as winters go in ontario, this has been a more wintery winter than most in the past few years. more snow, often followed by very cold days has provided a pretty good base that has layers of frozen snow mixed with softer fluffier snow. for the animals this has been a bit of a challenge as it is early for their usual food sources to get covered up.
my own litmus test for the speed with which this winter has set in is how early i have to bail off the bike and seek alternate means of transportation which so far have included friends, taxis, buses and walking the nine kilometres between where i am sitting at this moment and my classroom. i remember that in my first year of teaching i was able to bike until december 12th before the road conditions were too unsafe to guarantee me and my fellow travellers, safe passage. last year i was able to ride until the end of february! this year it all ended in late november.
a couple of weeks back i noticed a lot of bunny prints in my backyard and realized that one of our little furry friends had become effectively "trapped" in the backyard as the fenceline is entirely frozen in and so the poor little guy can't leave. to help him out i've been leaving vegetable and fruit bits out which he has been dutifully digging up from the snow and snaffling down. here's a picture of him enjoying a seven a.m. breakfast . . . .
i loaded up the bird feeder out back to help out the little feathered ones that winter over but there's been very little activity. i wonder if they left for the south regardless of their normal choice because the weather's been so rough for them?
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