/p>\n

In the canyon bottom, the cottonwood leaves\u00e2\u20ac\u201cthose that remain on the trees\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtheir gold scale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone to brown scrap. But even these bones of leaves, thin and crisp as birds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bones, clitter a few last water words.<\/p>\n

Some lizards skitter on the warmer slopes, no doubt keeping very short hours.<\/p>\n

As I climb out of the canyon, I stop to sit on a rock outcrop and take in the view. Sudden liquid laughter erupts from the creek below. Behind me, the spring claps. As quickly as the voices surge, they hush. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as if a sudden lift of water swelled from the earth then sank back in a kind of hydro-sigh. Autumn having borne off hordes of leaves, the water in the canyon can now outshine the trees.<\/p>\n

Finally, a golden eagle flying like an arrow shot from a bow of strong intent, someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life clutched in its talons\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got. Only that its tail streams out behind, flapping in the wind like a flag of surrender. <\/p>\n

December 13, 2006
\nDown at the beaver dams some ice has melted, but what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left forces the water through narrow channels forming at puckers in each dam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lip. This cranks up the volume on the canyon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s water soundtrack. I think, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153________ Creek is running like an engine, or like a long, liquid machine that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s running on a series of engines. The beavers have changed how the canyon sounds.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

A duck just soared past me, heading down canyon. I heard it before I saw it, a sound like a miniature jet. Thought I was hearing the stoop of a hawk.<\/p>\n

Today, I discover that the juncos make a different sound when they encounter me from the sound they make when they encounter a hawk. When I meet them, they pip nervously and flit to a safe difference. Today, I heard them pipping a short ways off. Then I startled a hawk\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see what kind\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat had been standing on the trail. In fleeing me, the hawk winged right through the flock of juncos, who screamed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Twit twit twit twit twit!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in terror. It sounded as if someone had \u00e2\u20ac\u0153given the harness bells a shake,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d except for the added pitch of fear. It was a noise of terror, but it broke the air in peals of beautiful music.<\/p>\n

January 8, 2007
\nThis morning as I descend the trail into __________, I hear a sharp keening. I think it might be a fox or some other canine barking, but then I hear distinct bird notes. Some large raptor, possibly an eagle. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen golden eagles down here and up on the rim. As I work my way into the canyon, the keening continues, echoing off the canyon walls. This sound overlays the thrum of water chuting through the beaver dams. Today water channels over the dams with unusual vigor, perhaps energized by snowmelt from the few storms the Abajo Mountains has managed to snag. I think, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I listen to this water I hear math, scored and performed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Meanwhile, from the east rim of the canyon, the eagle is doing \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what. Saying I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what.<\/p>\n

So much noise from a large predator puzzles me. I scan the cliffs and rim but can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spot the bird. The clamor stops for a few minutes then starts again, filling the canyon with long phrases of shrill notes. I sit above one of the dams and eat an apple and some trail mix, then stand to go. As I skirt the creek in the direction I intend to travel, I see it\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe eagle. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on the wing, flying east to west, heading off from me at an angle. <\/p>\n

Suddenly, seeing me see it (I think), it changes course and flies to me directly. It spins five or six tight circles directly over my head then returns to its original course exactly and flies out of the canyon.<\/p>\n

While it circled above, I studied its flight, how its body rocked between two comparatively still wings, all the while the tail dipping and rolling like an canoe paddle as the bird kept me at the eye of a circular field of vision.<\/p>\n

January 24, 2007
\nOn the way to the trail into ____________ this morning I was privileged to glimpse two coyotes. They stood at a distance in the treeline abutting the prairie dog town. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure how I saw them. Maybe I felt them watching me. I was walking along, head down, choosing my steps carefully through the stones in my way, when I suddenly swung up my head and to the left, focusing on the distant treeline, and I looked straight at them. They coyotes knew immediately my eyes had touched them\u00e2\u20ac\u201cthey knew it before I did. One wheeled off into the PJ forest at a lope, seeking deeper cover. Only then did I understand what I was looking at, or rather that I was looking at something that had been watching me. Recognizing the doglike lope I put it together. After taking the risk of observing me longer, a second coyote, less perturbed than the other, trotted after its companion. Then I knew there were two. <\/p>\n

March 17, 2007
\nConversation overheard at local hardware store:
\nGuy #1: What are you gettin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ready to do?
\nGuy #2 (Tipping up a cooler for closer inspection): I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gettin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ready to go play.
\nGuy #1: You goin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 fishin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?
\nGuy #2: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m takin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 my ATV and goin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to play.
\nGuy #1: You goin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 fishin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?
\nGuy #2: Naw, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just takin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 my ATV out.
\nGuy #1: To do what?
\nGuy #2: Just to play.
\nGuy #1: I never take my ATV out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just to play.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I take my ATV out, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m skiddin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 logs or haulin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rocks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We might use language in our attempts to set boundaries, but language contains in microcosmic acts the macrocosmic thrust toward new form. November 4, 2006 The trail into the canyon is rougher at November\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s threshold; run-off from recent storms took the same trail to the canyon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main water course that I must take.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative","category-nature-and-environment"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5786,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973\/revisions\/5786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}