Living in the Woods: 10 Fun Facts

Living in the woods requires certain behaviors that can be unfamiliar to people such as myself who have never had the experience and have never even gone camping. These new behaviors become habits after a while, of course. I've been living in the woods for over sixteen months now. I've learned a lot and I'm still learning about the changes in the weather, all the animals around here, and even the language used by locals. It's true that culture affects language. I haven't moved to a new country, but I'm learning so many new words. My first year here, I was writing daily in my journal about life in the woods. Early this morning, I was looking for a piece of information in my journal to add to my WIP and I came across a page I'd titled “10 Fun Facts” and it's dated June 29^th, 2018, which is exactly one month after I arrived at the cabin.

1. No matter who the president is, here, the insects rule.

2. Cortisone has become my new body lotion.

3. I have to inspect my body for ticks at least twice a day, every day. If a tick stays on a human body more than a few hours, it can be deadly. I have to check the dogs every night before they go to bed.

4. I'd never seen ninja squirrels before.

5. These tiny frogs are so very cute.

6. I have learned about insects and reptiles a lot more than I ever wanted to, and now I have to unlearn all of it just so I can sleep at night.

7. I have to be careful not to step on snakes or they'll make me regret it in the worst way, and they're hard to see.

8. Fireflies make the evenings beautiful.

9. At night, the only sounds I hear are those of nature, and they're loud.

10. A beautiful cedar tree has been my carport for a month now, and I haven't seen a single bird poop on my car yet. Either the birds here have manners or they are constipated.

Four hundred and fifty five days later, all these facts remain true. I have, however, learned to reduce the number of insect bites by covering myself better, so although I use Cortisone regularly, it is, thankfully, no longer my “body lotion.”