Sunshine and snow...is there any better combination? With camera in hand, dogs in tow, Carharts snapped to keep out the wind- I began an adventure out to the great little bit of woods I have come to love and count on. Since October, I had not been to visit my little peaceful sanctuary. "Why?" you ask...because I had forgotten what a restorative place the woods are, the cold and iciness of winter sometimes keeps me indoors seemingly against my will. Nah...I'm just lazy in the little lighted days that present themselves between November and January. But finally, the time had come- the call of the wild hollered out across the fields and I answered.
A favorite activity since I was a child is tracking. After a snow, it's quite interesting to see who's been scampering about, to see where they're going or where they've been. Rabbit tracks across a frozen pond, ending at the edge where the spring seldom freezes- and the still tender grasses there left to be munched on.
As I was entering the woods to the west, Stubby disappeared into a gully where the deer bed down. He yelped, came out running- and this big old coyote thought he had lunch on the run.
(If you click this picture, it should enlarge- much more vivid!)
"What we have here is a failure to communicate..."
As the coyote chased after Stubby, he hadn't counted on Gideon and Gracie on the other side of the gully. I snapped this picture as Stubby raced behind me and Gideon the lion hearted took chase after the coyote.
The dogs and the coyote raced around, in and out of the woods- finally ending with a watchful stance. Stubby's size and the coyotes appetite must have seemed intriguing enough to keep the coyote interested as he continued to watch over us. Finally the labs companionship proved too daunting to the coyote and he loped off into the bigger woods.
But the adventure had only just begun! Gideon worked relentlessly on getting this possum out of a hole. She then proceeded to shake the poor thing to death, or was it merely...
Playing possum!
(I stood around about 30 yards away to make sure this guy resurrected itself. It sure looked dead, with snow caked in it's mouth and nary moving a muscle...but I suspected all along it was playing. Fooled the dogs for sure!)
Hmmmm....this was a really interesting form I came upon. Could it be the missing link? What could make such marks in the snow???
A forty-something -year-old-child at play...
The sun is shining again today! And the temperature is fixing to rise...after work, I may just have to take that walk again, out to the woods, along the path sparkling with diamond dusted snowflakes. Beauty is all around us, even in the cold frame of winter. Like a shutter on a camera, snapping it all up, intimate details exposed.
Hope you enjoyed taking a walk with me, I sure enjoyed sharing the view. Take care-
