Little Mysteries

The world really is full of little wonders.

Take for example this:  As I was headed out with tanner for our daily walk in the woods, I was looking around at all the newly exposed ground that I haven't seen in months.  The first thing anyone would notice are the all the darned mole hills.  Those pesky, destructive, little creatures who are no doubt waiting anxiously for me to be dumb enough to plant a garden.

But suddenly, I noticed something I have never noticed before.  The pattern of the mole hills perfectly mirrors the shadow that my house would cast as the sun sets in the winter.

I look to my left and, sure enough, the mole hills mirror the snow bank.

I look to my right, sighting down the length of the trenches where the leech field is and I see that they also stick to the eastern side of every little hill....

and see that they too fall in the long shadow that is cast by the pine tree.

Once I knew what to look for, I saw that all the mole hills were on a very slight eastern facing slope and positioned under the shadow of some object, even small ones.  I thought for a moment that I must be wrong when I saw some hills on the front lawn, but no, once I thought about it I realized that they would have been in the shadow of the snow where I cleared a path to the woodshed.

So here's a little mystery, why do moles make their hills facing east and do their best to hide from the evening sun?  Is because they like it dark?  Does the shade protect the snow which insulates them?  Electromagnetic alignment?  Orders from the planet Aghkbarh?  All of the above?

Maybe this explains the foxes at least.