Discovering journaling

Today is a nice warm, sunny day. I figured it would be a good day for finding tracks, so I went for a little walk.

Just in the woods around the house I came across the tracks of red squirrels, rabbits, a very small bounding critter, and a few different sets of canine tracks. What struck me was the absence of deer—they were around not very long ago, maybe last month, but today not a sign. Could they have eaten all of whatever it was drawing them here?

I headed down the road to the hardwoods, really just to get out of the house for a while. More squirrel tracks, this time grays, and more tracks from tiny little animals. For some reason, however, I don't find tracks from these very little creatures very interesting right now. I should figure out why that is....

Anyway, before long I came across a trail with abundant canine tracks, and for some reason—maybe snow conditions—found ID'ing them quite difficult. I'm still not sure whether they came from red foxes, coyotes, or neighborhood dogs. There was definitely more than one animal, and they might have been of different species. Different sized tracks with different strides right next to and on top of each other is what was confusing. Mother coyote with juvenile(s)? Red fox? Both at different times? Neither? Bah, who knows.
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Yesterday I made myself a little journal. Journaling is something I've read and been told is important for a long time, but I never made a habit of doing it. My reasons why were somewhat varied—taking notes is something I've never really done, even in school, and I never had a "good" journal to use—but when it comes down to it I was making excuses.

I'd been considering journaling more seriously for the past few months, but kept telling myself I didn't have a good enough journal. I wanted something that was big enough to write in comfortably but small enough that I wouldn't need to put it in a bag. I don't really like the idea of carrying around a big spiral notebook around for some reason. Considered buying a nice leather journal around Christmas, and then again yesterday, but really didn't want to pay $20-$40 for one. So I made something that I thought would work.

What I ended up with is pretty decent, not perfect. I'd like it a little bit bigger for writing purposes, but it easily fits in a (cargo) pocket. And we'll see how the cardboard holds up....

What I did was simple:

1. Took 12 sheets of plain white paper and cut them in half
2. Once cut, I folded those sheets in half—the result is 96 plain white pages that measure ~5 x 4 in.
3. Used some recycling center–bound cardboard to make a cover, this from a shoebox—RocketDog is apparently a women's shoe company, but the logo looks kind of cool and was perfectly sized so I don't care
4. Pushed holes through the paper and the cover, and then "sewed" some thread through to keep it all together
5. Added a length of milkweed cordage I had around as a bookmark/closure strap.

I only made it yesterday, but already I'm starting to see the importance of journaling first hand. I think as long as I keep it with me I'll use it plenty. Why I didn't do this months/years ago, I have no idea.