A Raccoon and More Birds

Recently on our acreage the dogs treed an animal about eight feet from the ground where three branches formed a crook. It was not moving and we could only see the hump of its back and its brown fur blowing in the wind. To find out what it was I reached up with my walking stick and poked it. It moved a little, but stayed hunkered down in the crook. Figuring I had its backside, I went around to the other side of the tree and poked it again. Up came the sad little bandit face of a raccoon. I stepped away and turned to talk with Shelly about what to do (my solution was going to involve a rifle) when it decided to make a break for it and get out of that tree. Down it came, running on the ground along side the machine shed, stopping a couple of times to tangle with the dogs until we called them off and it disappeared under the grain bin through the dryer hole. Now when we walk around the place the dogs stop and sniff at the hole and Steve will even sit and stare at it, hoping for another appearance. On March 1^st we noticed the first robin on the place, and the next day I saw the first flock of geese heading north. Looking at the lopsided V formation of the flock reminded me of the old joke: Have you ever noticed how one side of the formation is always longer than the other? (The other person ponders for a moment) You know why that is? (More pondering, then an admission of no, they don’t know why that is) Because there are more birds on that side!