After the storm

 The day after the storm we got another helping of snow: one of those wet, windless snowfalls that leave everything heavily laden.

Afterwards, I noticed strange tracks between the barn and the house. I puzzled over them for a while. What sort of animal could make marks like this? Was it a new predator, trying to get in to the chickens?

 

After wondering about it for a while, the answer suddenly presented itself. The 'tracks' were directly underneath the power line from the barn to the house. They'd been created when the heavy snow on the wire had fallen off as the temperature rose later that morning. Not so mysterious, after all...