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Thimbleberries
Thinking back over 65 years, I recall picking unusual berries on the High Street end of the footbridge. They appeared in August and resembled a large raspberry. They were good eating, but never very plentiful. I never knew what they were.
Last week I tried my hand fishing at the footbridge. It saddens me to report the river is dead. At one time this river was the best trout fishing around. Our rivers are more than just a watershed on an engineer’s map.
But there were the large berries, all these years later. They have spread since I was a boy.
I went back with my camera to take the photo you see with this article. I sent the photo off to a few friends. Only the Fraulein knew what they were. She has some on her property. She says they are thimbleberries.
There used to be an old house on the right as you stepped off the footbridge. I remember the abandoned house as late as 1965. Reading online about thimbleberries, these thimbleberries probably date back to the heyday of this now-gone house. You know, like old cellar holes have lilacs. If you look today, you can see the stone foundation. It’s only a few feet from the well-worn path. Notice the path if you go, and imagine the little feet it took.
Last Saturday, Danny and I walked across the footbridge. I wanted to show Danny the berries. Danny had never seen them before. Someone has been picking them.
Orphans
While the State of Vermont forbids the keeping of wild animals, there have always been those who rescued orphaned critters.
Bill Bliss
Bill and Alice Bliss lived on a small farm on High Street. It was an interesting place for kids like me. Bill kept cows, chickens, and a very large sow pig. She weighed several hundred pounds.
On the end of the barn, Bill built cages for orphaned raccoon kits he found. They were not pets, but had become used to humans to some degree. Danny told me about Bill having a pet coon named “Nosey.” Nosey had a collar and was on a dog chain, hitched to an apple tree out front.
Danny Clemons
Danny told me about some orphans his father Bill rescued. Bill had rescued two orphaned red fox kits. They lived in a large cage made of chicken wire. One was a male, the other a female. The female was skittish, the male more domestic.
Danny would catch suckers down by the gristmill. The foxes loved suckers. Danny told me how the male fox would jump on Bill’s shoulders if Bill was bent over. The female remained aloof. Danny said they placed two wooden nail kegs with straw in the cage. The nail kegs made a comfortable den.
Another time, Bill rescued a baby porcupine. Danny said it loved carrots. If you petted him from his nose over his forehead, he seemed to like it. Another orphan was a baby woodchuck Bill brought home in his lunchbox. All were released when they were old enough to fend for themselves.
Lee Kendall
Years ago, Lee found a young crow. It hadn’t quite learned to fly. Lee brought him home and put him in the red shed. Lee fed him pollywogs, grasshoppers, and strips of venison. Kim fed him milk and bread. He would eat anything.
Within 10 days, “Buzzie” was tamed. Lee created a perch for him high up in the barn. In the morning, Buzzie would swoop down out of the barn out into the world.
Lee said he was a one-person bird. He would sit on Lee’s shoulder, or he would land on Lee’s outstretched arm, but not for anyone else. He wasn’t afraid of people, and would often land near someone looking for something to eat. It was in October when Buzzie didn’t come home.
My experiences
I found a painted turtle one day and brought him home. Dad said, “Don’t you think he’d be happier if you let him go?” Once I found a baby cottontail rabbit. He was really cute. Again, Dad intervened and said, “Don’t you think he’d be better off in the wild?”
I had to be content with Dumb Cluck. Dumb Cluck was a pet chicken.
This week’s old saying is from an old woman I once met. “Given enough time,” she said, “I’ll get around to procrastinate.”