It is late winter and the mammals are getting active. Maybe food is becoming scarce and they have no choice but to venture out and forage. There's a small creek behind my house in suburban Boston. For several days, I've noticed a small muskrat in and around the shallow stream. Yesterday, it paddled about freely and unafraid of me standing on the road. Then it ducked under the surface and disappeared. Maybe it has a submarine burrow.
Today, the temperature is very cold and the stream is completely frozen. I imagine the muskrat curled in its den sleeping through this frozen February day. Me? I just don an extra coat and go out and see what is happening in the out of doors.
