Tracks in the snow

This last Sunday my wife and I were driving to church, taking the highway. If you’ve ever been in Vermont you know the one I mean, because it is one of two in the state and the one used by more people than the other. Of course, there are only two lanes each way for the entire length of Route 89, which would barely qualify as a highway in most places. But it is ours and we like it (and hate it, too).

To get back to the story, we were between Exit 18 and Exit 19, and looking off to the right I noticed a set of tracks in the snow. I knew they weren’t rabbit…wrong pattern. Too small to be a deer. Too many to be a dog, fox or coyote. Too big to be rodents. Then we saw them, a nice little flock of wild turkeys by the side of the road, weaving in and out of the undergrowth searching for breakfast.

When we lived ‘down south’ we’d be excited to see the occasional groundhog sitting up on the shoulder of the highway watching traffic go by. Seldom did we see anything more out of the ordinary. But in Vermont we are treated to regular glimpses of wildlife. At Exit 17 when getting onto the on ramp, at least several times a month I will see deer. A few weeks ago there were five running across the field, tails showing high alert.

My wife has seen moose on more than one occasion, including having one run into the side of the car in Williston near 'Best Buy'! Coyote, fox and rabbits are all frequent visitors. My wife’s birdfeeder is patronized by perhaps a score of species. Along Route 89 and Route 7 we can see various raptors as they watch the fields for tender mousey morsels. The banks of the Lamoille River near Georgia High Bridge provide summer entertainment with muskrats and water birds.

To no ones delight we found that our nice warm house was attractive to field mice in the fall and the occasional spring garter snake. But Northern Vermont is bereft of poisonous species, so we take comfort in that knowledge. One of our more humorous incidents involved a chipmunk running through the house during a church summer social!

So, why do we love living in Vermont? Many reasons, but one of the strongest is the connection back to the wild life that we have, even if it is largely vicarious and seen through glass. It still reminds us that there are other things in life than television, traffic and shopping malls.

“ And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky…let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so…And God saw that it was good." Gen 1:20, 24-25(NIV)