All Creatures Great and Small

It is true I love wildlife. I always have. Since I was a young girl. You tell me what 9 year old would wake up on Saturday morning and watch Bob Izumi's Real Fishing? Tell me which child was overjoyed when there was a nature show on the Wonderful World of Disney instead of a cartoon? Which child still remembers every Hinterland Who's Who short? Me.

So its not hard to see why I have at least 3 or 4 bird feeders in my yard that I fill with various seed all year round. Its not hard to see why I put out fresh water for them too. You have heard about Parker, our squirrel. He is still hopping about the yard, even though we were -47 with the wind chill last week. I have gone through 5 pounds of peanuts for that little guy already. The chickadees and nuthatches get their fair share of those.

But now, now we have another little pet. I found his tracks a week or so ago. He lives in an opening underneath the front step. We feed him toast with peanut butter, sunflower seeds and dried fruit. I am sure he is grateful. In fact, he dragged the entire piece of toast into his house. I have yet to see him but I see his little foot prints in the snow. I know where he has been. We named him Napoleon.

Today was a fantastic day! The weather warmed to a balmy -11 so Athena and I got out the wood sled and headed out down the street. And right in front of the house, directly in front we found not one but two sets of deer tracks. Two. Must be a buck and a doe because one set is significantly bigger. After our long walk trying to find enough snow and our one unsuccessful attempt at tobogganing down the hill near the golf course (gosh, you think there would be snow in December)and after losing a Christmas card in the field after we went to the post office, we rushed home to get the oats. We made a trail from where we discovered the prints to have started, which leads to our front yard. There they will be rewarded with a pile of oats. We were careful not to step on the lawn so we could look for prints in the morning. Of course if they do come, we'll head right out to Peavy Mart to get some Alfalfa pellets for them. And....maybe a salt lick too.

And, I will throw in a few pictures of my other two loves for good measure.