Ahhh! Spring Weather!

I know, I know, it's not really Spring and it will get cold again.  But this weekend is beautiful after the cold, the snow, the sleet, the wind, etc.  It's been sunny and in the mid to high 60's.  Might even get into the 70's today!

I got to spend some time outside yesterday.  I got my gloves, grabber, and bag and went to work picking up twigs, pine cones, leaves, and other assorted "stuff".  The patio, porch, and deck got cleaned off.  I straightened up the garage a little bit.  During a heavy rain recently, some mulch washed out of one of our areas so I raked that all back in place.  The bird feeder got filled.  And I just simply sat on the patio in the sun for a while.  I think I'll do that again later today!

Golfer and the other guys are out on the course.  I hope they're having a good round today.

While I was outside looking around and checking things, I found a distinct path in the yard.  We've known for a while that something has been crawling under our gate.  There's a spot where the grass is gone and the dirt has been dug away.  We haven't actually seen what/who it is, but we've suspected it was a raccoon.

"Whoever" it is, they're a creature of habit.  I can see a definite path right up the yard from the street.  It looks like he comes up out of the storm drain, or else just crosses the street there in that spot.  Comes up the yard almost on the property line and goes straight to our fence.  There's a path that goes into our neighbor's yard along the fence and then comes through a space in the fencing farther back.  From that spot, there's path across our yard to our deck.

If he doesn't go straight into our neighbor's yard, he comes under our gate and across our yard to our deck.  I would love to watch this.  Sometimes our back security light comes on in the evening and we see a raccoon walking across the patio. It might be him. I know from working for veterinarians that we need to be careful about raccoons, but this guy that I've seen looks healthy.  I'd never try to touch him, even if he came right up to me.  I hope he stays safe.  We need to protect our wildlife if we can.  So if he has a snack at our bird feeder, good for him.  And if he chooses to seek refuge and shelter under our deck, that's okay, too.  He can party with the bunnies that make a home under our shed.

Stay safe!