A Strange Track

February 3, 2010.  Wednesday.

Situation:    Early this morning about an inch of powdery snow has fallen.  Back from her morning walk with Mway, Moi reports seeing a strange track on the snow on the creek.  Because around 1:15 I have to take the garbage out, and Mway sneaks out the door into the back yard, I decide to take her for a walk then, long before I have to leave for work around 4.

State of the Path:  By the time I’m out for my walk with Mway, most of the snow has disappeared; scattered patches here and there, mostly on whatever ice is still around.  On the path down by the creek, the mud is actually slippery.   I take the side path by the skating pond, but I have to negotiate the foot holds along the ditch very carefully.

State of the Creek:  Mway stops again at the log jam – still aware of something that has gone on here, but not able to discover anything substantial.  The blood on the log seems to have disappeared.   Down where the path narrows along the creek before coming back up into bug land, I see the track Moi was talking about.  It looks like a bicycle tire track through the snow, with dog tracks running next to it.   I imagine a coyote or something dragging the limp body and legs of a rabbit.   Down at the skating pond, I consider again going after the golf ball, surveying the ice on the creek for several minutes, but decide again against it.   Back in bug land, instead of heading up to the clearing, Mway wanders off down the side of bug land – perhaps she wants to go back to that log jam – until she sees me passing through the ridge.

The Fetch:   She overtakes me and beats me to the clearing, but only three fetches today.  She is already on the back porch standing in front of the door by the time I get to the back yard.