This blog has been about as quiet as the goings on around here! Thanks to over 7ft. of snow being dumped on the area, not much is moving at all, with the exception of these guys! "Bird feeder" birds are not very put out by it all, but the raptors around here looking for rodents are feeling the pinch. I had a red tail make an attempt at the birds....an unsuccessful attempt, I might add. I tried putting some defrosted mice out in the open area of the snow for them because I'm sure they are starving. But the temps around here are down to single digits most of the time and the mice just freeze within minutes. The ravens just end up with them.
A couple squirrels are brave enough to come out looking for food. Not often though.
Everything is buried and damaged by the heavy equipment necessary to clear the driveway. If the mailbox wasn't frozen into the snowbank, it wouldn't be standing at all.
My lovely wildlife crossing sign that used to greet visitors and caution them to go slow as they came down the long driveway is a twisted, shredded pile of metal laying atop a snow bank....beyond repair unfortunately. Given the choice of buying some formula or replacing the sign, well.....it was lovely while it lasted!
The last big storm predicted was going to be heavy wet snow and rain. I spent more hours and aggravation trudging through chest high snow as I worked my way around pens,clearing the snow off so the roofs wouldn't collapse with the new weight. 4 squirrel pens, 1 shed, 3 raccoon pens and 2 skunk pens were relieved of their snow burdens. I'll be blunt.....that sucked! I'm hoping I will be able to move again by spring!
Opening the garage door to this didn't help either....not when the snow blower is broken!! Grrrrrr!
Luckily Dad got his back and managed to come over and help me clear it out a little! Even the snowblowers can't get it over the piles anymore and we are running out of places to put it all!
It's safe to say I have reached my tolerance with this damn white stuff.
Aside from the birds and squirrels above, I have not seen any traces of another living thing out there, it's just too deep for all but the lightest of animals. After the storm I made an effort to make some paths, first by sending my trail breakers out there, then following on snow shoes. I can finally walk to the pens and out to 2 areas where I can leave some supportive feeding for anyone in need....however no one has been taking advantage. Last night for the first time in over a month, one of the cameras picked up some raccoon activity! It's hard to tell in black and white, but it looked a lot like Tuk! Lets hope the weather holds, and the snow stays compressed enough for our middle sized mammals to start venturing out and replenish!
In the meantime, I know one lucky raccoon who has scored the winter vacation of a lifetime! Lincoln is doing great. I don't see much of him. I occasionally see him curled up in the hollow log or in the denbox. But he's eating like a pig and producing lots of normal poops! Yayyy. (yes to a rehabber, that is very exciting news!) He was given revolution for mange and antibiotics for any skin infection that was setting in.
When he curls up in the log, I like to cover the hole with some straw during the day to help retain the heat in there. It's a pretty tall log and the temps have been dramatically low.
The den box is a much smaller area so I don't bother when he's in there.
In the midst of snowmageddon, the
Baby Warm incubator arrived! Many thanks to
Baby Warm and to those who donated towards it! I still don't know who all of your are, but I'm ever so grateful for your support!!!!
In the meantime, all are staying hunkered down around here....after all, we can't go very far anyway. I'm hoping the recent raccoon activity, minimal that it was, means we may be turning a corner, and at the very least we can look forward to not being buried further!
As much as Bernard and Boomer love the snow, and despite how fun it is watching them enjoy it, I can definitely do without thank you!! Time for Mother Nature to take a vacation!!!!
