Since we lost Zeke last year the number of wildlife sightings in the yard has greatly increased. The deer have spent nights snoozing in our yard, Tink has more neighbor cats to fight off and the squirrels have gone wild. In the heart of winter I even saw a weasel/ermin/mink or some member of the stoat genus slinking outside the family room window.

I didn't think much of it until the weather got warmer, the ice melted, and our pond turned up empty. Here's a photo from last fall when we had, by my rough estimates, eighty or more fish in the pond. This spring the count is down to...zero. I'm sure there were some happy mammals this winter, what with the well stocked larder of fish, but it's a pretty sad looking pond now. I bought a couple fish but they seem nervous and are usually hiding. Faith suggests that we stock the pond with trout or tilapia and use them as a source of food. Hey, better us than the weasels?