November 29, 2012 Last minute chores!

Winter seems to be settling in for the season.  The deer are settling into their routines too.  The rut seems to be mostly over.  But, I am thinking the bucks are still out there looking in case anyone got missed.  All my girls seem pretty well settled again and there haven't been any big bucks in here to check out the situation since this guy on Thanksgiving morning.  The little guy with the bottle opener antlers is a regular with all the girls.  At some point, a big buck will be here to keep him in his place, I'm sure.  But, for a buck, little or not, he is pretty well behaved.  Some of them can be really rammy when they are young. 
I have been cross country skiing on my trails every day now.  I walk some trails in the morning with Toby.  In the afternoon, I ski.  He  follows.  If he doesn't follow, he gets run over.  Dogs learn about that pretty fast.  Anyway, we finally could get across the creek yesterday.  And....what do you think I find......3 big windfalls.  Just barely got across the creek and there were two large balsams together across the trail.  Had to pussy foot around them in the brush because with two together, I wasn't getting over them with skis on.  Just a bit farther down the trail, a big popple had snapped off and had everything messed up.  However, the butt end was by the trail and I could side step over that.  Well, I guess you know I didn't intend to put up with that all winter.  Evidently, they went down in the storm that started Thanksgiving night and ran most of Friday.  The trails had been clear!  So, today, it is load up the chainsaw on the 4 wheeler, and of course, Toby......and off we go......spinning through the snow......off to cut the trees.  That dang popple was frozen and froze to the ground.  It is a wonder that I didn't saw half the ground up trying to get that darned thing loose.  Then, extra heavy and frozen to the ground, I had a heck of a time getting it moving and rolled off to the side of the trail.  Chain was so dull when I finished that, it's a lucky thing those balsams were almost sawdust already.  They were really rotten.  But, not so rotten they didn't need sawing!  Anyway....we have clear sailing again for a while.  Toby had a wonderful 4 wheeler ride....something he doesn't get often this time of year. 
We got home and it was nice out, relative, the sun was shining and it was 15 degrees with no wind......so, just switched boots for ski boots  and off skiing we went.  Toby loved the nice, packed 4 wheeler tracks to run in when we got over that far.  We also made it across the creek without breaking the ice today.  Yesterday, I was almost across when Toby came on and with both of us, it cracked.  Cold this morning, near zero, so it was all frozen up again.  Without getting some strange and unusual weather, we should be all set for the season now.  Fingers crossed!
There are a number of cardinals in the area right now.  I was hoping maybe one would show up here too.  So far, no luck.  The regular birds are busy eating sunflower seeds now though.  And.....what they spill, the deer eat.  The fawns love to stand under the feeder and pick those seeds. 
Time to get back to some of the end of day chores......before the light is all gone!  :)