Snow Quiet

     It was snow quiet as I trudged a five gallon pail of water to the sheep pasture.  The snow absorbed the sounds of nature and early morning farm activity.  My footsteps sounded hollow in the crust topped snow.  The sheep waited patiently for their early morning drink to quench their thirst.  

     After taking care of the sheep, I decided to enjoy the cold, quiet morning and go for a walk.  I was curious to see if any animals from the wild had come to the pasture perimeter during the night.  This is rather easy to do because what cannot be proven in the summer grass, the snow gives away.  

     The first sign of animal activity was a rather large print.

     These prints circled a bush at the bottom of a hill behind the pasture.  They are from the canine family and could possibly be a coyote.  Not very good company for the sheep!  The coyote seemed to initially  be following a racoon.  He did not travel far however, gave up and wandered in the direction of the creek.

     While the coyote wandered off to the west, the raccoon went farther into the meadow towards the east.  His solitary footsteps where soon interrupted by a fox.

     Naturally the fox was chasing a rabbit.

     And the rabbit ran for safety into a thicket.

     If you look closely, you can follow the rabbit's tracks into the bush.

     Animal tracks tell a powerful story about the world around us and also in our own backyards.

Even the deer who came afterwards will know who was in his playground before him.