Snow Melt in the Vineyard Brings Surprises

After coming home from thawing out in sunny California, we went to check on the status of our vineyard. This is the periodic trek that we make in the winter to download the data on our temperature sensors. My husband said that next winter, we will be taking measurements less frequently, I have it set for every 10 minutes, which means that we must check on the data loggers every 44 days or so. We didn't know quite what to expect, but this time, we didn't have to trudge into the vineyard with our cleats. There was about 3-inches of snow that still covered the vineyard.

It seemed as if the south end of the vineyard had a little less snow which became a little thicker as we walked north. After getting the data from the logger on the south end of the field, we began to walk to the northeast corner, where our other data logger was and in one of the rows, my husband discovered a somewhat grizzly surprise. At the foot of one of our vines was the head of an animal that had been completely bleached so that only the skeleton remained.

We surmised that it might be the head of a deer and as soon as we went home, my husband checked on the Internet and confirmed that it was a deer head. Apparently, with the snow being so thick, the deer have a problem. They sink into the snow when

they walk and have difficulty running so that they become prey to coyotes which have an advantage of being able to walk on the snow.

We also checked on the status of our vines and although it has been a really tough winter, the buds look as if they are swelling!