The "missing" mark of Zorro

Well the mornings usually have been calm and uneventful, such as this morning, but within an hour, snow flakes are falling and mountain sides are quickly hidden by dense cloud cover, wind blowing snow in all directions and possibly hidden due to me not looking for them as I sit by the fire. Day's like these are quite nice to relax, and when necessary to step outside, I quickly scramble to get things in order so I can get back to my fire. I start the day's starting a generator, filling it with gas, plugging in my freezer, but that is only until it stays below freezing day and night. I plug in my battery power system, cycle through the gauges, figure they are all in the positive and go about putting on some music as I prepare breakfast. I gather wood, for the stove, make my rounds looking for birds, signs of any intruders or unwelcomed guests such as bears and then proceed to my morning thoughts of miscellaneous topics.
I found out that my best chances for bird hunting were to scout the area prior to stalking them and figuring an angle to approach. I grab the binoculars at my far left window, scour the landscape and spot a few Spruce hens pecking and wandering, pecking and wandering. Its going to be a good morning....
I head out and first hill behind my cabin, a clear shot at three birds, so I pick the closest...BANG!... poor shot...
BANG! dead bird. I investigate as it  flops and bounces off limbs to the ground, flops a bit and then done... I move on. making my way up and around the back side of camp, I shoot two more and figure the rest have gone away due to my tramping and stomping around, scaring what was left of them anyhow. I have two in hand, on my way to pick up the third. I get there and to my surprise, I've been robbed! There is a blood splatter all over the ground in the leaves, feathers all around and no bird. No bird for a good twenty yards in any direction, through thicket or open grass, no bird, no trail, no nothing! I am still not positively sure what happened to this bird, however I am blaming Zorro for this. He comes and takes what he likes, eats what he likes and never leaves a "Z" anywhere to be seen. I was trying to fall asleep the other night and heard this horrible sound coming from outside the back door. A sound that might make a cat fight seem pleasant. This was a real warning for someone... was it me? I should think not, considering that I am contributing to his meals, or was it to another fox that wanted the same territory for easy pickings from a trusting hunter. I could use a pair of fox mittens, or a friend to dine with. Perhaps it will be like Dances with Wolves, having a pet so to speak. Haven't seen any sign, just noise.

This is for my days by the fire, reading, relaxing and mostly just enjoying the cold from a distance*

Finally I climbed the mountain behind the lodge. It is not the easiest little hike due to how steep it can be, although it could be my being out of shape from all the eating and relaxing. Its a good hour hike, and well rewarded with the view of the park. Behind me is Lake Aleknagik, the North end. I was hoping that the sun, which was in and out would be "in" when I made it to the top. I took too long in the woods, and gasping for air every thirty yards near the top didn't help on the poor timing of it all. I remember this being quite easy when I was doing it at least once a week last year.

The snow up top was iced over, to remain there until next summer when it all comes down around July.

I guess time out here is making me less leery of going out of my cabin at night, to put left overs in the cooler or to gather wood for the stove. Like any other evening, I was just listening to music, cleaning up and stepped out to put my dinner away, and I make it to the end of my cabin and scaring me half to death a bear woofs at me twice and takes off running up the hill. Now my first reaction was not to grab a gun, which was not on me but to bark at it like a dog....What am I thinking? Then I thought exactly that and yelled at it to come back and I could have a warm rug this winter. Now I learned my lesson earlier not to leave my gun behind when I leave, but that was mainly for hunting purposes. I grabbed a bigger gun to carry now for these non hunting related encounters.

Marking it off by pace, exactly fifteen yards from where I stood barking like an idiot and where my hungry friend was. He was actually snooping around my cleaning table where bird and fish smells still linger. I'm waiting and watching for his return, hoping it will not be as dark out and I can get a better look, not closer.

Cooking has been the usual, salmon, brown rice with onions or garlic. Tonight's was a great seared ribeye, medium rare/rare, lightly salted with brown basmati rice, caramelized onion and minced garlic.

Its was a filling meal but much needed after today's workout. I'm not losing weight that's for sure.