Happy February.

February has dawned with temperatures in the 60's. Spring like. A chill in the air , a jacket necessary but a far cry from the deep snow of the past couple of years.
Buds are springing to life in places and, of course, if it decides to become colder quickly, they will die and spring will not happen, fruit trees will bear no fruit this summer and it could be a disaster.
Let's hope it is not.

There could be an early spring and I suppose the groundhogs will let us know tomorrow which is ground hog day.
The ground hog family that lives under my backyard shed is lead by Mr. Beaver. That is his official name. He received that name the day he and my daughter had a run in at the backyard.
She was returning from school, books in arms, her school uniform all bunched up under her bulky coat, her legs freezing in the cold she rounded the corner of the house that meets the back yard.
There was Mr. Beaver enjoying the left overs of a ziti dinner that had been tossed in the garbage that morning. His little hands held a goodly helping of it and his little face was smeared with sauce.
He yelped, she yelped, they ran their respective ways and a tenuous friendship was born that day.

Two years ago now, Mr. Beaver took a wife and 3 little groundhogs emerged that

spring to roll and romp around in the backyard much to our ooo's and aww's.

So the backyard menagerie consists of 4 chipmunk families, one under the back porch, a few others in various places, one groundhog family, one skunk who passes by occasionally to delight us with scent. A fox that likes to scream and howl, and a great owl who serenades us nightly in summer and hordes of raccoons that come and go.

My disposal unit is my backyard where I toss scraps, old apples not eaten, potato peels, lettuce and cabbage leaves etc. They are quickly eaten by one and all.
I am sure the animals have even erected a neon sign on the trail behind the house to point out our al fresco buffet.