Who's frisky?

 First, I just have to show you how bee-you-tee-full it is outside right now!  Having snowed for about 24 hours straight and leaving behind over 14 inches of the heavy wet stuff, we're just now re-emerging from the house to find the sun shining and the birds totally groovin' on the feeders.  It's the weekend, so we've got nowhere to be and we still have power and we've got plenty of firewood, so it's all good.

We have moved the car out of the garage and parked it down by the main road so that we can get to work come Monday.  This plan entails us shuttling ourselves (in "dress" clothes) and briefcases between the house and car with our Gator until the snow melts enough for us to drive the 4-wheel drive Escape all the way back up to the house.  This would be quite a sight if there were anyone within miles to glimpse it.  We refer to these as our "Green Acres" moments.

Next.  You know how I love tracking, especially in the snow.  A few days ago (before this latest blizzard) while hiking the trails, I came across several signs of wild turkeys - dozens of very large (as big as my hand) 3-toed footprints (plus a 4th toe in the back), and several big piles of leaf litter lying on top of the snow where they had scratched looking for insects and such.  Additionally, I also noted these really interesting tracks in several places.  These are the tracks of (at least) one male turkey (called a "gobbler").  The long marks on either side of the footprints show that his wings were dragging on the ground while showing off his spectacular plumage in hopes of attracting a mate. 

And that got me to thinking...temps are in the teens, there's snow everywhere, and food is seemingly non-existent, so how weird is it that anyone is feeling romantic right now?  And since turkey mating season isn't supposed to begin until late February or early March, maybe these guys were just practicing, or showing off for each other.