Muskrat March

So we made it around the pond again this evening. My 3yo daughter is starting to walk a bit faster, which makes it easier to stay close to her and still keep the boys in range. The pond is thawed around most of the edges now.

Sightings & Stuff:

• Four whitetail deer ran about 2/3 of the length of the pond, paused at a little gully then ran out of sight. No one could see what spooked them.
• We managed to break through the ice next to the dock by throwing rocks. I managed to skip a rock ... across the ice.
• We found some tracks in yesterday's snow (which has mostly melted, thankfully). Deer tracks, and another spot seemed like a squirrel track, but it was hard to tell as we only found 1 1/2 tracks.
• A 'mini-river' had formed in one sandy area, with nice, soft sand. Jonathan noted the sand was wet enough it flowed as well.
• An ice-ledge around part of the pond - about three feet out, white and thick. (Contrasted with the thin, clear ice over the water at the edge of the ledge.
• A dead muskrat. First time I've seen one up close, and first one the kids have really seen at all. (I think the older boys have seen them swimming at a distance.) It had a rat like tail, rodent teeth, and fluffy brown fur, with the middle being a lighter shade. I don't know how it died, but it had my German Shepard buffaloed. He kept smelling the area, then backing up.

So no real "firsts", but a nice walk. We might have to read a bit about muskrats from the Handbook of Nature Study.