Who messed with our shrubbery?

We welcomed the warmer weather last night by going to a "family fun walk" after supper. We followed our regular path on our street. Little Squirt didn't even ask to be carried...she walked the way (about 3/4 to 1 mile).

-

When we returned home to "inspect the grounds" as Cool Daddy-O calls it. We noticed that the dwarf burning bushes had taken a hit. At first I thought it was from all the ice storms, but then noticed that it looked like there were piles of animal droppings all around and some of the bark was chewed off in addition to pieces of branches being broken off.

-

Then we noticed that all the bark was off the lilac tree in front of the house. There were droppings by it too. My first thought was deer, but when I googled deer droppings, they were described as dark brown to black in color. Rabbit droppings were described as light brown. Whatever it is, it looks about the color and size of large dog food kibble. If anyone knows or has a guess, let me know. Maybe it was a combination of the two. The tree bark is off from the ground to about 3 feet off the ground. That made me think deer, but we did have a lot of snow out there...so I'm perplexed. Either way, I'm mad!

-

A couple years ago, the deer ate all the bark off our crab apple tree and it died. I'm hoping there's a chance for the burning bushes, but I feel less positive about the lilac tree.

-

The past 2 days, we've had little girls here to play. Little Squirt was bummed that no one is coming to play today. We'll have to think of something fun to do together later. For now, she's munching on a cherry pop-tart. She had some cereal a little while go, but didn't finish it.

-

The only snow remaining is where there were big piles. There's still a HUGE drift by the neighbor's shed. Big Squirt said there are still big piles of snow on the school playground and yesterday she was able to touch the net of the basketball hoop from the top of the snow pile. Sounds like a pretty big snow pile. I'm sure it would have been a sight to see all the kids in their boots and snow pants playing outside in the snow yesterday when it was over 60 degrees outside.

-

If you have any guesses about the droppings (I'm not posting a picture at this time, but I could later), leave me a comment or e-mail me with your guess.