It's over sixty years ago that we bought our first house, a semi-detached bungalow just north of Toronto in Richmond Hill. A few years later we had a little family of three very young children. Irving has always been busy doing things. In those early years he decided to build a little shed in the backyard. Where he would keep pigeons. Before that, we had brought home a very young Pekin duck, and the poor thing did nothing but wail the first day expressing confusion and loneliness.

Soon banty hens followed, including a little rooster. And eventually some domesticated rabbits. One of the rabbits was a black-and-white Dutch and he was so tiny we decided in a spur of imagination that he would be an indoor pet. We named him Benjy. Benjy was never confined, he roamed about everywhere in the house. He learned to leave his droppings on paper in the tiny front vestibule. And at night he slept under our bed. We would hear him preparing for sleep; scrubbing up the carpeting under the headboard.

We thought that though we were living in a city suburb, our children would benefit from being a little closer to nature, becoming familiar with animals. We also had a little dog. The children were interested in none of the animals. But all these years later we continue to be interested in the wildlife around us living now in an area adjacent to an urban forest that teems with wildlife.

We noticed in the last few days that the little wild rabbit that visits the porch day and night along with the squirrels and birds to pick up little treats has re-engineered the tunnel he dug out of the snow under one of the garden yews where he now has his den. Now he has an ingress and egress point. The latter on the side of the house, making it handier and closer for him to just emerge and saunter up the walkway to the porch when the nibbling mood takes him.

And finally, it seems he has decided to vary his diet a little more. Although peanuts appear to be his favourite treat, he regularly nibbles then hauls off the carrots Irving puts out for him. But now he has finally given the bunny kibble Irving bought on the weekend a try. We thought the squirrels might be interested in it, when the rabbit seemed to take no notice of it placed in a low, square plastic container. But there, after days of sitting ignored, was the rabbit nibbling at the kibble.

It was just a tad milder today, at -8C, with morning sun and slight wind. By the time we made it out to the ravine with Jackie and Jillie for our afternoon walk it was late, just after four, and clouds had moved in. We had slept in again and it took me a bit longer to clean the house. But off we went up the street thick with snow and ice that will remain plastered on the road until the arrival of March. The nice thing about approaching February is that we'll be enjoying longer daylight hours.

Already, on this last day of January 2022, there's been a big difference, over a half-hour -- more like 40 minutes -- of daylight before dusk begins falling. So we're not so anxious going out to the forest trails and leaving Jackie and Jillie off leash as we were in December when by 4:30 dark had crept in and we were concerned over the presence of coyotes.

Even at -8C with wind, it tends to feel cold when you're not striding along. When we were about four-fifths through our circuit this afternoon we came across two older men, acquaintances of ours, and stood around talking for far too long. Earlier encounters with other people and their dogs were of a much shorter duration. This time we felt the cold. And before we reached street level, Jackie was lifting one of his booted little feet, hopping along on three legs, which he manages quite skillfully until one of us picks him up.