Skittish fox, calm deer

As you can see, there is not enough snow to set tracks, and there are lots of leaves and grass showing through.

Okay, the snow is pretty minimal, but it was sixteen degrees above zero this morning, so at least there had not been melting since my Monday morning ski. I liked the pre-breakfast ski so much that I did it again this morning, but doing the loop in Gooseberry Park instead of skiing to I-94. I could just barely make out my tracks from a week and a half ago, so I followed them because a bit more snow had drifted in them, making for less contact with grass and leaves. It's a slog on the waxless, cheap Trak skis, but it is still skiing and it feels wonderful!

On my way back, I glanced up just in time to see a fox dart into the brush. I think he will eat well this winter on our plentiful urban bunny population in Fargo. They've been fattening up on garden produce all summer and will make a tasty meal for Fox.

A bit later, I had that feeling of being watched, so I looked around, and there was a deer bedded down in the brush, just a few yards from me. She watched me carefully, ducking down a tiny bit more as I passed by. I'm glad she did not feel the need to get up. Eating is not as good in this season for her as it is for the fox.

After my hour of diagonal striding, I was pretty hungry and devoured a delicious veggie-egg white frittata (made by Enrico) with some toast and water while writing this. Time to head to work!