Mouse tracks, home

Winter Storm Helena delivered a beautiful blanket of around six inches of snow, and on this clear and cold Sunday morning after the gale pulled out to sea—the wind was still strong—I strapped on my not-too-used Yukon Charlie snowshoes and took off to explore the backwoods in the hope that I might spot some interesting tracks. The powdery snow wasn't all that great a canvas and whatever story the forest denizens had written overnight was hard to see and read. The letters were mostly smeared out of clarity, so I didn't wind up with much of a tale to relate. But a few mice had left behind decent vignettes of excursions out of their tunnels under the snow, and here's a short, short story, short tail included, of one quick jaunt. With any luck, there'll be lots more to follow throughout the winter.