Happy New Year!

It was an interesting Christmas to say the least with the blizzard and all. We weren't able to get out for several days as I'm sure was the same for many people. The week after Christmas we were able to spend some time with family. It was a week of mixed emotions. It was good to see family, but we also lost two cats, Sarah and Pepper, both to the same cancer two days apart from each other. We have very good vets in Norfolk and they did everything they could for them, but both passed away shortly after surgeries.

Last night we had another mini blizzard and woke up to 4 inches of fresh snow. It is crisp outside, but sunny and beautiful.

Henri is in heaven with the weather and when it was snowing last night and the wind was fierce he was laying out on a drift in the middle of it. He continues to catch Meadow Voles. We believe he is digging them out of the rose bushes by the winery.

Ed and I have had a few rarities happen in the last few months. Several months ago Henri was barking non-stop at about 1 am, so finally I went out to see what it was. He was going crazy and when I pulled him away I had a hard time identifying what it was I was seeing. When Ed came out he saw it was a porcupine! Porcupines are usually in west central and western Nebraska, but not here. Needless to say Henri had quills inside it mouth and on his nose and was taken to the vet.

Henri was also barking non-stop one morning this past week and finally we looked out the bedroom window and saw a deer laying in the east vineyard near the Tuscan Villa Inn B & B. Ed thought maybe it was injured because there were no other deer around. I told Ed the ears were really big, so he thought it might be a Mule Deer. I was trying to sneak over to the winery to get my camera, but the deer took off and Ed saw it run to the corn field across the road. He said it pranced then several times would spring into the air and come down on all fours. Ed called Dan at Willow Creek SRA and told him what he saw and Dan confirmed it was a Mule Deer. They typically are seen in western Nebraska but not in our area.

We'll see what happens this month!