Have discovered snowshoe hare tracks on the property.  Hope to see the hares themselves soon.  I haven't seen evidence of them on this property in a few years. 
Also have been seeing a lot of black-cappped chickadees as usual.  A few days ago, I saw two common redpolls near our feeder.

A little over a week ago, we were visited by a pair of gray jays.  They must have just been passing through because I haven't seen them since that day.  

The Iditarod is in full-swing, and I've been trying to keep up with it via the internet.  The race is moving fast, but it's not clear who will be the champion.  The leaders keep leap-frogging drastically.  Should be a fun one to watch.
Keep up with the Last Great Race at www.iditarod.com.   

Howdy everybody!  :)  I apologize for my long absence from the site.  Life has been full of many things.
I adopted a new kitty about a month ago.  She is currently sleeping on my lap.
For so long I worried that if I fell in love with another cat, I would somehow start forgetting Jeneen or that she wouldn't seem as special anymore.  But I was utterly wrong.  Velvet is wonderful, but she is no Jeneen.  In the same way, Jeneen was no Velvet.  They are both equally wonderful.  
I believe with my whole heart that I will see Jeneen again someday.  And when I do, I can't wait to introduce her to her new little sister.  I know she'll love her!  Jeneen was always very nurturing with other cats.  She loved to play with them, cuddle with them, lick them....  Jeneen will love having a little sister--especially knowing that she comforted me when Jeneen couldn't be here.

A moose cow and her baby have been hanging around our place lately.  I have some good pictures of them that I will have to post.  It was Velvet who alerted me to their presence, actually.  She was sitting in the window, gazing out intently.  
Their tracks are hard to make out in the deep, powdery snow.  But I found one place where the tracks were clear--under the tree loft where Jeneen is buried.  Apparently, it's just high enough that the baby was able to walk under it.  There's snow there, but now more than a few inches, so the tracks are beautiful.  I wish I could've taken a picture, but I didn't have my camera with me at the time and haven't gotten back out there.   

I need to save all my pictures to disk so I can delete them from my camera and take more pictures, but I've been having some difficulty with some problematic software.  Hopefully, I'll get it worked out soon.  :)
God bless you all!

Nature around these parts of late:

Black-Billed Magpie
For several weeks, a black-billed magpie could be seen hanging around near our dogs' yard.  He may still be around, I'm not sure.  His presence is a bit of a surprise since magpies are not usually seen this far north.  Look in any bird field guide, and it will not show magpies living as far north at any time of year.

However, in the past few years I have heard some reports of sitings from friends and acquaintences.  This is the first I have seen of a magpie here in Fairbanks.  (When I lived in Washington state, I saw them all the time.)
To see a picture of a black-billed magpie and hear its call, go to http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-billed_Magpie/id.  

I observed this magpie flying around with a much larger raven.  Not surprising on the raven's part; ravens are extremely playful.

Red Fox
A few days ago, I glanced out the window to see a small red creature trotting away down a path in the woods.  My first thought was of a pomeranian.  Of course, that seemed strange.  A few moments later, I glimpsed his tail--big and fluffy with a white tip.  It was definitely a red fox.  About an hour later, I caught sight of him again for a few seconds.  I waited a few minutes, then I went outside and cautiously made my way to where I had seen him.  He was long gone, of course, but I did get some good shots of his tracks.  Hopefully, I'll have those pictures up on the website soon.  :)