Taps and Bobcats

On the way home from the vigil Mass tonight, my son counted 35 deer feeding together in the field below the dam and just off the highway! And then, shortly after we turned onto our road and before the crest of the hill, a bobcat quickly crossed the road in front of our vehicle! My son and I were both like, "Did you just see what I saw?!" Those fleeting encounters at dusk are tricky. And we were driving toward the west, so much of what we saw was a silhouette. We talked through it the rest of the way home, most of which was down our driveway.

"Could it have possibly been a fox?" No, the head shape was wrong. There was no pointy snout. There was no long, bushy tail. The legs weren't slender enough.

"Could it have been an oversized barn or feral cat?" No, the legs were too long and too thick. There was no long, skinny tail. The tail was short and fat looking. The head seemed too large and sort of square.

So there's that today. No wonder our chickens were goners shortly after we moved here! Large, contiguous sections of state forest that meet up with the woods surrounding our house means more habitat for large wildlife, and more predators here than at our old place. Building a chicken tractor (moveable chicken run) will be a necessity that I will have to begin working on soon- before the chicks arrive. 

The sap was running really well today too. I got nearly a half gallon from each of the taps by the end of the day. I didn't collect it tonight, because it was still running and it should taper off toward morning as the temps drop.

Speaking of dropping temperatures, we have a winter storm warning in effect from now until Monday. According to the National Weather Service, snowfall, sleet, and ice accumulations of 6 to 8 inches will be possible, hence our attendance at the vigil Mass. Which, by the way, was a rocky affair, given the hour (the 12 month old was tired and everybody was hungry) and the fact that I was "flying solo" with the kids.

I also had the audacity to take the older kids to Reconciliation beforehand, and then since we were already there, we joined in with those who pray the Rosary aloud before Mass. The baby, with much wrestling, made it until about the Gospel reading, and then I took him and the younger two to the back. He's been trying to pull off one short nap a day, but his teething has been disturbing our sleep, so he can't quite do it- at least not gracefully. He gets incredibly fickle, violent, and accident prone. So he was a bit wild tonight. Added to that was the fact that my 4 year old has finally decided to pee standing up. (Of course, when my husband is out of town.) So he insisted on going to the bathroom no less than 3 times during Mass to indulge in this new found manliness.

We rounded out a day that also included stockpiling wood in all of the log racks in the house, picking up even more downed branches, taking down even more Christmas lights, removing leaves & twigs from the gutter-guards & roof, some house tidying, laundry, dishes, activating new credit cards, getting a new backup drive, etc. by staying up late and live-streaming a production of the Opera the H.M.S. Pinafore.  It was another full day!