January 20th, 2007

Well here we are, a month into winter. Nothing to compare with the rest of the country thank goodness. As far as flora goes there is not much to report. The four foolish spring blooming shrubs, which burst forth in December now, wish they hadn’t. Curiously the winter blooming Chinese witch hazel weren’t beguiled.
Fauna is a different matter. The trapping and evicting of squirrels is going on merrily. But peanut butter appeals to more than squirrels. One morning, before sunrise, I looked down on the trap from upstairs and thought it looked awful full and furry. I went right down and there was a very cranky raccoon. I certainly was glad there was a metal plate on top of the trap to push down on while I pulled up on the release end, otherwise I would have had my fingers badly bitten. She or he took some time in leaving but the next time I am serving an eviction notice. During the last week two of my bird feeders have fallen and only a raccoon would be heavy enough to do this.
The big excitement occurred early one afternoon when I just happened to look out on my little fishpond. There were ripples originating from the far shore –very unusual I thought as there is a bank and a stonewall protecting that side from wind. I waited and then I thought my heart would burst as a sleek wet head rose from the water. An otter! Please don’t tell me that I was seeing a mink or a muskrat as I was raised with an otter so I know what they look like. We had one as a house-pet. It swam around, rested a bit, swam some more and then left. The icing on the cake came when my old Golden came back from our evening stroll a different way. She showed me where the otter had crossed the drainage ditch, come down through the fields, clambered into the walled garden, and then come out through the entrance and gone into the fish pool. I am sure there are no goldfish left but that is quite all right.