December 1

The two-track across the road is now frozen, making the going at once easier and more difficult. The sandy soil of each lane is fixed in place so that our boots stay clean where just last week a walk here resulted in clinging mud. The dogs certainly seem to prefer it like this; their paws stay clean after a walk around the fields.

The path is also less forgiving – the differences in freezing have created small ridges and bumps that stay in place where before they would yield to passing boot. Where larger rocks rest in the track, the soil around them has expanded in the freeze, making it look as if the stones have sunk slightly into the Earth.

Where the tractor cut across the path, as it left the corner of the field turned under a week ago, its tread remains fixed in the track. This will continue, fossil like, through snow that piles high with coming storms and winter winds that drift the pack until the ground here is bare. This will endure until the spring thaw, when the warming rains and turning soil work the land toward another planting season.