Here we go again!

There are many joys and pleasures in living in the country or in this case the desert. There are a few things that you have to contend with, Wind, Tumble weeds, Goat Heads, and the occasional wild critter that is most always hungry. Except for dumb Skunks, I don't begrudge them their appetite, but I will protect my own when necessary.

Last evening was a genuine "Dark and Stormy" night. The driveway alarm went off about 1:30 AM. I rationalized that it was most likely a Tumble weed blowing in front of the electric eye, so I stayed warm and dry, only looking out to make sure that there wasn't a car in the driveway. That was a mistake! This morning I discovered that there were a lot less pigeons than I had the day before. There was very little sign, only two dead pigeons on the floor and a "pigeon bob" that was spread wide with a few feathers and some Raccoon hair on it. Since there was a light covering of snow on the ground and the rock wall by the pigeon house, the little darling's footprints were quite visible. Karen had been threatening to thin the pigeons for some time, but I had intended to use the surplus for hawk food. Not a problem with over crowding now. I am guessing, but I estimate 15 or more gone. So it is time for steel traps and vigilance again.

Peg was down to weight so we decided to combine a hunting trip with a Raptor Run, (we do winter raptor surveys) by taking the car rather than the truck. I got Peg loaded and tried to start the car. Dead battery! The car is only two years old, so I was a bit surprised. I got my tools and began taking the positive clamp off with the idea of cleaning the posts and making sure that I had good contacts. They put a little "Micky mouse" brass clamp on the thing that wouldn't even tighten at all. I finally gave up and transferred things back to the truck. We will do the survey some other time.

I wanted to go to Danner where there are lots of Jacks and Bunnies, to give Peg an area that hasn't been hunted that hard for a while, in the hopes that with the increased opportunities she would be able to make something happen. When we got to the top of the driveway, the view of the Steen's was quite nice, so here is the usual winter picture.

Peg had never seen snow, and made a couple of aborted starts at the lumps of snow falling out of the Sage. She automatically assumed the cold wet raptor look, even though she hadn't even gotten her toes damp.

We had a few good slips, but really not that much. The snow looked as though there had been a rabbit stampede recently. There were tracks all over the place, but hardly any rabbits in view. There were three Golden Eagles hunting, Coyotes were also tracking up the snow and digging in various burrows. The Bunnies were for the most part in their burrows keeping warm, and apparently from the tracks, the Jacks had joined them inside as well. Apparently the rabbits had worn themselves out tracking up all the new snow when it had fallen, so they had retired to the burrows to rest up after the novelty had worn off. Peg really tried hard when we could find something to chase, and came very close, but wasn't able to close the deal again. All in all, I should have gone somewhere else until the snow either melted, or the rabbits got used to the snow.

When we arrived back home the view had changed with the arrival of a new storm.