One cure for cabin fever

Nothing lifts my spirits and eases my chronic cabin fever like getting outside, so over the weekend, Duffy (our five-year-old Scotty) and I took a hike through the Cedarburg Bog, a few minutes north of my home.

The woods were sunny, windless and warm – in the mid-40’s.

Cedar trees with shattered trunks and sagging limbs bore testament to the heavy early-winter snow that likewise damaged so many fir trees in town.

Deer sign was abundant. Tracks crossed trails, hoof prints pressed deep into the snow. A bald spot melted in an otherwise snow-covered meadow revealed where a deer regularly suns. And near the parking lot, the carcass of a large doe, half-eaten by coyotes.

A few chickadees chirped in the trees, and I stood transfixed in a meadow watching two sandhill cranes soar high overhead, their white underbellies silhouetted against the cobalt sky, their lonesome calls echoing over the woods and fields.

Recharged for another week.