What walks on two small round feet, or paws, spaced wide apart? Or what is the origin of these footprints in the snow in my garden. I am still trying to work that one out. They are not human, otherwise we would have the imprint of a shoe sole. It could be cat, but they walk on four paws and there legs are not so wide apart. Of course it could be two way traffic, coming and going. Perhaps we have triffids in the area that tend to walk on one strong root. I will have to ask the neighbours if they have seen any suspicious movements. Whatever it was, it was in my garden, took a walk around my potted horse chestnut tree and left afterwards.
In the meanwhile the snow has almost melted away. It began to rain and yesterday it got warmer. This morning the garden just has a few patches of snow here and there.
On our trip to the store yesterday morning I notice the local street cleaners were on their way removing the snow from the pavements. “Winterdienst” means winter service, so we are in good hands. Even the parking space at the supermarket was clear with no dangerous looking patches of half melted ice, although Mr. Swiss did get a little nervous when I left the car, propped up my walking cane on the door and took out my camera from my bag to make a photo of the surroundings. There was nothing really special to see as the houses were in the way, but the sky had a curious band of white in it.
I think age must be catching up on me. This morning I read an article that you are no longer with the modern times if you use Facebook. Facebook has become the happy hunting grounds of the golden oldies, and those that are becoming golden oldies. The youngsters have forsaken this nice little corner of the Internet for things like Snapchat, Instagram and Whatsap. I now feel old fashioned, no longer in. I have begun to feel at home in Facebook. Basically I only crosspost my WordPress stuff and might make a few comments on posts.
I enjoy the groups they have. I belong to almost every group from the various areas of East London, where the cockneys hang around. I joined my old school site and basically I have fun. Lately I discovered a site “Barking and Dagenham, days gone by”. I never actually lived in the area myself, but my mum’s family all moved out there when their houses were demolished in the East End due to slum clearance. Mum and dad also moved there when their house also met the same fate, so everyone was together in a new place. I knew the area and have many connections. I happened to post something this week and got some interesting answers with old/new contacts of neighbours from the East End from my childhood days that lived in the same street as I did. That is my kind of Facebook, not showing what I am cooking for Christmas, or photos of family gatherings.
On the other hand, I did try Whatsapp at the recommendation of son No. 2, but hopped out of it after a day because I could not see the point of it. I communicate mostly with the Facebook messenger. It is cheap, good and you can post photos, everything staying private.
I tried Instagram once, which is mainly photos, but decided it does nothing for me. I am more at home in WordPress. As for Snapchat, that would have far too much stress for a golden oldie like me. Things that disappear after a few minutes. I would probably not even know what was there. This is the place for those that use their mobiles as a sixth finger on the hand. Unfortunately I now realise I am getting too old for the cyber world. I am comfortable in Facebook, because I can take it or leave it.
I am now off to clean a bathroom amongst other things, but will be back. Enjoy the day, take care of your computers, they will need you.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
That track is weird. I would say that it is coming and going. Anything with legs that far apart would not take such short steps.
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Perhaps my birds are now wearing socks to keep their feet warm. I have no idea what it could be. They appeared yesterday afternoon.
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How very strange. You don’t have any neighbours with stilts do you? I do Facebook mainly to keep in touch with family interstate, local happenings and various interest groups. I would not like Snapchat for the same reasons as you. I had thought about trying Instagram but I think those things are more for people with smartphones who use them a lot and that is not me. I recently read that wearing pantyhose is old hat too. I don’t like them and usually wear trousers but it does not seem right to go to a dressy affair with bare legs. Certainly not if you are of mature age.
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Stilts was my first thought and afterwards an ostrich, but they have claws.. I found a couple of long lost friends on Facebook, which is the good part of it, especially as I live in another country. I never wear socks or stockings at home and in summer not outside. I only wear socks in winter if I go anywhere. I don’t even have any pantyhose, although they were more comfortable than stockings.
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Fox trails – one trail in, the other out – fox place their paws really neat in line. Search fox traces when fox trots.
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That is what I was thinking. Too big for a cat. We do have fox but rarely see them. In the cold weather they probably come searching for food. I did not know that about their prints, but will do some research. Thanks for the tip.
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Pat; I have not forsaken you but am taking a pause of commenting – this post however has left me with gratitude (for your good services in CH), laughter (about the footprints & the needs of computers for love and attention), and a sense of care. I am an opponent of F B but I feel that it really IS the right media for you. So, what do you care, you use it. I have discovered Whatsapp for me to be an ideal ‘quick message sending’ and even being able to phone free of charge with my friends all over the places incl England & Switzerland. So, it’s the right thing for me. Chacun à son goût.
As for the prints, NO IDEA…. They do soaken up and widen up, so it might have been a bird after all. We had a tiny dusting of snow on Saturday, it was very cold for our region and the sun was shining from a cristal clear sky. It was truly feeric. Then we had tremendous storms and tons of water (not good at all!). So, we just accept what heaven is according us on a daily/nightly basis and deal with it.
Greetings
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I think I have now found the solution to the footprints in the snow – it might be a dog, which is nothing spectacular, but a fox was a very good suggestion. I have absolutely no problem with FB. Sometimes I even get a laugh out of it when I see the ridiculous stuff that people post. I have my own places where I like to be, my old school site and places where I lived, having contact with neighbours. Not everything is bad about facebook, you just have to know what you are doing. I can also contact free with the facebook messenger. Whatsapp is just not my thing.
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Oh, and I really like that pic of the little tit. I had many in my garden but all the birds seeds are sold out everywhere and the poor mites will have to wait until I can find sunflower kernels somewhere or be content with the fat balls and the mixed food I also put out in large quantities.
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My birds are overdoing it and will soon be losing their balance on the twigs due to overweight. I think that bird is a so-called coal tit.
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YES it is. And yes, they are – what galled me over the many past year is that the Turteltauben (love birds pigeons…. :)) were literally getting too fat on the food they grabbedfrom their compadres’ tables that they were real ugly to look at!
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I do hope you find out about those tracks in the snow because I am stymied. So strange. The photo of the rooftops is very pretty. I would be sure to tell Mr Swiss that you are a professional–you know what you are doing! But be careful.
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It was a very good tip about the fox. We do have foxes but very rarely see them and they usually come in the middle of the night looking for garbage.
It also caused quite a discussion in Facebook, but I had a good tip there. Probably they are just common dog tracks. They look very similar according to some photos I got via internet pages. The neighbour has an apricot poodle and we are on the main trail for dog walking. They often don’t have leads and take a walk in new pastures to mark the possession.
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I’m so glad you’re here on WP — I gave up Facebook and other sites long ago for security issues, but feel very comfortable with WP! Stay safe in that snow!
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I have been everywhere. I began in Yahoo 365 and when it closed arrive in Multiply where I made most of my online friends. We were a good group and had fun. I still have contacts with them, mainly in Facebook. I driften onto WordPress, where I already had a small backup and have now found my home here. I like WP very much, but Facebook is OK for certain things. I have refound many old schoolfriends and neighbours in Facebook. I have never had a security problem in Facebook and I have belonged for more than 10 years. You just have to know what and how to do it.
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I also don’t get the point of Instagram. I was “on” it for a short time at the request of my step–daughter-in-law, but why? And the platform I really don’t get is Pinterest…
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I was also in Instagram for a few hours, but gave up. What I like is to have control over what I show and where. I never even had a look at Pinterest. Is not my thing. Seems to be a bit superficial to me.
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I joined a “Dealing with racism in Boston” group on Facebook. It isn’t a cheery group, but at least I can relate to the issues it addresses. I tried Instagram — couldn’t make sense of it. Never tried any of the others. I feel like I’m already as busy with social media as I can manage and still have time remaining to cook dinner or sleep.
As for those tracks: Some kind of bird maybe? They walk on two legs. Possibly two of them? It’s hard to tell because the tracks are somewhat melted … but whatever, it had to be two legged, you think?
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The group in Facebook are mostly ok. They have administrators that keep order .
Instagram did nothing special for me so I left after joining. It’s true, you can join in so many places that eventually it all becomes a full time job.
It seems that the tracks could be a dog or even a fox, all very mysterious
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I’ve also heard that about Facebook but I don’t really care. I keep in touch with far away family and friends, and I’m a member of a number of interest groups. It’s good for that and for planning events. It’s a slightly different group that posts to Instagram, and it’s easy to cross-post between Instagram and Facebook so it doesn’t take much time to do both of those if you’re already committed to doing one. Otherwise, I do Instagram and Pinterest because I was advised to do so to get more blog traffic, but so far it isn’t helping much in that regard.
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I have been in Facebook for many years and have no big problems. Like anything in internet you just have to be careful. There are some good groups where you meet up with people that have same interests. Inam not really looking for more blog traffic, that just sort of happens to me, which is fine.
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https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/15787706/posts/1697869968
I am sorry to trouble you with this; but you might want to look at the tracks in the snow at the blog of Flutter & Hum. I do not know how to share a post from someone else, so hopefully the link I posted here will get you there, or you can just go to Flutter & Hum.
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I had just put my computer to bed, but as my Apple is a quick starter I decided to answer this as it is very interesting. The second tracks do resemble mine, but it seems it is either a dog, which is most likely, or perhaps a fox. I am writing because the blogger in the attachment writes about Lusse in Sweden. Actually it is known as St. Lucia and is a big festival in Sweden before Christmas. My husband was logistic manager for Volvo in Switzerland and whilst he was still working was often in Gotheburg in Sweden on business. He was there once before Christmas on the day of St. Lucia and it is a very big celebration. the girls do wear a wreath in their hair with lighted candles and punch is served in the office. There was a big dinner in the evening with all sorts of fish, mainly salmon, and after meat dishes including elk and reindeer. The Swedes really go to town on this and it can get quite merry, from the amount of alcohol consumed. He said it was a great feast. There was also a group of Polish truck drivers there to pick up their new lorries and they joined in with some polish christmas songs.
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I would guess they were fox tracks only because I do not know what fox tracks look like. I would think that I would recognize dog tracks. I doubt it is a triffid though.
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