Tonight I used the flashlight to look outside, and the fox, or rather A fox, was standing out in the yard. I threw some dog biscuits out, and he took off, so it's possibly a different one than the one who was here the other day. That one would have come right back after I shut the door.

Eloise, Fox Nemesis, is helping me watch for the return. I am depending on her night vision to see anything coming and let me know.

We had 3 inches of snow last night, and this afternoon I spent some time looking at animal tracks in the snow. I can see nail marks with dog-like tracks, which can be foxes or coyotes. But also tracks with no nails and a shuffling gait, and that can be bobcats.

I have considered sitting up all night in my darkened house to see what animals come. Some day we will buy a game camera, but now is not the time.

Another load of dirt for my road was delivered today. They were waiting for permission to take that dirt from a housing development where foundations are being dug. You can see the clay in it, and that makes a poor base for a house because it will swell and crack the basements. But it's good for my purpose, where it will swell and form a good base for my road.

My heating system is hot water baseboard heat. There are heating zones, controlled by two different thermostats, and valves to move it around. Over the years, the hot water pipes have come loose inside the walls of the house, and when they close, each one makes a banging noise, like a hammer hitting a heat duct. It startles house guests, and sometimes it startles me and the cat. If it happens in the middle of the night or early morning, it sounds like someone is downstairs, but it's comforting in a way because when I hear the bangs I know the pilot light for the boiler is still lit, and the hot water is circulating.

Well, the cat has given up looking for visitors in the dark back yard, so maybe they are all gone.