I’ve blogged about Larabars, which are an essential part of my day hikes and my extended hikes.

The company has just launched a new product, Mayabars, their chocolate line. These products are organic, free of gluten, wheat, soy, and dairy; vegan, kosher, 200 calories or less per 1.7 ounce or 1.8 ounce bar, and made with no more than 4-6 ingredients.

I did a comparison test. I ate Hershey’s Kisses, then tried a Mayabar. The kisses tasted bland compared to the Mayabar.

I expected to see a towhee in the woods, but in a yard?

He’s been calling and digging in the leaves under the rhododendron for the last 90 minutes. This is his first day here.

The day began with robins and jays calling at first light. Just before sunrise the squirrel with the patches of fur missing came out and started stuffing her face with bird seed. She also enjoys maple tree buds. I think the patches of fur may be lining a nest. She’s the dominant squirrel, having run another, bigger squirrel off.

The red-winged blackbirds are pretty good and keeping the cowbirds from taking over. The little song sparrow arrives last.

Even a tiny bit of green space attracts an amazing range of wildlife.

Trout lily leaves and dandelion blossoms are growing.

For the past two days, after checking my pocket survival kit contents, I’ve enjoyed every minute of the balmy spring weather.

I treated myself to a picnic by the lake, so I could read a library entitled Wild Mammals as Pets. When I first spotted the book I thought it was from the 1930′s or 1940′s, when attitudes toward wildlife rehabilitation were very different.

The first thing I learned in my survival classes is that a
good shelter in a bad location is a bad shelter. The second thing I
learned is that fox walking makes a difference in what you experience in nature and what you miss.

The painted turtles are back, and I think I’ve figured out what makes
them leap into the water when I’m still 50 feet away. It has to be the
vibration of my footsteps on the earth. It’s not movement. Once I
settle down to watch them, I can write in my journal or munch a carrot
and they don’t jump off the log. Now, I’m motivated to practice fox walking.

So what is fox walking?

Spending extended time in nature is challenging, even for well-prepared outdoors enthusiasts.

As the resident mouse runs across the floor, bumps into a box I never unpacked and leaps over it in fright, I try to decide if this is a sign that I should practice my weakest skill, setting a trap. I cannot remember if mice have to be field dressed, or if I just throw her into the stew pot. Of course I have to catch her. My trapping record is really poor; the mouse is in no immediate danger.

When I started this blog back in November, all I wanted was user-friendly software for my website.

I was looking to replace FrontPage with something I could easily use when I wanted to add information to my site. It was the cyber equivalent of putting on a new shirt. What I ended up with was a whole new cyber wardrobe – and a whole new business.

In the doldrums of winter, I had lots of time to put a big push behind this. But now, as the days are getting longer, and my income doesn’t even begin to cover the expense I already laid out – I find myself reluctant to sign a deal committing me to marketing services.

This is another one of those metaphorical map situations.

I know very well there’s no way I’m coming in from the woods in June, August or October for a marketing meeting. But will I regret that decision in December, February and April?

I ‘m viscerally back in the woods every time I recall this memory.

I was three – or maybe four-years-old; I could already read. My daily woods explorations were not unusual in mid 20th Century rural America.

My Brooklyn-born mother had a terrific enthusiasm for her work in the chicken coop and the garden. But the woods were my domain. I am grateful I was a child at that time in history. I do feel a tremendous debt of cosmic gratitude.

I remember the day Mom stood in the yard calling me to come home for dinner.

I got an e-newsletter from Hawk Circle Wilderness Survival, my favorite outdoor education school.

In addition to news about upcoming programs, Hawk Circle Director Ricardo Sierra reviewed Survivorman, a Discover Science Channel program, and he offered readers an interesting quiz.

Rain has turned to sleet; even the animals have sought shelter. So watching Survivorman on TV and taking the Hawk Circle quiz are two more indoor nature activities.

The coyote captured in Central Park died yesterday.
The report cited stress and rat poison. How the animal got rat poison in his system while being held in captivity since March 22 is a mystery to me. I just know this resourceful, but unlucky canid would have fared as well he had not been caged for three weeks. I’d emailed asking for information, but no one involved in this animal’s capture and care would respond.

I try not to be judgmental. One reason I never became a wildlife rehabilitator is my difficulty in dealing with the death of an animal in my care. So many people who do this work know it’s a very real part of the job. Do no harm is a difficult goal to live up to.

I think about Being Caribou and the reality that in the wild, the first year is the most dangerous year in an animal’s life. Most bald eagles, our national symbol, don’t survive their first year.

It’s raining hard, or I’d be hiking. The squirrels use their tails like umbrellas; a red-winged blackbird is perched on the rhododendron singing. He’s so close, I can see his throat vibrate. A mouse scurries along the wall, not stopping to search for spilled bird seed or plant fibers stuck to my hiking boots. How did it get in?

I’ve been struggling with my purpose on this planet. I am so blessed, am I supposed to be doing something to deserve all this? It’s like trying to draw a map without a starting reference point.

I met a woman this week who shared that she now only hikes in winter, because she’s afraid of ticks and snakes.

What is our attraction to fear?

In a few weeks, I’ll be with my family celebrating my Dad’s 80th birthday.

He’s struggling physically with post-polio syndrome, but his mental skills are sharp as ever. We’re a small family, most of the people we share DNA with have passed on.

One of the people coming quite a distance to celebrate with us is my friend Diane. We’ve technically known each other since we were six-months-old. We got close in sixth grade – and the threads of our lives have woven in and out over more than 50 years.

If that’s not a blessing, I don’t know what is.

Today’s wind and cold rain may turn to snow, but it does not stop the birds and squirrels from their morning activities.

It’s a busy time for most species; territory needs to be defined, homes built, families nurtured to adulthood – all in just a few weeks.