The Night Fox

Not long ago, a fox visited our yard. I was up about 2 am (unable to sleep). As I came out into the living room, I heard a metallic "clunk" from outside - the bunny was making her food bin hit against her cage. So I went over to the window to investigate, and saw that there was a fox on our back patio! Not any fox, but an incredibly bold one. He noticed movement at the window, looked up at me, and just stared at me. He finally decided I was not a threat, and went on to bother the bunny in her cage. This particular bunny is very bold. She did not realize that a serious predator was bothering her, and she was thumping her back feet at the fox, growling (yes, a cute bunny growl!), and banging her food bin. I opened the back door, and "yelled" at the fox (remember, it's 2 am), but he would NOT leave! I came out on the patio and he ran off into the grass. Then as soon as I went back in the house he came back onto the patio. I started throwing things at the fox, like a tennis ball that had been torn apart by the dogs.  The fox liked the tennis ball - it took the ball out into the yard and "played" with it, sticking it's nose inside and tossing it up in the air.  We played these games for quite awhile, and finally I had the brilliant idea of squirting water at him from a water bottle. I aimed for him, and hit him with a fine stream of water right between the eyes and he ran off into the yard again. He did not come back onto the patio again. I then went and slept on the sofa until David got up. The fox was back then, and on the patio bothering the bunny once more. David actually went out and chased the fox across the yard in his bathrobe!! The fox finally left, and we've not seen any sign of him since that night.

No More Goats in Our Park...

The goats are gone. They've probably been moved to a different park, but we don't know. It seems rather empty at the park without them, not to mention that Charlie had become obsessed with them on our walks. We hope they return soon....

The Goats in Our Park

We have goats in our park! They stay all summer long, grazing as a means of natural weed control. Everyone loves stopping by the goat pen to pet and feed these cute critters – especially all of the children. When the goats have grazed down an area, they are extremely eager to move on to the next. This evening we witnessed what can happen when the goats get a little too eager to move on to fresh food. Somehow one of the bars in part of the fencing had bent back or down and the hole was just the right size for many of the goats to leave the pen! We saw just one or two goats outside the pen at first, then we noticed that many more goats were taking advantage of this opportunity for freedom – or more importantly – more grub! We alerted the caretaker to the problem, and he set out to fix the situation. He got the next pen readied for the goats, then had them all move over. When the group realized that new greenery awaited them, they moved in one large mass to the new pen. One little goat was still hanging around by the opposite side of the pen, being petted and fed, when it realized that it had been left behind. Everyone laughed as the poor little thing went running as fast as it’s legs could carry it to rejoin the herd.

First Post

Why am I starting a blog? Why not? Actually, I was challenged to begin writing a blog by my daughters. I enjoy reading blogs by other family members (some of whom are very far away), and follow blogs from around the world. It's doubtful that I'll post any lofty thoughts or propose interesting questions or ideas for whomever happens to stop by; hence the title and description of my blog.