SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Her own snow-fort

A sign of the times (or season) was K-Lee making snow forts.  Yep.  She does.  When she needs more exercise, she acts clownish.  The other day she went outside and dug herself a snow-fort in the snow banking that we had plowed up.  Go figure!  The next thing I should probably expect is being hit by a snowball!  This is a clear indicator that we need to spend more time outside doing things besides plowing snow.  She needs mental stimulation.

"Hold" technique--sorta!

Since the weather had broken a little, we've been doing yard drills.

Can you see the droppings?

However, training isn't nearly as much fun as exploring in the nearby woods.  Even though there's snow on the ground, there are interesting things to find.  A few days ago--about 1/2 mile into the woods--I heard the whirr of wings and the excited yipping of my dog.  We poked around to see any 'sign'.


Sure enough, we had surprised a grouse that was lying under a birch log.    What we noticed was that the "droppings" were nearly white-not darker colored as we would normally see in warmer weather.

Cavities galore!  A critter hotel.

Later, we came across an old dead pine tree that could qualify for a "hotel" for critters.  They are all sleeping now, but we counted a whole bunch of cavities that were probably used by squirrels, birds and such.  It wasn't a Marriott, but I'll bet they liked it.

Farther along, we found a track indicating that its owner strode along the snow, then jumped onto a large boulder.  It finally made its way into some small pines.  I suspect that it was the track of a Fisher, but I don't really know.

Can you identify this track?

 The best "sign" that I  saw was in a McDonald's parking lot.  It was a pay phone--plowed in and unusable.  When I was a young lad, I would spend many coins in one of these.
 

Now.... well, it's just a sign of the times.