One Less Swastika

In case you didn't already know, I love the woods. In my mind, you can't beat a beautiful day spent wandering around in the woods somewhere. Going to school in Rochester, one of the biggest things I missed was being able to walk out my door and instantly be in the woods; Left to my own thoughts and devices. Thankfully, the RIT apartment I moved into during my second year had woods close by.

Over the past few years I have spent a lot of time in those woods. Chewing on the green onions I find growing on the edges of the wood, I have seen a fair share of wildlife. One year a family of fox lived very close to my apartment. The pups were awfully cute while they explored their surroundings, wrestled each other, and chased insects. We have a fair supply of white tailed deer around. I doubt there is much hunting in the area. I swear I see more here than I had ever seen back home. I even spotted what I thought was a lynx twice. I contacted the DEC about it, and they tell me that it was most likely a bobcat. But it seemed much too big. I have read that these cats usually have very large territories and wander a lot. The first time I saw it I figured that it probably didn't live in the area and was just traveling through. But I saw one again about a year later. So I am glad they are sticking around.

During one of my outings early this summer, I was checking out an area where I had never been when I heard an eagle scream somewhere near me. It was the first time I had ever heard it in person. I only knew what it sounded like from watching nature shows on TV. There were a few farmers fields close by so I quickly went to see if I could spot the eagle. Several screams led me to a patch of wood behind a local college's building. I never did spot the eagle, but the screams did lead me right to a big oak tree. As I came closer I noticed that there were things carved all around the trunk. Upon inspection, there were many names, dates, and designs. Most of the dates were from the late 60's and early 70's. Coming around to one side, there was a big swastika with "Hells Angels" written underneath. I thought to myself, what self-respecting tree wants a swastika carved in it's trunk. So I took out my trusty leatherman and spent the next half hour or so making a few changes. Hopefully the original carvers don't see this and decide to hunt me down =)