Second sign of spring

Last night, I knew exactly what I was going to post this morning after seeing Mrs. Joe Hansen sitting on the edge of my pond, successfully overwintering in a pond I’d say was way too small. I think she overwintered in the dirt around the pond, not the pond itself, but regardless, she was there yesterday, pulled forth from the ground by rain and frog song.

But no. Mrs. Joe Hansen is not who I will be talking about. I got to play detective this morning while out with my dogs. See, our yard is fenced to keep out the skunks and keep in my puppies, and when we find a tuft of white fur in our yard, our thoughts immediately go to rabbit.

White tuft = rabbits. But it didn’t look quite right–too corse and long. And why was there another tuff on the fence?

Well, I suppose a hawk could have rested there and left a tuft. We’ve got them in the area, even though we are within city limits. They were probably after our neighbor’s chickens, but rabbit is on the menu as well.

But . . . it was dark, and too early for birds. And then it hit me. Deer. A quick look around in the soft dirt, and I found another tuft of white and this time, prints. Yep. Deer. Looks like I’m going to loose my Hosta even before they come up if I’m not careful. They. Are. Hungry.