Special guests

 Last week, I reported that we had an opossum with a cut on its foot. Monday, a possum showed up at the bird feeder just before sunset. It’s a warning sign when nocturnal animals start being active when it is not fully dark. I thought it looked like it was missing hair on its back. “Possums always look scruffy,” Terry said. "It's fine."

Mangey-looking possum

A day or so later, it was there at 4:00, in broad daylight. It was definitely not well. The week passed. We didn’t see it for a couple of days, but the skunk didn’t come around either.

We had about 3” of snow last night. Thinking the storm would last longer, I was surprised to see the moon when I got up this morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day, all fresh and clean under a layer of white.

Fresh snow at sunrise

We had special guests today, even though we are getting ready to paint, and the house is a wreck. Kate had to get a new furnace and asked to hang out with us where it was warm while the furnace guys did their work. Newton, her 2.5 year-old Corgi, came too. We had waffles for brunch and then took a lovely walk in the new snow. Kate and I walked, in any case.

See Newton run!

Newton running

Run, Newton, run!

Still running!

The only signs of animals we found were mice (vole?) tunnels under the snow.

Mouse tunnel under the snow

When we got by the creek, Newton ran over to something very interesting in the snow. All we could see was an arc of furry gray. “No, Newton!” Kate said. “NO! Don’t roll in that!”

It was a dead something. Raccoon? Possum? I flipped it over with the toe of my boot. From that side, I saw that the head was definitely possum. I was a little sad, but we knew it was sick. Something, probably coyotes, had eaten out the guts. Because the possum was curled up, I suspected it had died of its wounds/illnesses and was consequently scavenged. Murder victims are seldom so peacefully composed.

Definitely a dead possum

Newton seemed hard-wired to roll. Prevented from lying on the carcass, he rolled vigorously around in the snow.

Must...roll...must...roll

The wind was really cold, but it was nevertheless a beautiful day to be out. The snow was sparkly and fluffy, very Currier and Ives-y.

Kate and Newt

Our plan was to wear Newton out so he would take a nap (he didn’t) while Kate and I went through my mom’s collection of lectures on DVD. Hilda was far more interested in physical sciences than I. Kate took most of the DVDs for herself, her colleagues, or her sister (who teaches 6^th grade science). So that’s done. One more thing out of the house. We’re getting there.