The Spring that Isn't

And the winter that wasn't!

Yesterday all had dried out and frozen again, but in the night we've had about three inches of new snow and still snowing. Tomorrow it will be in the 40's and next in the 50's so back to mud and shoveling .

The deer are coming right up to the house these days. When I go out, they watch me as I walk around. The dogs are very accustomed to them standing around. Soon they'll have better places to feed but for now they're enjoying the new grass and I see them eating some of the tree buds. They go into the trees when the dogs are free running.

A mama fox ran by in the early a.m.... her belly was covered with mud. Looked like she had been out hunting and had crawled out of her muddy den, maybe young ones in the den now.

We had 23 dogs free running on Tuesday, 15 yesterday. We keep a chart to make sure all get their turns. Quattro will have to wait a bit for another turn as she took off for an hour yesterday. She would run back in to tease everyone, so I knew she was ok, but no one else could be out while she had her fun.

The neighbors are clear cutting their land right up to our East borders. Will be putting up a fence to keep it safe for dogs . It was a dense woods with much wildlife. Just a few pines left standing, all the rest slashed. Would like to see that through an animal's mind, their habitat vanished.