mondhasen

I'm in the dog yard with The Huntress this morning, and by golly there is the side-yard rabbit in her favorite corner munching wild rose stems and hips like every other day. She stops when I spot her and just stands still waiting for the dog to start the chase. Bunny does her circle around the trees and bushes and easily outdistances the pup, running past me and out through the fence. Fantastic! I was so worried she was the one on the menu previously.

A couple of hours later I realize there is the driveway rabbit by the truck again, lazily eating apples I had tossed there, and totally ignoring the pup and myself in his dining.

Note: I do not believe this is same as the side-yard rabbit because he usually stays by the driveway near the truck (hence I sometimes call him driveway bunny) while the other is always on the other side of the dog yard near my shed and the woods there.

Regardless, he is alive as well! I don't know where the fox found the other bunny but there have been three here on occasion at mating times.

Another note: I call them by their respective pronouns because of where I usually find the kittens nesting.

So happy! I even got some pictures of a very cooperative driveway bunny.


Driveway bunny? I haven't heard that name in years...

A couple of more pics here on my google site: https://goo.gl/photos/GdnNnd2bc4pS73UZ9

This entry was originally posted at http://moonhare.dreamwidth.org/41388.html.

Today we had a red fox trotting through the woods out back. It has been quite a while since we saw any foxes hereabouts. There were tracks outside the dog's fence the day before, and The Huntress was quite anxious both yesterday and today when out with me, sniffing the air and listening intently. The tracks led from one of the rabbit thickets to the other's. And funny that this critter appeared so close to the raccoon's arrival as both species are rabies vectors and have had their populations decimated in recent years. This fox looked quite well, fortunately.

And deer! Too bad the camera malfunctioned yesterday as they were gallivanting and gamboling about in the wild winds and cold temps right out next to the driveway. Today I got a shot or two when they crossed the back yard, but these pictures were not so good as the deer were on the move and many trees separated us.


Best I could do. The other shot that came out was basically a butt/flank ;o)

We are due for a large storm Tuesday, so I made sure the snowblower had fuel and the cables were adjusted. Our storm Friday left only a few inches of snow but I used the blower anyway just because it had been almost a month since the last storm. I had gravel shooting 30' because although we had accumulation the driveway was still not frozen after all those 50 degree days.


The calm before the storm.

I had to shop today because tomorrow will be panic at the stores as folks remember they only have limited foods packed away for the 'event.' I also topped off the gasoline in the truck because it adds more weight for traction ;o) We now have our recommended 4+ gallons of milk, four loaves of assorted breads plus English muffins, two dozen eggs, lots of coffee (and Kahlúa, just in case). But this is normal for us anyway.


To hell with French toast!

And in a very loosely related note- Google photo picture search gives a kind of Sesame Street array of results here:


One of these things is not like the other... presented with no more comment :D


Who is Blur anyway? I was actually thinking of this song when I rhymed the subject ;o)

This entry was originally posted at http://moonhare.dreamwidth.org/40274.html.

One of the nice things about snow is how it shows up animal movement: tracks, silhouettes, and even scat. There were deer tracks all around the yard this morning, front, sides, and back. Some sets were in pairs, with large sets along with tiny ones; some trails showed evidence of three and four deer walking through. I saw one of these deer last night after hearing deliberate, crunching paw-steps out in the dark. Suddenly this shadow leaps by and I got to watch her/him trotting off down the road, silhouetted in the moonlight and by the snow, and briefly lit by the street lamp glow.

We also had fox prints along the dogs' fenced yard. These right-angled to and then paralleled along the wire for about 100', stopping and circling a bit by my derelict truck and near where there are bunny tracks, and scat. The rabbit likes to 'go' almost next to the fence in defiance of the pups.

The rabbit, I assume it is the same, can be seen within the fenced yard as well. He was also silhouetted recently among some brambles in, yes, a briar patch, nibbling on vines at dusk. The tracks, and scat, are all around, and the little 'part beagle' dog races along trying to locate this fellow. She spooked him one night and he brushed past my leg as he zig-zagged away from her and into another little thicket. I coaxed her away and he fled out the back corner of the enclosure (the dog yard is approximately 100 feet deep by 100 feet wide).

There are also myriad mouse, squirrel, and bird tracks to be seen. It's nice to know all these critters are about and I love to live among them.