Winter arrives and then leaves

I am sitting in the Toyota dealership writing this as my car has a service so it will a quick one, Last night we had the first snow of the year and it arrived about 8.30 and continued for a couple of hours, It did settle but as it had been raining all day i had a feeling that it would not last long, The opposum arrived before the snow started and soon left, The fox did not come at all which was a first for over a week and the deer came twice, Once before the snow and again during the snow fall which was nice to see, Last week we had our first raccoon arrive and feed which was great and i hope that it soon comes back, One thing that stands out with the wildlife that comes into my garden is that they are in really great condition and amazingly clean, I have continued to photograph the fox and most nights its accompanied by its mate and before they leave they go around scent marking which drives my dog mad, So things garden wise are looking up, The bufflehead drake is still on the pond and we have had a small flock of waxwings in the community which is normally the sign of colder weather to come which again proved the case this week, The weather looks like it going to warm up and by the end of the week it could hit 70, One of my neighbors has a woodchuck that dens in her garden and last year she had young there so i will be checking that out soon, The cherry trees are in full bloom and i have a feeling that spring is not far away and thats my favorite wildlife time, I am planning a trip to the smoky mountains in April to shoot the spring flowers an waterfalls and hopefully i will have the new D800 in my hands-exciting times ahead

Dave