The Mystery Mammal

 I am trying to get in my 10,000 steps a day and in the process I sometimes see wildlife.

For instance that critter up above!

I was able to take his picture because we are growing comfortable with each other. I saw him once at the wetlands of Forest Lawn Cemetery -- I mean the wetlands section of the cemetery. He was swimming across the pond.

Then I saw him at the big pipe where the creek goes underground. You can follow the creek through Forest Lawn and then it goes into this big pipe and God knows where. The critter was swimming merrily along in the creek and then he went into the pipe and off to the side and into some burrow.

Last winter there was this creature I met when I was hanging around down around the river, looking at the freighters. That creature was bigger.

 This one was smaller. 

 

I looked up online what it could be and got the idea that maybe it was a muskrat. It is hard to tell. The pictures are always kind of vague.

However sure enough, my friend Ryan who knows about these things confirmed that yes, the handsome creature was a muskrat. I love it. I love its big triangular shape, its funny little eyes, its big rear.

I have a video of it swimming I have to figure out how to upload.

Many people, so I read, are disappointed that they see a muskrat and not a beaver or whatever. Not me. I am delighted. I have never seen a muskrat and now I have.

My friend the muskrat.

Muskrat love!