Foxy Day

Hubs and I were sitting down in the kitchen when I spotted him on the patio, stalking chipmunks.  Quick as a flash, I was out the door with my camera and the fox was off the patio and halfway down the hill.  At that point, he turned to look at me, which was when I snapped this.  Then, off he went, under our storage shed.  Which is where I suspected we had a fox denning.    We saw what I believe to be the same fox on the patio when we were sitting out having lunch - I know he must be very hungry to be out hunting in the day.  In truth, I would not mind if he thinned the gray squirrel population a bit.

The day took a turn for the worse when Hubs and I returned from running some errands and I spotted a smallish red body laying on our front walkway.  I got just close enough to determine that it was dead.  I think it was a sub-adult fox (not the adult pictured here)  but I could not bear to get close enough to tell for certain.  It broke my heart to see it laying there.  I called the police who arranged for Animal Control to come and get it.  The officer who collected it said it was impossible to tell what it died from (no injuries visible).  Some sort of disease perhaps, or poison.  Heartbreaking, though - and so strange that it just died on our walkway like that.  

Anyway, to get that bad vision out of my head, I spent some time outside being entertained by blue jays, cardinals, chipmunks and catbirds.  Nature is cruel sometimes, but it also soothes my soul.  

I've posted 4 other shots on Flickr, starting HERE - squirrel, blue jay, cardinal, and woodpecker

It seems like every morning now I feel good - full of energy, etc.  And I think to myself that I may be crossing the threshold back to normal. Then, in the early afternoon the evil radiation fairy whacks me with the fatigue stick. Hubs tells me I am expecting too much, too soon.  He's probably right but it still frustrates me to go from feeling so good to so not-good in what feels like the blink of an eye.  

This probably demands something chocolate - what do you say?

xo
Debbi