Saved by a Shoe Lace

THIS IS A GORE WARNING. DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE GORE.


Okay, now that that's over with, I don't expect any complaints. Chani, I'm looking at you.

The weekend was so very nice, we decided that we would trespass on the property that we're buying (but don't yet officially own). Since it's winter and the property is just a giant forested tract of land covered in a thick layer of snow, we went snowshoeing to see what we could see. Our friend Jay went with us.

It was a great hike! We even saw a porcupine rambling around!


The boys admired all the giant granite rock formations, and we slowly meandered through the woods, occasionally checking the GPS to see where we were.

We found a strange little patch of snow that seemed disturbed and, well, kinda dirty looking. There were tufts of fur scattered around. Oh no!! Further investigation turned up this gem, among other things:


It was a deer. There were bits scattered over a wide area, so we figured lots of meat-eating critters had been in on the feast. A few minutes later we found some clear tracks and decided that coyotes had definitely benefited from the deer's demise. Maybe they caused it too; who knows. Circle of life.


I'm glad I didn't find this stuff when I hiked the property alone a few weeks ago!

We made it further on snowshoes than I had gone before, and really just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves out in the mild winter air. We eventually turned around to make the long trek back to the road, and then a pocket of snow collapsed under my snowshoes and I fell. I looked down at my foot, and discovered that the bindings on my snowshoe had snapped.

It had taken us almost two hours to get this far.

It would be dark soon.

My snowshoe was broken.

At least the coyotes wouldn't likely be very hungry.

The boys pulled me to my feet and put their clever heads together. They made a few jokes at my expense, and then they managed to rig my bindings back together with one of Jay's boot laces that he very kindly donated to the cause of "getting Julie back to the car".

The new and improved snowshoe worked, and we made our way back through the woods.


The trees were beautiful. The giant rock formations were wonderful. The views were amazing, and the hike was well worth it. Nature is cool.