Catching up on happenings around the cabin for the past week or so.

It snowed pretty good the first part of last week. Got ~6 inches of snow, very light and dry. This made for cleaning up the paths around the cabin easy. Fifteen minutes of effort had the porch area and the paths back in shape. And while I didn’t need to get out to get anywhere, I also tackled the driveway. I’m glad I did. The snow cleared just as easily as around the cabin. I think had I waited until stuff had started the melt/refreeze cycle it would have been much tougher. An hour after work for the two days following the snow had the driveway clear.

The chipmunks, Chuck and Susu, made an appearance during the day before the snow started. I reckon they knew what was coming and were replenishing their stores. I haven’t seen them since the snow. The other single chipmunk, as yet unamed, has been out a couple of times since the snow. In other critter news, Splitear the deer

has been coming by on a near daily basis. He eats whatever seed the birds have left around. I bought some apples and carrots,and have been giving him a few of those each day. I also picked up a bag of peanuts, but he doesn’t care for them, and will eat around them. If there is nothing else left he will eat a few, but will leave some uneaten. The Stellar Jays enjoy them though, so they aren’t going to waste. They grab one and take off with it. I have found some empty shells under a nearby tree.

Back to Splitear. He has had some friends come around with him on occasion. Not sure if they are just follwing him over, or if he is brining them. I have seen him do a little fake charge at some of them to run them off. There is one other he seems to tolerate better. Matcher (he has a nice set of matched antlers) has come by the last couple of days along with Splitear. Yesterday he also returned on his own later in the day. Then last night an adult male and female brought a couple of teenagers along with them. I couldn’t tell if it was Matcher, definitely wasn’t Splitear, and will have to look at the camera footage closer to see if it was maybe him.

Weather has been nice during the day since the snow, but it has been really cold at night. The battery has enjoyed all the sun. I might just be imagining this, but the battery seems to perform better when charged all day from the panels rather than charging off the generator.