Last year when we were putting out food for our neighbourly wild animals it was all placed on the porch. As a reward we had the privilege of watching animals as diverse as squirrels, skunks, raccoons, rabbits, crows, nuthatches and chickadees, mice and rats avail themselves of the offerings. The resulting mess needing to be cleaned away frequently kind of got to me. The thought that Jackie and Jillie could pick up some kind of pathogen was also present. We took particular pleasure in watching the raccoons when they came in pairs and on occasion a mother with babies, the skunks and the rabbits.

 We saw more wild animals on our porch than we did in the forest. And we noticed that the frequent-visitor rabbit had made a temporary nest for itself close to this food source. Snow accumulates on our lawn to an impressive thick accumulation of up to four feet in height in a winter season. The rabbit had burrowed a little space between a holly bush and a yew tree. By spring we realized that the yew tree was dying. The rabbit, despite all the carrots and other food on the porch, found delectation in the roots and bark of the yew and holly. Both had to be removed. And we made a little garden for annuals where they had stood.

This winter we've been putting food out for the squirrels at the side door. There's a bit of a porch attached to the stairs in front of the door. But dirt doesn't accumulate there. There is also, on either side of the tiny porch on the side, a 'shade garden' of  hostas. And right beside the door itself is a Japanese quince. This time it's the quince that is being stripped of bark. I cannot believe that one single little rabbit eats all those carrots Irving places out for it (both on the front and side porch). 

Reminds me, actually of our two puppies; both of them have always searched out twigs to chew on while we're out in the forest, despite the fact that they're given fresh vegetable salads every day as treats, separate from their meals. They love the vegetables, but continue to eat spruce needles and chew twigs.

We were out in the forest this afternoon, on another warmish day of 3C; no wind, occasional glimpses of sun, a perfectly fine day, more representative of March than February, but no complaints. The sun and the unusually mild weather if sustained, would reduce some of the voluminous snowpack. Oddly the creek is still full, so there is some snow melt aside from the freezing rain event of several days earlier.