Around noon I went for a walk. It was 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Snow was falling, but very lightly. I walked ~6 miles, from my house over to Baker Wetlands.
I walked through the marsh, to the Wakarusa, then turned around. It was really pretty. I'm glad I went today, when it was cold and everything was frozen. Didn't get wet at all. I wore my big black parka with a lightweight merino sweater underneath, a pair of normal socks with wool socks over top, a pair of really cheap gloves with my thick wool mittens over top, but no scarf. System worked great, I was actually feeling too warm for periods on the way to the marsh. I love marshes.
Boy, did I feel bad for everyone else there though. There were some ducks, seeming to congregate around the one creek that hadn't frozen all the way yet. I also saw cardinals, and a robin or something. I can't imagine how hard their lives must be right now. But on the other hand, the same species live farther north, where it's this cold & colder for a longer period of the year. They'll be alright.
The wind really picked up while I was in the marsh, and there were no houses to block it. I saw a big hawk (which may have been a cooper's hawk, but honestly IDing hawks is so hard for me) in the air trying to fight the wind. It went on for several seconds; an uncanny scene. The hawk flapping its wings hard against the bitter wind, yet remaining still. Eventually the gust relented, and it glided away.
I had a great time walking in the snowy marsh. There were all sorts of tracks. Definitely saw some deer, duck, squirrel, human, raccoon and rabbit tracks, maybe opossums or even otters. It can be hard to make out the tracks in snow of the depth that it was. Especially with so many different tracks, and my paucity of knowledge.
The winter world is lovely, but to be honest, I can't wait until summer.
Going home, I saw some graffiti. It was a tag "BUG" that's popped up around here in the last year. I noticed something about Lawrence's graf writers. Most of the graffiti is normal stuff, but there's a few writers like BUG, the incredibly prolific home, and the "it's okay" guy who is curled up holding his knees who I'd describe as heartwarming I guess. Wholesome graf writers; seems on-brand for this town.
Also on the way home, I was cold and hungry, and passed by Checker's to get some candy. I got a 3 Musketeers and a Kit-Kat. That was my lunch. Anyway, the Kit-Kat had some cool art and said on the back they're giving money to Urban Word, a "non profit using music and art to create transformational opportunities for Black youth in New York City" That's pretty cool, it could just be virtue signaling, but nay money towards a cause like that is good.
3 Musketeers needs to step it up. Maybe they could give money to use art to create transformational opportunities for rural Native Americans or something, I don't know.
I was in an inner city outreach project thing for a while; Wilmington's Urban Bike Project. It was really cool, and I learned about bikes for free. I think they help lots of people. So, my point is that these types of outreach centers are important and good I guess. I don't know what I'm trying to say.
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