Friday, April 12, 2013

Shiny


That was what the road looked like yesterday. (It stormed all day Tuesday, but nothing melted Wednesday because the high was all of 30' with a gray ceiling and lots of wind.  Brrr!)  I didn't get out for a walk until mid-morning yesterday when the temp finally cracked the freezing mark.


See the hail stones? That's sort of the median-large end of the size range.  There were a few closer to golf ball size, but most of them were more like the marbles we used to call shooters in elementary school.  Or big ball bearings.  Glad we were on the edge of the storm - it was a lot nastier up north, from what I hear.  But it was finally melting by the time I got home from my walk.

Now for the exciting moment of my day:


No, Rattle has not started taking steroids and going to the beauty parlor.  Mr. Bobcat was sitting calmly in front of one of the outbuildings yesterday evening when I happened to look out the kitchen window.  After a mad scramble for my camera (Verbatim exchange with my mother-in-law - I was on the phone when I spotted him. Me, "Holy crap, there's a bobcat in the yard!"  ML, "Well you'd better go then.  Do you have a gun?"  Me, "No, but I've got a camera!")


I took a couple pictures through the window, then decided to push my luck and see if I could stand in the front doorway without scaring him.  Unfortunately that put him behind a vehicle from where I was standing, so I eased over until I could see better.  Opening the door made noise, and he'd moved and was sitting just beyond that pile of limbs you can see in the picture above.  Then he got up and trotted off out of sight behind the building.  Too cool!

Maybe if we already had chickens I'd be worried, but he didn't seem interested in Squeak and Silence - they were out by the old chicken house - and the cats are the only small critters around.  At a guess, he'd probably weigh in about 35-40 lbs, so too small to take on a whole horse.  But I wouldn't want to be a pack rat or a rabbit!  Sure hope I see keep seeing him now and then.

The ponies were thrilled to be back out on grass this morning.  We all walked briskly up the hill and they waited, albeit impatiently for me to get all their halters stripped off before making a beeline out.

7 comments:

Jennifer said...

OOOH! Oh My! I've seen them darting across roadways here, but never close enough or still enough for photography. Oh Me Oh My. Scary stuff right there.

I'm with the MIL - got a gun??? EEp!

Unknown said...

Wow how cool is that?
I'm like you, I'd have grabbed a camera, not a gun.

Unknown said...

OMG, I just realized that on your "Library thing" you have "Old Bones"!

I love that book. Had it as a kid. Even did a post on it once.

Kellie said...

HOLY COW!! A bobcat! GREAT picture too! We've had them around in the past, but not recently..
Love it that your MIL thought a gun was a better option than the camera lol

SunnySD said...

I've never seen one in the flesh before - I've seen tracks, but one if the front yard was definitely an experience to be remembered.

Old Bones is one of my favorites, too, Cindy. Had a really battered copy as a kid that I read multiple times. Finally ran across a copy as an adult at a library book sale, and had to have it. It was just as good as I remembered, too :)

Unknown said...

How cool is that seeing a Bobacat!? Though I am not proud about the gun saying.. Maybe to shoot around it to scare it but if you were to kill it that would be a different story seeing how outside is there home and there already having there habitat destroyed. I also own a half bob cat..

SunnySD said...

It was a real thrill to actually see one, that's for sure. I've never even seen a half-bobcat, let alone one right there in my yard! No danger of it being shot at here, unless it was actually attacking something - I think they're gorgeous, and certainly have as much right to be out and about as I do. It's pretty wild out here where we are, so it has plenty of countryside left to live in without us needing to bother each other :) Wouldn't mind seeing it occasionally, though!