Journal

12/7-Several hours of the sun, the most in two weeks.35F The dog and I walk the roads near Hearts Content in morning.The notable silence in this part of the state is due to the low population and the lack of air traffic. I sometimes hear the low rumble of a commercial jet far overhead but their flight paths are generally too high to be heard and local aircraft are almost non existent. Occasionally the emergency helicopter from Erie lands at the hospital to transport a patient, and in spring and summer there is pesticide spraying to control black flies, but those few flights are rare. The silence here reminds me of those days immediately following the 9-11 attack in New York, when all flights were cancelled and which for that short time period offered the only silence I had heard in decades living near the eastern cities. Today I hear the yelping of wild turkeys in the distance; they sound somewhat like wild dogs when far off, and call to reassemble the flock if they are scattered. It reminds me of Joe Huttos film "My Life As a Turkey"  in which he discovered their aversion to sawed off tree trunks as well as other sensitivities in the turkey mind that humans were unaware of. Such knowledge of course requires tremendous patience and commitment, which even he admits he did not know he would need before beginning his study. Will researchers like Jane Goodall and Hutto become more rare as the attention span of humanity shortens?
12/8-To post office and bank in morning, then walk four miles in Russell with Beth. Very cold wind today, with flurries until dusk, when snow becomes steady.
12/11- About nine inches total accumulation this morning, with more predicted. The persistent lake effect of clouds and snow showers has settled onto the county, so a white Christmas is assured this year. B. and I shop Jamestown then I walk the dog near the Conewango, where I discover a small 'dogleg' tributary that flows inland and parallels the main flow for a quarter mile before emptying back into the river near 5th street bridge. I had never noticed this ten yard wide flow because it is hidden behind woods and houses some 200 yards off the sidewalk, and I had never occasioned myself to trespass. Yet there is a well trodden path here easily followed once one know it is there, and the dog and I scamper through the snow in the woods just minutes from the road. No doubt the local children and fishermen use this path in the spring.