Tag Archives: fox

No Residual Trauma

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I followed the pawprints and saw Not Cat standing ankledeep in the snow. As he turned his face towards me, a movement on the wall caught my eye; the fox, now jumping away into the garden beyond.

Cat didn’t like the snow; he was spooked by how noisy his footsteps were. Last year, his hearing impaired, was the first time I’d seen him look at ease in it.

Not Cat doesn’t seem to mind having crunchy footsteps. He’s been out several times. The students, from whom I adopted him, told me how they had found him crying in the snow and taken him in. When they located his owners, they were told he was no longer wanted.

I wondered if the snow might trigger some memory of being lost and alone, but there’s been no evidence of any residual trauma. The opposite if anything. This boy grows more confident by the hour. Rather grey hours today. I associate fresh snow with blue skies and crisp air, but today the sky has stayed leaden, and even misty.

I didn’t get any photos of Not Cat in the snow, but I did snap this insouciant Blackbird that he was watching covetously.

Snowy Day Blackbird

A River of Stones, Day Twenty-One: Teethmarks

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From the window I can see something on top of the wall. It is small, barrel shaped and brown. It reminds me of a Kiwi fruit. In the garden, I peer up at it. It is a Kiwi fruit, incongruous on a garden wall in south London. I have my camera. I look at the fruit through the lens and see teeth marks. A fox has bitten into it and left it. Maybe the taste was too sharp for his sweet tooth.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Peaceful, Take Two

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Some more pix on this prompt. I find it interesting how many of us associate water with peacefulness, though the photograph with the prompt didn’t strike me as peaceful.

So, to kick off, here is the marina under snow last winter. When there is no one about, the marina is the most peaceful spot I know. I feel my breathing change when I am there.

Marina Under Snow

Summer this time, still at the marina, and the swan parents have a new brood.

The Swan Family


Continue reading →

Not Cat and Brer Fox

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I’ve been out at work all day, and was just about to curl up with the crossword and a largish glass of red wine when the telephone rang.

It was one of my neighbours. His voice was full of exclamation marks. He’d just seen Not Cat chasing a fox out of the garden.

I thanked him and went to investigate. Not Cat ran up to me, his tail a happy flag. The fox had come back, but when it saw me, it ran off and stopped the other side of the gate. Continue reading →

You Treat This Flat Like a Hotel!

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This is in response to sophiescott’s post which you can read here: https://sophiescott196.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/and-the-little-one-said
I had commented, saying that cat has more or less relocated to the garden. I feel like the parent who complains that their offspring treats the house as a hotel; only returning for bed and board.
So, this is how it has been with today:
3.30 am, Cat asked to go out by rubbing his face against mine, then going to sit by the door. Foxes in all directions, some v noisy.
3.40 am, I was just nodding off again when appalling screaming from fox somewhere v close. I looked out of window. Cat saw me and raced back to the building. I went downstairs and brought him in.
5 am, Cat asked to go out again by banging his dishes together in the kitchen. I obliged.
7.15 am, I went out in my pyjamas and brought Cat in. Both us breakfasted and washed. He went to sleep on the bed, I went to work.
1.30 pm I came home. After fifteen minutes grooming, and a mouthful or three of catfood, Cat asked to go out. I worked through a list of tasks indoors.
5 pm. Cat came in, ate a snack, settled on the bed. I went out to meeting.
8.30 pm, I returned from meeting, as I opened the door, Cat went through it. I let him into the garden.
9.53 pm, I am online, need to do quick some paperwork, have bath. I shall venture out in my pyjamas for Cat before bed.
Conclusion:
One, or both, of us is not fulfilling Companion Animal Duties.

Mr Fox

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Or maybe Mrs Fox, or Ms Fox. I don’t know.

But. I’ve held back as long as I could. But seeing the fox on the wall last night, and then again this morning was too much.

Photographed from the bedroom window.

Isn’t s/he cool?

Two pictures

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I took these two pictures today in London. One is by the river near the mouth of St Saviour’s Dock in SE16, close to Jacob’s island, the notorious area described by Dickens in Oliver Twist. The other is in our garden, not described by Dickens at all. Though he does mention the area in one of his novels.