The Weasel and Me

A few years back my husband received an Amazon gift card as a reward for doing  a business survey. Big hearted guy that he is, he handed it to me and said, “Get what you want.” I was delighted and thought of many uses for it, but  finally chose the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals. We live in a rural area with critters constantly wandering through our property, and now I would have a guide to help me identify some of them.

One afternoon in the late winter I’d gathered a bunch of garbage to put outside. I opened the back door, hands full, and froze. Was that a nose sticking out from the woodpile? About ten feet away where we kept wood stacked for our wood burning furnace there was indeed a nose sticking out. At first I thought it was a squirrel, but the nose, then the body, then the long tail appeared and were all white. Except for the tip of the critter's tail which was black. I held my breath, not wanting to release the moment, but of course the little guy scooted out and dashed away in a blink. I dumped my trash and ran for my guide. I learned that I’d just seen a long-tailed weasel in his winter coat. How cool was that?

I wish there had been someone home besides me and the dog. Or that I’d had a camera in my hand. I’ve looked for weasels ever since, but haven’t seen another. It is, however, one of my favorite critter tales and I’ll probably blather on about it for years to come! And I highly recommend field guides now, too.

Image  Dan   http://www.freedigitalphotos.com/