I took some time off from working on my next novel to get photos of the critters that have been hanging around the neighborhood this summer. It all began a few weeks ago when my wife and I spotted a litter of Fox kits in a neighbor’s yard. It was after dark and they were standing well off the road when the headlights caught them. A few days later, I was down at the road getting the mail when Blondie, my male Labrador, ran three baby coons up a tree. Then still later my neighbor, Tish Pierce called and said the coons were in her cherry tree having lunch. I figured it was time to break out the camera. So, these are some pics of the coons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile……………………

 

 

A couple nights ago my wife and I heard a strange sound just outside our bedroom window. It was around midnight and I thought perhaps something had caught a rabbit. Grabbing a flashlight, I went to check things out, figuring it was one of our cats that had caught something. When I rounded the corner of the house, the three, now much larger, fox kits had a neighbor’s cat surrounded. They scattered and the cat bolted across the yard and under a wood fence. End of that, I figured. Wrong!

I got back in bed only to hear a cat squalling under the same window twenty minutes later. Grabbing the flashlight, I again head out. This time I rounded the corner to find one of the foxes has returned and had our yellow tomcat “Tater Tot” backed against the wall of the house. The lone fox ran away and Tot all but jumped into my arms. I tossed him into the laundry room for the night and finally got some sleep.

The photo below of one of the young foxes a day later. He was resting at the edge of the woods in the neighbor’s backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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