You can observe wildlife from home

I can’t believe the weather that we have been having lately. It has been more like in March, so as a true Minnesotan I know that we will pay for this eventually.

 

The light sprinkling of fresh snow that we received the other day gave the ground a fresh look, if only for a few hours. As I walked out of the house, I saw tracks of little birds in the snow along with squirrel and rabbit tracks. We have a very large cat that roams the neighborhood from time to time. The first time I spotted its tracks, I thought of a bobcat or lynx. My fantasy vanished in a second when I observed said cat in the neighbor’s yard. It did indeed resemble a bobcat, but the collar around its neck told me that it must be someone’s pet.

 

In looking back a few years, I am recalling all of the wildlife that I have seen around the neighborhood. When I was still working at the City Arena, I came home one night and spotted a coyote walking in front of my garage heading towards the back yard. Another day my wife called to me to come to the porch where we watched two deer walking down the middle of our street. That same day, I spotted a hen turkey walking on top of the fence between our house and the neighbor's. A short time later, my wife called me to the porch as we observed the hen turkey leading some little ones across the street. These things happened in the middle of our block in broad daylight. I wonder if there was a full moon that night?

 

I love spending time at our cabin up north because you can see so much wildlife in its natural environment. When you don’t have to leave the house to observe that, it really is a unique experience. When I was doing a lot of walking around the neighborhood, I had two deer run in front of me down by the pool. Another time as I was walking down Newton Avenue by the old Ramsey School, I noticed something walking down the middle of the street parallel to me. It was a red fox just prancing along without a care in the world.

 

These things that happen in your own neighborhood tell me that we are closer to nature than we think. As a young kid, seeing these things would make me wonder how to capture them. As I grew older, I got satisfaction just watching the critters in their own environment.

Please take the time to remember our troops that are serving now and those that have served before them. They are the reason that we have all of the Freedoms that we enjoy today.