Saturday, June 1, 2013

Springtime Adventures

Heading up Lookout Trail in Montreat!
It's been a delightful spring here in the mountains, despite the fact that of course, the Luckster Boy is deeply missed. I've been so busy with springtime activities, I've not spent any time blogging. When I turned on my home computer this morning, it opened to a page I was looking at two weeks ago! I had to stop and think - "Had it really been two whole weeks since I last sat down at this computer??"

It's time for an update! My last blog post was about Lucky's passing, so I don't want any of his friends thinking that we've gone into a cave to mourn. No, he would not want that, he would want us to enjoy every minute of spring, and that is exactly what we have been doing.


Springtime means spring cleaning = doggie bath time! Lady and Katie were good sports and tolerated their spring baths well. Of course, Katie adopted a posture of utter martyrdom throughout the process, but otherwise she managed just fine.


After the dogs were squeaky clean, it was time to wash the bed covers. The beds were piled and propped along one side of the living room as the covers dried and were put back on in stages. I got such a chuckle out of the scene below when I passed through at one point. Looks like the baths wore everyone out! 


In the mountains, springtime also means visits from the local wildlife. The bird feeding oasis I got for my birthday lasted about one day before the bears discovered  it. :-(         I was saying very unkind things about the bear population that day. Fortunately (miraculously) it was not destroyed, and everything has now been put away until the winter. Sometimes you can wait a few weeks until they move on, so I may try again toward the end of June. But they'll probably find it again. More likely than not, I'm going to have to be patient and wait until winter.

I need one of these signs that are on the dumpsters in the neighborhood. 

Mama Fox has had another litter of kits this spring, and they have been a joy and delight to watch. This year there were five! They play like puppies, chasing and jumping on one another. Mama's lame back leg makes her easy to identify as the same fox who was seen with kits in this area last spring. It doesn't seem to slow her down at all; she hops along on three legs as easily as if she had four. Almost all the photos I've taken are very grainy, because the family tends to show up at dusk, and I seem always to have only my iPhone with me. I got these pics one night about a month ago when I was driving up the hill back to the house, and oh how I longed to have my Canon Rebel! The kits were fearless and practically posed for me.




Several times during the last week, the kits have passed by my home office window, one or two at a time. I was on a phone conference on Tuesday when one ran into view and pounced onto the dirt near the Mexican sunflowers I've planted. Then it jumped into the air again, spun around, pounced again, and ran off. Maybe it was after something I couldn't see, or maybe it was playing. They're usually moving through so quickly that by the time I get out of my chair and over to the window, they're gone. But a few days ago I got lucky and captured the photo below. I was so excited to finally get a decent shot of one of them! As you can see from the photo, the youngsters are getting bigger.


So that's the update from here. We hope all our Blogger friends are having a great spring too. I'll set aside some time this evening to come visiting, get caught up on what's been going on!

6 comments:

  1. Katie's picture is so funny, she does look as though she's being punished. Daisy, our little one, hates baths. Normally a timid and shy little creature, she growls and carries on like a madwoman when she's getting washed. Tonka loves it, he truly enjoys any kind of personal attention. His favorite part is when the towel comes out for drying, he runs right over for that!

    We have lots of foxes in our neighborhood, haven't seen any little ones yet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A lovely update and good to hear from you again. Though I feel like I need to still send you a heart-hug. The pics of the kits are wonderful! What fun to see them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Adorable pictures of the babies even if they are grainy, you can still see their mischieviousness. Love the pictures of the baths and the aftermath as well. You can see the girls' personalities so clearly. Lady seems determined to enjoy herself while Katie is looking for sympathy anywhere she can get it "Look what they're doing to me!"

    Glad to see you guys have been enjoying spring. I've been thinking of you lots. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Linda is up from Asheville at my house for the weekend and we were just talking about you all! So this morning I was delighted to see a new post on your blog which I will share with Linda. I had a small gathering yesterday including Linda and 5 other Eaton friends yesterday and so wished you all were closer and could have joined us! Miss you lots! Loved seeing the neighborhood foxes and the photos of doggie baths! Chelsea is due for one too! I think the warm water helps her arthritis cause she acts like she loves it! Take care. Michele, Chelsea, Graycie, and Bella

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michele, what a surprise! And how fortunate that deleting the "Anonymous" comments off my phone doesn't delete them off my blog, or I would have missed your comment entirely. My blog has been under attack by spammers for the last several months, every one from "Anonymous." So I've been deleting them without even opening them! So good to hear from you - wish we were there too. Hugs to you, hello to Linda, head scratches for Graycie and Bella, and of course - the belly rub for Chels!

      Delete
  5. Hi Brenda, I know how you missed so very much your dear Lucky Boy... I am glad you update. Sounds very nice to live in the mountains and the spring is my preferred season. In Brazil we are in autumn, and the winter begin in June 21.
    Flora used to love to take a bath... So cute the posture of Katie! Lol! Love so much the photo of your three companions taking a nap after the bath. Just amazing to live near wildlife and to have the privilege to see a family of fox around your house. So lovely to see and photograph these cute five puppies! Wishing you a very agreeable spring time. Many hugs!

    ReplyDelete