Ermine

Last time we made roast duck, we put the fat outside under the birdfeeders. The next day, there was an ermine eating the duck fat. I had never seen an ermine before. It is a beautiful creature, unlike the one DaVinci painted. It was pure white, startlingly white, even glaringly white in the way a fresh snow looks on the day after the storm, when the sky is a high bright blue and the sun seems to catch every crystal upon the landscape. I sometimes feel I have to look away, it is so intense.

This is the color of an ermine in winter. It has a bit on black on the tip of it's long tail. I've heard that they are vicious creatures. The man who owns the General Store here said to me "They kill for fun."

As we had duck on sunday, we put out some more congealed grease, hoping for a return of the ermine, but only got the neighbor's dog.