For a while I have suspected an animal in the side yard near the retaining wall. The area is newly seeded and strawed. It gets raked after a downpour to ensure the seed is just a quarter of an inch under the soil. Especially along the new steps. Today, I saw child-like footprints, the size of a five or six year old. I also saw smaller footprints but without claws or toes.
Without realizing what I saw were footprints, I began to rake the area of three or four such prints. There has been another downpour last night and some areas have washed away. Noticing some kind of pattern below, I stopped cold in my own tracks. These footprints were all similar.
The interesting thing about this is that there were no hind paw prints. Apparently, it was a bi-pedal mammal. As you can see, the photo below is depicts moist, freshly laid top soil with grass seed sprinkled atop it. On top of that is straw. The hole is mid center toward the bottom. Again, I evened the topsoil, so there is not much trace of the footprint.
To give you a sense of why I believe this footprint was here, take a look at where this area abutted.
before topsoil/seed
This area just under the steps has not been stained yet. It is open and allows for water to enter through the landing and lattice skirting. A medium grade mil plastic covers the ground inside the little enclosure so that weeds and grass can not grow. I suspect whatever was present last night was looking for a water source.
Throughout the yard, especially on the cliff side (near the peach Adirondack chairs) I saw a few small sized holes. They could have been from the abundance of rabbits of all sizes, or perhaps even raccoons or skunks. I will set the trail camera tonight to see if anything returns.
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