Disappearing snow (and coyote urine)

Roundtop this morning after yesterday's snow

Yesterday’s snow has already melted quite a bit. In fact, if I’d know how fast it was going to melt, I wouldn’t have spent so much time and effort to shovel it. This morning the cloud cover is lifting and a bit of bright blue sky is visible, a sight that’s enormously welcome. I’ve grown tired of overcast skies this winter. Skies here in winter are historically a lot more sunny than cloudy, and this year’s gloom only makes the lack of snow and winter temperatures feel even worse.

This morning looks a lot more like a typical winter scene here, even if the snow is melting and the temperature edging towards spring. For the moment I will enjoy the snow—that’s about all the longer it will last. Yesterday I got almost 5 inches. Today I have something less than 2 inches already. By tonight I expect the snow cover will already be spotty where sunlight struck it.

I have been forced to buy coyote urine to try and deter the raccoons that are pillaging around my cabin. (Thanks to Marcus Schneck, the outdoor writer for the Patriot News for suggesting it). So far it seems to be working, though with the snow melting, I will need to reapply it around my chicken pen pretty often. I’ve used it for two nights now, and so far I haven’t been awakened by raccoons or Baby Dog’s frantic barking at the raccoons. I just hope the bandits don’t get used to the smell and start ignoring it.

Oddly, the neither the household dogs nor the cats seem to mind it. The cats are actually interested in the smell. One somehow climbed atop my jelly cupboard where I had placed it to check it out. The dogs pretty much ignore it, if they even notice it. So, I find it a bit odd that it’s a raccoon deterrent. But I’m not complaining, as long as it works.