Outdoors

Deep winter is rather a quiet time in the out of doors in this area. Black or near black seems to be the predominant color. Even the endless forest seems to be more black than green against the white of winter snow.

The bitter cold of early February brought a stark black-and-white panorama as cold and sterile as an operating room. However, color is present in small amounts, and the first warms days of March bring forth to welcome spring. The buds and bark of deciduous tree twigs are often quite brilliant and announce the coming of spring long before it finally arrives.

One of the few deciduous trees native to this area is the box elder, Acer negundo, also known as the ash-leaved maple. It is an interesting tree that has made its way all across the Great Plains with a little help from mankind.

People brought this tree to their early homesteads and planted it in yards as windbreaks around their homes. It is still found in many yards and along many plains water courses.

Light snows and bitter cold weather have been the trend in January. It is the kind of weather that makes me want to curl up by the fireplace and read. Since this is the kind of weather we have had for over a month, I should be caught up with my reading, but I’m not.

There are just so many good new books out that I can’t find enough time. However, there are a few books I’ve read or have read about lately that I fell many readers of this column may find interesting.

As the holidays finally came to a close, a brief winter storm left about five inches of snow on the ground around the yard. It also brought bitter cold weather with temperatures way below zero.
However, this is not surprising since January is usually our coldest month. Winter is here. It is the one month that I would gladly leave this area for someplace warmer.