Looking west at Broken Top and The Three Sisters in the Oregon Cascades Feb. 2016


“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” -
John Ruskin


Monday, December 22, 2014

Here Kitty, Kitty.....




Not this exact kitty, but one like it has decided to visit our neighborhood.  And we didn't know it was here until yesterday when we received an email about shots being fired in the morning.  Seems that over Thanksgiving a cougar took down a deer on a neighbor's property above us.  Sure would have liked to have known about it before now.  But maybe we did know because Chucky has been acting strangely when we have been walking him.  There are areas that he used to frequent daily where we can't drag him near now.  He has been walking the edge of the barbwire fence as tightly as he can to avoid some of these places.  I have been out walking him a lot since he had his surgery and could not play anymore.  I was often exasperated with him and not really paying attention to my surroundings.  Time to look up and be more aware!

And wouldn't you know it - our trail cams have been off.  They need new batteries and we just haven't gone out slogging around in the rain to replace them.  But I will sure be doing it now!  I would love to put out something to bait for the kitty but I know that they prefer living and moving prey!  While I know it is the cycle of life and I am living in their hunting grounds, it does tug at my heart and I wonder which one of the deer that I see was the one taken down by this cat.

Chucky had his stitches out on Saturday and is finally cleared to be back outside to enjoy the freedom of his fenced yard and kennel area during the day.  But I am not sure I really want to let him out there right now.  A couple more days inside won't really matter to him - he probably doesn't want to miss any of his favorite TV shows anyway!

4 comments:

Powell River Books said...

Wayne and John were out hiking a few years back. John's dog Bro was along. The guys looked up as a mountain lion was barreling down the hill right towards them. John grabbed Bro and yelled and waved his arms to scare the big cat away. I am sure it had Bro steaks in it's sights. The cat veered away and they continued on the trail. On the way back to the vehicle, they looked over their shoulders and there was the cat, sitting on a stump just watching. John threw a chunk of wood and hit it with no reaction. Everyone got away fine, but it was a bit scary. Have a great Christmas. - Margy

1st Man said...

wow that is scary indeed. I've never seen a mountain lion in person. They are beautiful animals for sure. The comment above would scare me too...they seem pretty fearless. You all be careful!

Leslie said...

Yikes -- be careful! We have mountain lions here too although we've never actually seen one. We did have a visiting bear cross our property a few months ago. I'm pretty sure that those of us who live on the fringes of civilization are visited by lot more big critters than we are aware of!

Powell River Books said...

Just bought and am half way through Winds of Skilak. I am really enjoying it. - Margy