1.29 Winter doldrums

It's that time of year when I find it very difficult to get past the winter doldrums. Spending the day yesterday shoveling (and shoveling and shoveling) did not improve my mood. Today, we have lots of white snow in the backyard and the trenches have been (re-)dug for the dog to get out without having to bound along.
I'm not sure what brought him out yesterday but there was a big dog fox trotting along through the backyards as the snow was falling. He was tracking along the edge of the woods when I first saw him, and vanished behind the back of the neighbor's shed. Then he followed a (his own?) track back through the yard, about halfway between the shed and our garden fence, then bending back to the woods just to the left of the small willow tree. He reversed pattern again, came back along that same track again and vanished behind the neighbor's swimming pool, off the right in the picture. I didn't seem him again but he was a handsome fellow. I didn't get a picture of him - the camera was upstairs and I was reluctant to miss sight of him.