A Squirrel Day and a Snow Day

On Sunday morning, a squirrel kept coming into Truman's front yard.  They'll do that.  They like to forage below the bird feeder, and they don't fear the hound much, since he not only never catches them,  he never truly tries to catch them.  Even when only a few inches from the squirrel, he will pull up at the last second.  And if the squirrel just stands its ground and doesn't run off, Truman stops and stares at it, perplexed.

He is clearly missing a few hunting-instinct genes here and there.

I've not been able to get a video of a chase, but here are some photos taken in sequence that give an idea of the process.  First, the enemy arrives:

Truman notices the presence of the enemy.

As I open the door, the squirrel takes off for the front gate, which has a nice gap below it, while Truman dashes out in pursuit.

The Tail of the Squirrel:  successful escape under the gate.

Truman is a few seconds too late.  He often heads first in the wrong direction before figuring out where the squirrel went.

And then he wonders where the dang squirrel got to:

Then on Monday we had some weather fun -- snow!  We got a couple of inches, and it was snowing heavily when I opened the back door to let Truman out.  He was not keen to go out in it.

He quickly found the dry spot under the table and another one under the cedar.

And when he was finished with his business, he galloped back to the porch:

Everything melted by the afternoon.  I do hope Winter is done with us now.