#2061 "The Lifeline"

The red cedar is a special tree. It is actually a juniper family member and not really related to the similarly named white cedar. It has two kinds of bluish-green leaves - sharply pointed needles and softer, more rounded scale leaves. The small cone actually looks like a berry with a bluish-white powder on the surface. It is slow growing and the old bark peels off in long, fibrous strands that would be useful as a rope in a pinch.

The red cedar offers food and shelter to a host of nature. I have watch blue birds and robins compete for the berry-like cones on the coldest day in the deepest part of winter. The robins typically dominated the blue birds. The blue birds must like the Peterson Blue Bird houses that dot our Singleton property - so much so that they want to be the first to claim them in the spring. They never leave the lake. As a result we see the blue birds of happiness all year long. They like the stone on eastern side of the home for the sheltered exposure to the sun first thing in the morning.

Science has shown that birds nesting in pairs on cold nights reduce their heating losses by 23%. Trios of birds do much better and reduce their heat loss by 37%. I have witnessed at least five (maybe more as they flew so fast) blue birds emerge from a Peterson Blue Bird House after a cold winter night. That is why I now refrain from cleaning those houses until spring when the warm weather has returned but the birds are not yet nesting.

Deer browse the branches of this special tree. Squirrels, mink, fisher and countless other birds use this tree as shelter. This tree also provides shelter from the cooler northwesterly winds.

This is the particular red cedar as it appeared at 4:45 pm on Saturday January 13th, 2018 between winter storms. The line of cirrus on the western horizon had a story to tell about the next winter storm. The pink cirrostratus on the horizon reveals the approaching warm conveyor belt.