Today has been good. I got up late (as usual...) and decided on a hike in the cold. It was about 27 outside, but once I got moving it didn't feel like it. I found an unidentified rodent-like skull in the woods above the "lizard hill," and climbed up to the logging road. I came upon some large cat tracks in the snow but wasn't sure about their origin until I followed the road for a bit longer and came across a nice clear set - undoubtedly cougar! There's a wide spot in the path where it had obviously spent some time at; I was literally surrounded by its tracks, which makes me believe it might have a kill in the area and has returned to feed on it. So exciting. I took many a photo, one of which I'm posting here. I decided to sit and watch the surrounding woods for a while. I climbed up on the hill beyond the road above the tracks and chose a tree in a non-snowy area to sit under. I sat for about 40 minutes. At one point I heard some noise -was probably a deer. And then I heard what sounded like an animal breathing out or snorting off to one side, but I never saw anything. But that's the beauty of wildlife watching - there's always some possibility of seeing something unique and amazing. Someday, I'll see a cougar. Hopefully. Surprisingly, it wasn't horribly cold sitting there. It was only after I got up and attempted moving again that I realized how cold I was. Luckily I was basically directly above our place, so I just headed down and crossed the canal in the area of that pipe that runs across.

After that adventure, I cleaned my room a bit and ate, because I let myself get rather hungry. Then I created some sub-albums on my photobucket site, with Namibia, North American Wildlife, and Art albums. That felt good - eventually having one miscellaneous album could get overwhelming.

So yesterday was pretty damn good. I went to visit Justin (he's no longer a nameless figure in my blog...thus I declare it!) at his home. First off we tramped through the backwoods and came upon a doe and her yearlings - one of which has a marbling of white fur on both of its sides! My first unusual deer. When we got back we sat by the heater for a while warming up and then went out to eat. After, we played cards, listened to music, played the Wii (bovine racing is awesome despite the fact that I cannot win), and watched some interesting random funny videos on the internets. And didn't want to leave. But I did...eventually.

Tomorrow = two presentations at the high school. I'm hoping I can actually talk with ease about the FW department.