On the cover, it appears that winter is both colder and wetter than last year. We have already had two reasonable snow storms blow through in the past few weeks, and there is still snow providing ground cover across most of the terrain. Our new cistern (1,400 gallon; about 1,200 effective gallons) is now half full (empty?) with only snow melt. I anticipate a full tank by sometime in January 2010 if the current trends continue.
On another winter side-line, the snow cover has also provided ample medium for capturing an abundance of animal tracks. The most ubiquitous of the tracks is that of the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), which weave in and out of the forest crossing the Forest Park Trail. For the number of visible tracks, these birds are certainly illusive.
