January 15: Sculpted snow

Snow does such interesting things as it responds to disturbances, temperature changes, and wind. The farm cat made tracks in about three inches of snow near the barn on the first day of the snow. A couple of days later, the snow in the bottom and sides of the tracks melted a little, I assume, then re-froze that night into a hard shell around the inside of the tracks. When the wind picked up, it blew away some of the looser snow around the tracks, and what was left looks impossible. I love it.

January 16: Busy squirrel

While I was out walking, I heard a scrabbling noise above me and looked up to see a squirrel in an oak tree. It was right on the end of a narrow branch and I was curious to see if it was about to fall. But soon it righted itself and bounded up toward the center of the tree, holding a twig with two brown leaves in its mouth; I guess that's what it had been struggling with. It made its way along the network of branches in the oak tree and then hopped to the pine that was next door, still carrying the leafy twig. By now, I knew what to look for, and sure enough, up in a fork in the top of the pine's trunk a clump of oak leaves was visible. It was conspicuous (being made of oak leaves) if you were looking, but you'd be unlikely to notice it if you weren't: the squirrel's drey.

It's nearing early pupping season for some squirrels, so I suppose they're getting their homes together for that.