Snow Run...

A morning I've been waiting for..... for a long time now. It was 25 degrees by the time I got out and warmed up the Jeep... but there was no wind so it didn't feel half bad. The snow fall at the farm was only about 1-1.5 inches, but I had a feeling it was going to be a bit more up on the hills of the public restoration land... So I cleared the windshield and headed out. The roads were pretty clear, still snow covered, and it seemed about maybe 8-10 cars were out before me... I had aspirations of being the first one out in the park, driving on 'virgin' trails, but it seems hunters and some other games man were out much earlier. In fact I was probably number 5 or 6 to arrive, according to the number of tracks... But no big... it was a beautiful morning and warm in the Jeep.

After driving into the woods for a few miles, I found some of the trails less traveled... Here I am coming back down from an old logging road. The area I was in had been cleared a while ago as you can see some of the remaining trees in the background. There were a lot of little dead ends, but you have to try them all... you never know what you might find.

 
The snow fall up here was closer to 3-4 inches... really dry and powdery. The sun was popping out more here than there... and left me with some great photo opps... Cool thing about being the first one out is, it's difficult to get lost... you just turn around and follow your tracks out.

This trail was amazing... as you can tell. Deciduous trees flank this road for a totally different look than the snow laden pines. I got out to take this pic and something funny happened... I couldn't see my breath... I know it's around 25+ degrees out, and but for the life of me... I couldn't see my breath :-?  Pretty trippy... The thought had quickly crossed my mind that maybe I was dead somehow and didn't know it... but that too evaporated as I was leaving my initials in the snow  ;-)   Gonna have to Google that one... 

The only life out on this road before me was the deer... you can see their tracks in both ruts of the trail. That actually was true for almost every 'virgin' trail I saw today.

Heading back home after an hour or so... A view of part of the Cascade mountain range in the back. I had my fill for today...  and there will be more days to come...

Now... back to Mousy... The last time I wrote about them was after capturing #30. I needed to start getting some sleep, and so I took a break from my 'catch & release' program... And it seemed that they might have slowed their nocturnal forays... but I was wrong. So the past few days, I've been catching and 'releasing' them out the bathroom window, onto the carport roof a few feet below. I figure it's the next step before the traps. So at the window, I would open the back of the trap and shake them loose with a sort of jerky, bowling action. And after the launch... they would 'plop' - regroup in a fraction of a second - then quickly scurry along the roof line and disappear. I had hoped that after 'some' number of times, they'd resign for the night and start fresh the next night. Above is mousy #1 ... he 'ejected' early and landed close to the wall... you can just make out his impression in the snow... His four little feet, his tail off to the right and nose on the left...

And here are the landings sites for mousy's 2-3-4, and of their scurrying little feet, heading back towards the house. The snow was deeper now... and their landings more surprising.  Although not as surprising as mousy #5 ...  His launch was perfect... and the last I saw of him was when he just cleared the carport... legs spread wide, sailing like a tiny little Supermouse... 

And yes... I felt a 'little' guilty... ;-)  and so I went downstairs to see what became of him. I knew the grass is taller over there, and with the snow... I figured his landing would have still been very favorable. I mean, they're practically all fur & cartilage..... But there was no sign of mousy... no hole in the snow that I could find... no tracks... nothing. I even went back up to the window to double check the flight pattern... then back down again... nothing. He must've really been a 'Supermouse'...