Morning walks are filled with new springy smells & sounds! Birds chirping, ground exposed, duck or geese pairs in the river...

This morning was especially wonderful! It actually rained (instead of snow) last night. I only needed my fleece instead of fleece & shell over. The snow was soft corn-snow instead of hard crust. So fresh tracks were readily visible. We always see several sets of fox tracks & once in a while moose tracks. a couple times the moose. This morning there were a different set: bear. I pointed one paw-print out to Bugsy. He sniffed. He sniffed it good. Then he looked around, and let out a couple barks as if to say 'you'd better watch it bear! I got my eye on you!"

(note: this time of year I won't walk in the woods behind us at night. Or in the fall. We don't want to bump in to Mr Bear. They are only close to town when they first come out of hibernation & right before they go in {fatten up on some trash}. We had one in the driveway a couple times last fall. Once we didn't see him, but could tell by the way the dog was acting inside. bear left a "gift" in the driveway. The next time the dog acted funny I went out on the porch & saw the bear out there. Bugsy told him to go away; from the safety of behind his momma)