Outdoor Class

Lone deer stares us down
Lone deer stares us down

I hear the town plans to thin the deer herd this year. Last year we heard the town didn’t have the money to fund the “bait and shoot” program. I don’t know if any of these things are true, they are just things neighbors talk about around here. The deer are gorging themselves on nuts this time of year and it is almost impossible to scare them off. I would not want to be the one charged with hunting or trapping these guys. It would be way too easy.

Most days our walk takes us into the park. Yesterday we walked to the park and then took a walk. We met a group at the kiosk on Zoo Road and took one of the Arboretum Tours that volunteers host. We’ve taken these tours many times but always learn something, mostly we learn things over again. No one knows how long the Dawn Redwoods will live or how big they will get because seeds from the species were only recently discovered. When telling conifers apart it helps to remember the cones on fir trees grow up and cones on spruce trees grow down. Hint: There are fewer letters in the the words fir and up. White oaks have rounded leaves (like the Matisse cutouts) where red oaks have pointed leaves. Hint: I forget what the hint was.

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