Last winter, with no snow to speak of, we often looked out our kitchen window to see deer eating out of the bird feeders in the driveway. No deer come by this year; the drifts are too deep for them to manage. You can see great herds out in the open from time to time, moving slowly and hunting for something to eat. We don’t see many rabbits when traveling at night, which is unusual. I imagine the coyotes have had them for dinner, because there sure aren’t any field mice to be seen. What I do notice when we travel in the dark, are small birds flying up in the headlights. You would expect them to be long abed, but perhaps they are also hunting food.
The bird feeders have a new robber now. Ruby, our Mini Aussie often sits on the top of drifts that allow her to reach the feeders, and helps herself to a mid-morning snack. Of course, if the dog can reach the feeders, so can the cats, and for a while there were bits of feathers floating in every time we opened the door. Ruby and the cats don’t need any more fattening up, and I feel sorry for the birds, but the feeders are too frozen in to move until spring.
We weren’t seeing any pheasants or grouse for a long time, but they are starting to appear along roadsides, so hopefully there will be a hatch next summer to replace the toll taken by January. We hear a lot of coyotes, but we haven’t spotted many in the meadow. I’m guessing it’s because the field mice they love to hunt are snug under snowdrifts, so the canines have gone elsewhere. But likely they’ll appear in droves when ranchers begin calving season. Some people claim that coyotes won’t kill a calf, but any rancher can tell of finding calves half eaten when they were being born. One night last year, when my daughter in law went out for a midnight check she saw nine pairs of hungry eyes in her headlights. I hate to think what it will be like after this winter’s slim pickings.
We have a guardian angel down the road a piece. His big tractor has been busy working on the county road that the regular maintainer guys haven’t been able to get to. Ray has plowed us out after each storm, and even made a trail to the shop and garage so Bruce could get his smaller tractor out and open some other areas. We are the last people on this road and Ray, 4 miles west, is our nearest neighbor. If not for him, we’d be socked in until spring and maybe hunting for birdseed when the freezer got empty.
Last weekend, we traveled to Mullen to watch grandkids play basketball, and then went on to the home place north of Seneca. My son and daughter in law were obligated to attend an event in Omaha on Saturday night, and the grandkids had more school activities. Their family has two new members. Bella and Okie are blue heeler girls, about three months old, so granny and gramps were dog sitting. In case you wondered, teenagers are a lot easier.
Many parents remember calling home to check with the sitter and make sure all was well. Saturday night, my son had to call and check on his puppies. They were well bedded down with full tummies. Grandparents were listening for the teenage vehicle to drive in. Some things never change, do they?