We have embarked on a new season in more ways than one. Here is Murphy, my new patrol leader: he is about eight years old and has papers saying he is an Alaskan malamute mixed with … yes. We have had him about ten days and he is doing well for a newbie. So far, no cats were harmed in this adjustment although both sides are still feeling each other out. He was sixty-eight pounds at the first vet visit but I have brushed about six bushels of hair off of him since then. The Dr says he has two arthritic (rear) knees (but, don’t we all?). The good news is that, if my truck gets stuck in the mud, I think he could pull it out (we have to remind him that he has two bad knees).



Our first journey to the Smithfield Plantation conservation property this year. We ventured out to the bog last weekend and found it slow going: the snow pack was still at two feet or so in patches – usually disguised patches where we went way down and struggled to get out. To the left (but off camera) of this tree stand was a mansion-sized beaver home: a big mound of sticks and mud.