Wild Life

What fun! We watched two beautiful coyotes on the trail of two deer that gave them the slip. The deer vanished into the woods but the coyotes wandered out into our meadow. Gypsy and Cleo saw us staring out the window so they had to charge out to keep an eye on things. However, when Cleo realized what we were looking at she made tracks for the door.
The Mallard pair should be building a nest soon. When they're not paddling around on the pond, we see them flying overhead making a bee-line for the water.
The mule deer have been visiting the salt block in the meadow the last several days, too. They are so huge! They really show up with a little snow in the background. The patch is gradually shrinking.
I was visiting Jimbosfrontporch blog site and saw he has invented some new crochet hooks...really unusual...too back I don't crochet because these things look interesting. The regular ones are beautifully handcrafted things! 

Just Ducky

A pair of Mallard ducks have returned to our pond for the fourth year in a row! They sure have a battle ahead of them with all the predators lurking in the woods.  We tried raising a couple domestic ducks a few years ago...Aff and Lack...but unfortunately, one day after they got big and started spending more time on the pond, all we could find was a few feathers. The chickens...Elvis and Priscilla... had a better survival rate...after a night hawk or owl tried to make off with one, we found them a safer home. Of course, Elvis probably wound up in the new owners soup kettle unless they truly enjoyed his early morning serenades. He was a handsome rooster.
We watched a coyote stroll across the meadow this morning. I don't care what anyone says, they are lovely creatures.
A couple days ago there was a passel of turkeys in our yard...so many we couldn't count them. They sure are destructive buggers.
Did I mention the two bobcats we say a while back? One was in the meadow and the other next to our garden fence, both on the same day.
Unless Gypsy and Cleo happen to be looking out the window, they remain pretty oblivious of what critter is passing through.