Who goes there in the night?

We had more snow. I managed with the blower. I was so happy to have it back. This was 14cm worth.

 

With snow comes more tracks. I'm finding that Good Bunny Labbit is so fast, she doesn't register on the camera. I have to go clip by clip. Ah well. It satisfies my curiosity. 

There are tracks here, perhaps #75 squirrel, and another mystery. 

The snow height discouraged it. 

I looked at these as I took the garbage out Monday morning. Not as long and thin as Butch raccoon, and the pattern is different. I wrote a piece on animal tracks for our local lake newsletter. The stride of this track is short. Fishers have five obvious toe pads. 

Look who I found on the camera! Skunks are omnivores, both plant and other animals. They eat just about anything: bugs, mice, eggs, insects, worms, grubs, bird seed,  plus fungi, roots, leaves and berries, most of which are scarce right now! 

The gate patterns I haven't seen before. Mostly the skunks have been around in the other three seasons. Not winter.

 

We often have a skunk roll by in the dark, this one was lactating. While they are crepuscular (active dusk and dawn) they den up in winter for extended periods. They aren't true hibernators, like Fred Groundhog. A lot of our little mammals do this, like Butch who holes up in the really cold weather.  

I seldom see them in the day time. This one pretty much ignored me.

Feed the birds!

I ordered a new topper for this feeder. It's supposed to be a squirrel baffle, but it works well for the tray feeder to keep rain and snow off.  The only issue is getting it hooked on properly! 

  

 The plastic hook doesn't hold well. It took me a half hour to MacGyver it! It has to hold tightly since the deer like to go after the tray feeder. 

There were squirrel issues on that spring-like day. With the warm temperatures, I think they were twitterpated. I didn't see any of them after the snowy day and cold temps. And since just the one.

This is the action shot! 

I counted 2 squirrels in front, went out back and counted 9! They are all Gray Squirrels (black morph).

I couldn't get them all in the one photo!

#75's nest box:

Even the red squirrel hung around!

 

I have to say that the foofoerah around gold, silver or bronze just doesn't matter  to me as a fan. The difference between 1, 2 or 3, in fact the top ten finishers, is so close, by mm or 1/100th of a second. I know all the participants gave it their all. I have American friends. I am happy for them. They are suffering from their president. The orange one is merciless.

At least average Americans can be happy about getting gold. I know many of them are shocked, angry, and terribly upset with what is going on in their country. I hope this gives them some joy. 

I think a better way to sort the medal list is by totals. I'd totalled our top 10 finishes, which is a feat unto itself. It's all a miracle.

Snowy Acres

 We had 14 cm snow, and it is snowing again today, Sunday. Everything needed to be cleaned off! 

I did the sidewalk in between an Olympic event. It was with great excitement that I spotted tracks on the step.

I finished shoveling and went back in to check the Crumbly Acres camera.

I followed them and they came from around the house. Then disappeared on the front deck. That was suspicious. 

Turns out Cinnamon was outside, and Joe let him in just as he was going to bed at 10 pm. He likes to hunt mice in the garage and I must have forgotten I'd let him out.  

After another Olympic event, I went out to do the driveway. My precious snowblower!!!!

The propane truck came before I'd gotten this done. He was stuck on our hill, here, and threw some sand down. It really helped!

In the afternoon I did the back deck: 

I snuggled down and Cinnamon sat on my lap. Nutmeg is not a lap cat! She sleeps in her own bed on the chair.

 

Our Ottawa grandies and JL, my SIL, went to the hills!

Aster and Jordan shared with Papa, I am sure!

Saturday's Critters

 I am bird watching. Their songs have changed. I wonder if it is going to be an early spring. I'm not in favour of that. The snow melts, aquifers fill, then dry up. We had a drought last August. 

I wrote this Friday. Overnight we had 14 cm snow. I know what I'll be doing today!

Joe had 19 deer and 3 turkeys waiting for him Friday at 7:30. 

We've not seen any big bucks this year.

This is Jan. 23, 2024.

First up, me, then the turkey, then a deer!  

 I adjusted the camera. This trio has been around for a month or so.

   

 The fawn has been going for evergreens!

   

 I believe this is the fisher! I noticed the driveway tailcam going off, and checked the Crumbly Acres camera. Its eyes give it away as it lopes along.

 

Saturday's Critters # 636 <= visit Eileen's page.

iPad stand, skiing, curling

My Valentine had a special delivery for 💝. I ordered the loveliest iPad stand for him. He had to put a mouse pad under it, as it slid a bit. Problem solved. I adjusted his table for him. All is good! It's the greatest table for him. Caitlin found it online. 

Beside him is the printed schedule for the Olympics, and his other paperwork. It's serious business! 

This is a better photo, from the website: Moonstone Woodworks. I ordered myself an iPhone stand last year (below, right). It was to support a Canadian author (Book Review: Jean Paetkau) and her husband. Jean's been managing cancer and her husband, Jason, creates these at Moonstone Woodworks. The pieces separate, and are cleverly shipped flat from B.C.

There were power outages in the storm that passed by. We were unscathed.  We escaped that storm, it dissipated and moved on by. It's just as well. Still no snowblower back from the shop.

There were power outages. 

⛷There is great excitement out west where our grandies are doing ski races three weekends in a row. I used to downhill ski, and then in my 20s took up cross-country skiing. Great exercise, excellent training and lessons. I looked it up, as the girls are doing both classic and skate skiing. 

Skiers propel themselves either by striding forward (classic style) or side-to-side in a skating motion (skate skiing), aided by arms pushing on ski poles against the snow.

Cluny does ski relays. They have a team name, and do costumes. Much fun. Bryony made a snowperson.

We were watching skiing in Italy. This was amazing. 

Our next Olympic watch is for women's curling and Rachel Homan. The online viewing at Olympics.com is amazing! You can follow the game from start to finish. Joe follows curling quite closely. 

This is perfect, as we've a storm on the way! Happily, our snowblower has been fixed up, parts replaced, spark plugs cleaned, and returned!