Fox happens...

It never fails... when my husband isn't home for a day, all the wildlife come out to play.

We had a fox in the yard the other day, in the middle of the afternoon, a bright sunny warm day..... that fox should have been in his hiding place, sound asleep, dreaming of night-time hunting in the woods. I just happened to look out the kitchen door and there was the fox, sitting in the sun by the barn, watching the chickens walk around the yard. I think I said something like "Are you kidding me?!"

Out the back door I went, trying to get the chickens to follow me into the coop, which thankfully they did. Maybe they had seen the fox? They're usually not so cooperative on a sunny afternoon way before their lock-up-the-coop time. With the chickens in the coop, I went towards the barn to see what the fox was doing.... and there he was, just sitting there, looking right at me with his head down a bit towards the ground.

Without thinking, I walked up towards the barn, getting closer to that pretty little fox, waving my arms in the air and telling it to Go home! Go on, get out of here and go home! And the little fox just looked at me, not moving, barely raising its head. I think I was about four feet away from the fox..... I could see its eyes clearly, could see its beautiful fur and that bushy tail... and I could also see that there was something wrong with one of its back legs. Oh my. Just what we needed.... an injured or sick fox.

At that moment, our outside cat Gatsby comes up and stands behind me, and decides he's going to protect his mama and his kingdom..... quiet reserved gentleman-Gatsby becomes a screeching-hissing Halloween cat. "Sure, Gatsby.... be brave when you're standing behind me... if the fox decides to attack, he'll get me first." And Gatsby kept hissing and screeching..... so I picked him up and carried his little hissing self into the house.

Back I went to the yard, with my cell phone. I started calling up all the neighbors..... (the guys)..... and not one of them was home. Are you kidding me? My husband is gone, and all the other guys are gone as well? Then I called G, who lives by herself down the road....... she has killed snakes on her property. Surely she would know what to do with an injured fox. "I'll be right there......." and she was, along with her cell phone and the numbers for the local Wildlife Rescue people.

We sat there watching the fox, who was watching us. G pulled on a pair of work gloves and walked over to the fox and got close, then closer still.... and the fox was looking and staring at her, not moving till she got just a little bit too close and then the fox hobbled off into the barn. The lady at the Wildlife Rescue place told us to put cat food into a catch/release trap..... she said if we caught the fox, she'd come by and pick him up, take care of his leg, then release him.

"Smart as a fox." "Sly as a fox." The fox on our property was both smart and sly, I guess, because the can of cat food that I put into that catch/release trap didn't tempt him one bit..... and we haven't seen him since. I keep looking out by the barn, and inside the barn.... no sign of a fox out there.... and I haven't heard Gatsby screeching or hissing out in the yard either.

Country life....... quiet, serene, beautiful........ and filled with wildlife and livestock and little crawling slithering sneaking things that go bump in the proverbial night.