Fleet Foxes

one of the truly great things about living where we live is our nearly every day exposure to wildlife. most often we see deer in the yard, usually a few at a time. they come out of the woods at the back of the house and cautiously and stealthily make their way down to the front hill where the apple trees are. we sometimes see them coming home at night as we drive up the driveway, a group of them standing together in the dark, heads raised to watch us as we pass.

we've also seen hawks hunting in the air over our heads, as well as porcupines, and what may be a fisher cat. there have been coyotes in the yard, and once there was even a bear crossing the outer perimeter. there are routinely flocks of wild turkeys roaming all around us, and the summer nights are filled with the calls of many other animals we don't even ever lay eyes on. those same summer nights, when moonless, produce deep purple and blue star bands as the arms of our own milky way galaxy spiral above us. i miss the convenience of living in a city, but all of this quiet and calm, coupled with the humbling notion of how small we all are even in our own environments, makes me glad we chose to live here, and to raise our children in fields and rivers and mountains, rather than buses and parks zoos. i like all of the latter, don't get me wrong. but nothing compares to the every day beauty of the natural world around us now.

and speaking of that, last week we had our first official fox sighting! we heard rumors from mems and teek that there were some foxes in the woods that made appearances now and again, but we had been here for a while and still hadn't seen any.

this guy came down off the back hill and went straight for the fenced in area of what will be mommy's garden, come spring time.

 he was able to catch a plump little mole almost right away. 

 and to our surprise, once he had killed his lunch, he signaled up the hill

 ...and down came his mate!

together, they continued to hunt around the garden:

 caught licking his chops.

eventually they made their way around the fence to the opening, and went in for a snuggle:

 "quick! make out with me! just act natural..."

 "i get the feeling we're being watched."

 you sure are, pal. i hope that's your wife you're licking!

after hunting for a few minutes more, they moved on, over the south hill...