Differences

The squirrels are fatter down here. I like to call them fuzzy-tailed rats, because they're constantly getting in the garbage cans in my neighbourhood. Just how fat are they? Well, as I was walking to the grocery store just now (I was out of salad dressing), I looked across the street and thought "gee, that's a fat squirrel". Then I realised it had long ears... it was a bunny rabbit. So the squirrels aren't quite as fat as bunny rabbits, but they're close. Either that, or I need to get new glasses. (Which is very likely... my current pair are at least two years old.)

Another difference I noticed this morning, as I was putting some recycling out before dawn. There are *way* more songbirds down here. The dawn chorus reminded me of the chorus in Barbados... except this morning's chorus lacked the screaming monkeys and chickens. (No, I never needed my alarm clock in Barbados.)

Of course, I rarely got up before dawn in Winnipeg (winter doesn't count... not many songbirds around then in Winnipeg), but I did sleep with the windows open up at the lake. At dusk I'd hear the loons, but the only dawn chorus I can remember involved the kingfisher whacking minnows on the roof to stun them before feeding them to the chicks cheeping outside our window. Very cute, but rather annoying. Dawn comes *really* early in Flin Flon in the summer.