Friday, June 30, 2006

Summer Wild & Lazy Life

Obviously, I don't have all that much to say - you can thank the high temps. The summer hazy daze is setting in. Cue Summer's Cauldron.

I will say - the country place is turning out to be immensely enjoyable, partly due to the critters that grace us with their presence. Cue Wild Wild Life.

Two foxes (maybe more; time to start looking for identifying markings) regularly saunter through the property. One gray and a red. The red is petite, sleek, and yes - muy adorable. Its' gorgeously bushy tail must be the envy of squirrels countywide.

Being a clever survialist, it helped itself to whatever cherries the birds hadn't already harvested from our two trees. Twice I've 'caught' the beast helping itself to the fruit. We didn't get a single one for ourselves - must pay better attention next year to ripening timing. The fox left pitty droppings around the property (mockingly?).

It's not all lazing around though - I'm building a decent sized bocce court: 12' x 72'. Taking a water break from the manual labor the other day, I had that sensation of something watching me. Usually it's just the dog. But this time Sammy was knocked out from the heat and sleeping in one of her newly dug dirt pits. Sure enough there was Redd Foxx, sitting pretty, back near the harvested cherry trees. It wasn't especially wary, as it continued to stay put even after we had locked eyeballs. Eventually it decided it was wild and I was not. Then in one beautifully fluid motion, it turned and leaped, floated, through an opening in the wire 'deer' fencing. The fence has a rectangular wire grid, with openings of 3" x 5". Red F slipped right through, effortlessly.


And then there are the squadrons of hummingbirds. Colibri, in Spanish; as one of the local wineries translates. Foothill hummers are fearless - and eternally hungry.

Like I said, I don't have much to say. Except: have a great holiday weekend. Cue Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a nice post! There's a red fox I occasionally see here. It lives on the grounds of a convent a couple miles from the house. Purty lil thang.

Oh, and I saw a deer on Sunday. It was lazily chewing on the grass in a cemetery in Evanston. Where it came from is anybody's guess.

10:44 AM  

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