Snow Track Highway

 We had snow last week and I learned all sorts of things were going on in my yard without my knowledge.

At the north end of the property, I found fox tracks going across the corner leading to and from my neighbors' properties, new ones appeared virtually every day.  They often don't venture far onto the property, and often walk along the northwest boundary which is covered in prickly wineberry vines. The large male fox comes most frequently, and two smaller foxes came along with him once in a while. 

 

Why the highway? Why there? My husband came up with a theory that seems to fit. On either side of our property are the homes of single male humans, both have a history of feeding stray and/or mooching cats. The cats look pretty plump and well cared for, so I am betting mooching. I think the fox may be benefiting from their largess. Picking up an evening snack of kibble may be the reason for the regularity of their visits.  They are not sniffing out the chicken coop or run, they don't get within 100 feet of either, so they are not waiting to see if we make a mistake in locking up the girls.

 

We knew they were here at night, just after Christmas my daughter went to get something out of one of the cars in the driveway.  She donned her new holiday headlamp and zipped out the door without turning on the porch or spotlight. There was a child-like scream followed by  more animalistic noises, coming from a very few feet from where she was sprinting (She doesn't walk outside she runs, that's just how she has always been...). She whipped around and threw and crashed herself back into the house (that's what it sounded like from the kitchen) and breathlessly yelled, "What__ was__ that??!!  Her father heard the animal scream from inside the house, and soon we were googling fox sounds, apparently she had startled a vixen, who in turn then more than startled her.

I guess we need to walk the goofy hunting dog around the edge of the property more often.

Squirrel's Last Stand

The snow revealed other stories, most of them don't end well for the squirrels. Apparently, at least three met their ends by a hawk or an owl not far from the fox tracks.  Their tracks hop out into undisturbed snow, there are  spots where an obvious struggle took place and then no body and no other tracks.

 

Assorted comings and goings

The cats, of course, crossed the yard repeatedly, checking out the bird feeders and heading toward the homes of their favorite middle aged, kibble pouring men. 

 

Until yesterday, there were no chicken tracks in the snow.  The girls had room service when the temperatures were very low, and when it warmed the door was opened for them to sun themselves, but they declined to get snow on their toes. Finally yesterday, they took their opportunity and ran for the bird feeder rather than their own shelter, snacked for a bit and then hung out in their nest box areas.

 Today, after two days of above freezing day temperatures, the snow is almost gone. No more stories in the snow to read for a while.

Touching back on a previous topic:

Recipe Testing, the good the bad and the really ugly.

So far, for the smoothies we have made one berry/banana/spinach smoothie that tasted great, but looked like refried black beans in the glass. Really ugly.

A golden energy smoothie with steamed carrots, pineapple, oj and honey was next, two taste testers couldn't stand the texture, fibrous was their word, one had two sips and dumped the rest. I thought it was too sweet and the third tester thought it might be too tangy for kids  That one is a no.

The third one glowed green with spinach, bananas, maple syrup and vanilla with ground raw cashews and almond milk.  The flavor was good, but the bananas were dominant.  We know our audience is not crazy about bananas, so the banana would have to be toned down a bit. Maybe a bit of yogurt instead or more raw cashews. This would have to be a Ninja  Power Beverage, Alien Sipper or a Hulking Green Special to sell it to the 6-11 year old crowd. I liked the hint of maple.