Long, cold winter for everyone

I am bored to tears. Not to say I don't have things to do. I simply am not motivated to do them. And it's still January. Sigh. I comfort myself knowing I, at least, am warm inside.

This is my first winter without a dog. Let me tell you, while a shotgun may provide security, it doesn't have the other benefits of dog company. For example, there is a plate on the floor before me that I set down late last night...leftover pot roast. The cats licked it clean AROUND the potatoes. Well, mostly Bear did, as he's the most dog-like.

My old dog Sadie would have made short work of those potatoes. Now they are compost. I can't believe the food I throw out. Cats are picky. Half the time when you give them a bit of something, they stick up their noses, leaving you to stoop and pick up the now-cold-and-sticky offering. Or you fail to notice it until you step on what was once a perfectly good piece of provolone cheese.

This simply isn't an issue with a dog. With a dog, it's gone before she even tastes it.

I also have been astounded by the varieties of wildlife I see now. At first I thought it was the loss of Nicki-the-cat, who made short work of red squirrels and chipmunks. Then I thought it was the addition of woodpiles (which we have always had to some extent, but not so large as this year). Yet Nicki didn't eat deer and possums. The deer are showing up in daylight, cleaning up under the bird feeders, and I have not one but three possums visiting nightly.

Then it struck me---no Sadie on patrol. She couldn't see or hear worth a damn, but she was a big black dog exuding Big Black Dogginess. She sat on the porch for hours, staring out over her domain.

I enjoy the wildlife, and am slowly patching holes in the house to prevent squirrelly disasters, but it does bring their plight closer to home. I feed only black oil sunflower seed, but recently added cracked corn for the doves and jays. I am tempted to put out food for the deer, but I know better than to do so. Already, one smaller fawn is beat up by the others. Encouraging more to come means increasing conflict. The pariahs stand shivering while the others spend more time eating in my yard, and less time out in browse where the pariahs could get something to eat. Of course, they are too shy to wander off on their own, so stay with the crowd and starve. I have, however, taken to scattering the cracked corn widely rather than in a pile under the feeders, so the birds eat it more quickly and when the deer come, the little one gets a chance, and they all leave more quickly for more traditional browse. I haven't increased the food. I remind myself..."bad, bad, bad to feed the deer." How many calls did I get when I did nuisance wildlife control, from people with deer dying in their front yards? Yet a person is tempted, seeing them out there in the cold.

Don't they die out in the hills, too? Yes, they do, but out in the hills, when they go down, coyotes make short work of them. This may sound brutal, but it's important to remember there are no easy deaths for wildlife--not a single one of them--and better a fast death than a long lingering one, if an animal isn't going to make it to spring. This is why I don't permit coyote hunting on my property. There is a good reason they are there, and this is one of them. They are winter's grim reapers, and prevent a lot of suffering by filling their bellies.

However, to turn from such dark thoughts, it is a bright winter day, somewhat warmer than yesterday, with lots of opportunities to get things done. So off I go...