12/5/19 4:26pm 52°F sunny, windy, and clear
It’s bitter-sweet writing this post because I enjoyed the experience of sitting in my spot, but with it growing increasingly colder I am very glad I don’t have to intentionally be outside for a longish period of time.
My last time in my sit spot has been the best time. I saw everything BUT clouds though. It was slightly upsetting but I saw lots of other things! The first thing I noticed in my spot was the grass. It was all blown over. I’m assuming it was from the crazy wind we had the night before. There were lots of birds flitting around as well. The 3 or 4 bright red cardinals were the most notable. There was also lots of little sparrows and chickadees rustling around in the leaves along the creek banks and some where even splashing in the water. The road was quite busy during this time in my spot. Both Williamson Road and the one that leads back to Siberia. I’m pretty sure I heard sounds of the freeway as well. Maybe due to the lack of leaves on the trees? It no longer can act as a sort of barrier to block out the noise. And of course, I heard the normal sounds of airplanes flying overhead. It was chilly! The weather app said 52° but I don’t believe it (I checked after I left my spot and it said the real feel was about 49°).
My trees are all bare! They were y favorite to document due to the dramatic change I knew they would have. Pretty much all of the leaves are gone except for a few stragglers. It took longer than I thought for them to all drop. The riffle is still flowing strong. There’s not as much debris in it this time though. I don’t know what I expected but I’m slightly disappointed that this did not change much over the course of my times there. The ivy has shifted! (?) It has now started growing towards the right of the tree instead of straight up like it has been all semester.
I unintentionally chose the absolute worst day to observe the clouds. There was like NOTHING (pictured above).
The sky was so blue, and it would have been beautiful if I wasn’t upset by the fact that I wasn’t able to use my new knowledge and identify some clouds. A small cloud was spotted between some trees to the left of me. Possibly an altostratus cloud. The wind was blowing from about the NE, but I didn’t see it effect the little cloud at all.
Originally, I had planned on sitting with my eyes closed but I am so glad I did not! A deer appeared across the creek from me! (Pictured right) I was so surprised considering I had never encountered one in my spot before. I heard him do this yell/bark thing and that’s what got my attention. He was watching me just as intently as I was watching him. He would pace back and forth across the creek from me, occasionally stopping and staring at me. Sometimes he would do a huff like he was either trying to intimidate or just let me know he’s there. It was about 5-7 minutes that this went on before he huffed one last time and took off into the trees, still on the other side of the creek bank. It was AMAZING! IMG_9015 4 (Video of the deer watching me!)
Like I said before, its bittersweet leaving my sit spot. I’ve grown attached to my objects! I may return in the spring to check them out and see how they’re doing. I’m extra curious about my ivy now!
Left spot (for the last time) at 5:33pm
that is the most awesome photoset showing the transformation of the trees! and i love the encounter with the deer. whenever i encounter one i like to see how long the staring contest lasts until it runs away
Its so cool that you got to have such a long interaction with the deer! It really makes you wonder what they think about us as we are also watching them. I am also glad to see that someone else feels the same way as me, its been enjoyable to see these changes and experience the sit-spot but it is now much too cold outside for my liking.
Hannah! I love those pictures. The trees look so majestic and I absolutely love the comparisons! I agree that doing this for the last time was very emotional for me. I think this homework has definitely helped me appreciate nature a lot more! Thankyou!
Enjoyed reading your blog, and I absolutely loved the transformation of the trees! I had the same experience with clouds, its sad that there were no clouds!
i like your quartet of pictures! Nice work and a good job with your blog!