Hiking on the Blue Hill Trail in the Sherburne County Wildlife refuge yesterday, I ran across this little "Woolly Bear" Caterpillar in the middle of the trail. My first thought was maybe it was dead, but after a little poke it surprised me and moved (it didn't jump up-thank god). Even Samson came over a gave it a little whiff, but he had more important things on his mind, like where's that big "Wizard" he took a leak on the other day.

The weather has been a little screwy around here this winter, but this is crazy. Come on, it's the middle of winter and there's a caterpillar hiking on my SKI trail. I actually felt bad for the little guy, there's supposed to be a big snow storm coming our way (4"-6"), so they say. I don't think there's a meteorologist in the twin cities area that could predict their way out of a wet paper bag this winter season.

But just in case, I've got my long underwear out, my ski boots are by the door, and the skis are waxed and ready to go. I'm like a little kid on Christmas Eve waiting to see what Santa brought, hopefully it's six inches of fluffy white stuff, what we used to call SNOW!