All posts by Wildtrumpetvine

Thankful, on this Thanksgiving Day (2024)

On this Thanksgiving day, a chilly drizzle dims, but cannot mask, the beauty of fall’s spectacular finale here in Northern Virginia.

Late-blooming roses and a few determined petunias share space with brilliant red maple leaves, soon to fly away. As I give thanks for nature’s many gifts, the words of this familiar old hymn, a comforting presence, abide with me today.

For the beauty of the earth,

for the glory of the skies,

A red maple, in its blazing final burst of fall color.

for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies.

Lord of all, to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. 

Due to some unsupervised weeding and many hungry deer, only one Montauk daisy has bloomed in our patch this season.

For the beauty of each hour, of the day and of the night,

hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light;

Lord of all, to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. 

A ginkgo tree, a living link to the era of the dinosaurs, dressed in its golden November glow.

For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,

for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight;

For the past two years, this azalea puts forth a few fall blooms. Unlike the typical spring blossoms, of dark fuchsia, the off-season flowers have petals of striated pale pink.

Lord of all, to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a Thanksgiving filled with many blessings!

 

–For the Beauty of the Earth

Words: Folliot S. Pierpoint, 1864

Music:  Conrad Kocher, 1838

What I Learned from Calls to Georgia Voters

I shut myself off from the election results as they trickled in on the evening of November 5.  I kept away from all sources of outside information. I didn’t want to experience in real time the constant minuscule ups and downs as votes were reported. I was reading a captivating book.  Its protagonist was a person who committed many terrible acts, yet managed to escape any serious consequences.

I’d been hopeful about the election, and I maintained that sense of optimism throughout the night. I know I dozed off at times, because I recalled some vivid, disturbing dreams, but I was awake most of the night, reading. 

As light was breaking, around 6:30 AM, I checked my phone.  My heart sank.  “Trump, Again.”  Really?  No!  No!  No!  Wow!

We’d been told, over and over, that it would be a very close election.  I believed this.  I knew that a Harris loss was very possible.  And I’d prepared myself for inconclusive initial results.  But I had expected so much more from my fellow citizens.  Wow.  Just wow.  Maybe I’m still dreaming.  Or maybe I’m still reading. 

One of my primary reasons for optimism was the many conversations I’d had with Georgia voters during the two weeks prior to the election.  I volunteered to do something I’ve never done before:  to make campaign phone calls.  I chose Georgia because the results were likely to be closer there than here in Virginia.  I grew up in Atlanta.  I have known my share of  Georgians. 

I never answer my phone to a number I don’t recognize; I resent such intrusions.  But I felt a pressing need to do something other than donate, and I didn’t want to knock on doors.  In this age of Zoom, the task is easier than ever.  I sat at my computer and waited to be connected to voters. When someone answered, their first name would appear on my screen.  I learned to make my case quickly and succinctly.

I made nearly two hundred calls.  Judging from names and accents, Georgians are a multi-cultural bunch.  This didn’t surprise me.  My Atlanta high school, Henry Grady, now Midtown High, had been a melting pot since the 1950s.  I couldn’t believe the number of people who willingly spoke to me.  I got many hang-ups, naturally.  I got a few gruff answers.  One man loudly demanded to be removed from this “KaMAla bullsh*t.”  But most people, even those who were not supporting the Democrats, were incredibly polite.  Many peppered their answers with “Yes, ma’am,” and “No ma’am.”

I spoke to several people who weren’t planning to vote, and others who couldn’t.  Two felt strongly that neither candidate took the interests of the average citizen to heart.  One Latina woman had missed the registration deadline.  Another told me that she couldn’t vote; she wasn’t a citizen.  She spoke quickly and nervously, as if she suspected I might be the voting police.  But her daughter was definitely voting for Harris, she said.  One soft-spoken young man said he couldn’t vote, because he was a felon.  (Interesting, isn’t it, that another felon is now the president-elect?) I talked to several White women who were all in for Trump. There were a few men who were vociferously anti-Harris, and wanted to discuss.  One man, who described himself as fifty-something and Black, was convinced that Harris was an evil gang leader, who cared nothing for other Black people except to garner their votes. Despite our rather extended conversation, I never found out where he got his information.  One young White man, speaking courteously, was enamored of Trump because he said “anything that was on his mind.”

But far and away, most of those I spoke with were eager and enthusiastic supporters of the Democratic party.  Our conversations were like those among old friends; we were working together for what we hoped would be the best outcome for the country that we loved.  I talked to many Black women who were Harris supporters for lots of reasons, but often with the well-being of their daughters and granddaughters prominently in mind.  There were a number of Black men who backed Harris wholeheartedly.  I talked with a White woman who had that genteel, Old Atlanta accent that has largely disappeared.  She was as flabbergasted as I was that Trump was the Republican candidate, again.  When one young man with a prominent South Georgia drawl answered and said he’d get his dad, for whom I was asking, I prepared  myself for an earful of disagreement.  Instead, his father, with just as pronounced an accent, told me that he’d been actively campaigning for Harris and felt betrayed by fellow Georgians who were supporting “that other guy.” A man of Asian descent related how his entire extended family had assembled together for early voting, for Harris. One older man started off slowly: “It’s a hard decision.  Do I support the candidate who incited an insurrection and got police officers killed on January 6th? Or do I vote for the woman who is qualified to be president?”  Another elderly man said he’d been a child during the 1930s, and he felt, with much regret, like we’d gone back in time.

I was reassured in discovering that the majority of Georgia voters on my call list were supporting Harris.  It was, as expected, a pleasure to speak with kindred spirits.  But what surprised me greatly was that I enjoyed talking even with those who thought differently from  me.  I never felt personally attacked. There was often humor in our exchanges.  In nearly every conversation, our shared humanity was tacitly acknowledged.   We were Americans who disagreed.  It reminded me of past eras, when we could support different parties without questioning one another’s patriotism or hurling insults.  Maybe it’s just that most Georgians are so polite?  

Whatever the case, the calls left me  more hopeful than I had been before.  They give me hope even now.  I was reminded that I feel better when I engage with others, especially with those I don’t know well.  Not long ago, my daughter remarked that one of the things she had missed most during the Covid years was the opportunity to talk regularly with strangers.  I agree.  If we’re ever to break through the barriers of extreme polarization, we’re going to have to talk, and listen, to one another.  And give each other grace.  Thank you, Georgia voters, of all political persuasions, for bringing this point home to me. 

Incidentally and aptly, the title of the book that held my attention all during the long night of November 5, was this:  The Sequel. 

Say No to Mr. No Fair!

In my last post, I wrote about how the current Republican presidential candidate relies on a childish strategy to deflect and redirect attention from his own misdeeds.  The “I didn’t do it!  You did it!” strategy has served him well. 

There’s another infantile tactic that he regularly employs, and that’s the claim of “No fair!”.  You know this maneuver.  You grew up with it, and chances are, if you ever used it, you grew out of it.

Remember playing childhood games in the neighborhood as a kid, and there was someone who yelled “NO FAIR!” at every loss? Usually there was at least one child who absolutely couldn’t abide losing. Not at High-Ho Cheerio, or Candy Land, or Freeze Tag, or Kickball. Not even Tic Tac Toe. No game was too trivial not to be contested. I recall gently asking one such wailing young acquaintance, “Do you really think it’s only fair if you win every single time? It wouldn’t be fair, see, if I won every single time, would it? ” My reasoning fell on deaf ears. The kid continued howling NO FAIR through the tears. Apparently the concept of fairness was created only for him; it did not extend to others.

The former president clearly continues to see the world this way.  Things are only fair if he wins.  When he lost the election in 2020, he cried NO FAIR. 

He appealed to his followers. He repeated the claim, loudly and forcefully. Various media outlets amplified it. His base wanted to believe the lie, so they were hoodwinked. On January 6, 2021, they assembled at our Capitol in order to undo an election they had been told was illegitimate. Because Trump declared NO FAIR, some brought weapons, zip ties, and wore body armor. They broke through barricades, windows and doors. Most of them had been strident supporters of “law and order,” yet they viciously attacked the police who were there to defend our democratic systems. They roamed the hallways of the Capitol, chanting violent threats against duly elected representatives of both parties. They did it because their leader, their hero, had told them, and continued to tell them, over and over, that it was NO FAIR. They threatened to hang Mike Pence, their candidate’s own Vice President. What terrible vengeance would have taken place if our lawmakers had not been whisked to safety, with only a very few moments to spare?

Trump has never ceased claiming NO FAIR.  His  “unfair” election loss in 2020 has now morphed into his predicted “unfairness” of the 2024 election.  In recent rallies, he’s heavily seeding the ground, telling his followers that if he doesn’t win by a landslide, it’s because of rampant “cheating” by Democrats.  Yet again, the election is likely to be stolen from him, he maintains.  And yet again, ominously, he’s suggesting that bad things may happen if he doesn’t win. 

Why vote for an elderly version of that whiny kid who can’t stand to lose?  Ironically a vote for that candidate is a vote for unfairness.

I urge you:  vote for fairness for all.  Vote for Kamala Harris. 

 

*The Trump campaign filed over sixty lawsuits claiming election fraud in the 2020 election.  According to the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization founded by a Republican former Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, “The various claims of evidence alleging a stolen 2020 election have been exhaustively investigated and litigated. Judges heard claims of illegal voting and found they were without merit.”

With our Vote, We Can Say, “Enough!”

Around this time four years ago, I made an appeal for voters not to re-elect then-President Trump. I remain astounded that it’s necessary to make the same plea again, as we face, unbelievably, a third election featuring this most unworthy candidate.

There were soooooooooo many reasons not to vote for this man in 2020.  Of course, there were plenty in 2016, including the Access Hollywood tape that should have ended his campaign and political career.  There are far more reasons now.  The list is absolutely exhaustive.  It includes, of course, his crucial role in the events of January 6, 2021.  Another worth recalling is that he is now a convicted felon, found guilty by a jury of our peers.  In most states he would be unable even to vote.

And then there are many reasons that can be wrapped up in his character, or lack thereof:  he is childish in all the bad ways, and none of the good. 

Like a spoiled, angry child, when faced with potential conflict, he follows a well-worn playbook.  He declares, loudly and with vehemence: I didn’t do it!  You did it!  or I’m not!  You are! 

Most of us can remember at least one or two childhood acquaintances who made regular use of this old familiar taunt.  It was, almost always, a blatant lie.  I didn’t kick the dog!  You did!  I’m not a cheater!  You are! 

And for most of us, the absurdity of the tactic was always readily apparent.  We knew, even as children, that we’d be called out immediately as a liar and a fraud.  Many of those who relied on it in their youth have likely outgrown it with age. 

But for bullies, who wield power through fear, and never, never, back down from the lie, it can be highly effective.

We watched as the former president brandished the strategy like a light saber, time and time again.  Others remarked on it, referring to the practice as “projection,” a psychological coping mechanism in which one’s own shameful or unwelcome thoughts or hostile actions are projected onto another.  

Whatever one calls it–whether projection or the I’m not, you are tactic, it’s one of his signature moves. 

Remember when Hillary Clinton accused him, during a debate, of being Putin’s puppet?  His reply:  “I’m not a puppet.  You’re the puppet.”

Take note of his repeated references to the “Biden crime family.” 

Three  generals who worked for the former president–his Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, his Defense Secretary James Mattis, and his former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, have all declared Trump to be unfit for office, a threat to the Constitution and to the institution of our military.  What does Trump say?   A Harris administration will be a threat to our democracy.  

We should pay close attention to these projections.  When he says he won’t do some terrible thing, but the other side will, watch out.  A second Trump term will lack the responsible minders who babysat him during his previous term.  There will be no one to reign in the whims of the whiny man-child, the elderly bully boy.  The consequences could be dire.

But we, the people, we can stop him. Trump’s Republican colleagues didn’t have the guts to do so when they could, during one of his two impeachments, or after he was voted out of office.  It’s up to us, the voters, to say, “Enough.”  We can vote for the capable, responsible, intelligent candidate who will work for us. We can vote for Kamala Harris, former District Attorney, Attorney General, U.S. Senator and current Vice President.  We can vote, not for the criminal, but for the candidate who seeks to uphold the law and make it work for the American people.

 

Halloween ’24 and its Prequels

Slim revels in the various lead-up events to the big day. His enthusiastic presence heightens the fun at our church’s annual Trunk or Treat. It’s a pleasure having him by my side, revving up the crowd from his usual perch at the back of my car.

It was Slim’s idea that the refurbished nativity animals accompany us to the event.  By this time, he and the pups had gotten chummy with the foursome of ox, donkey, lamb and ram.  He decided that their debut at Trunk or Treat should function as a preview in preparation for Advent.  But they needed some Halloween flair, he insisted.  He dug through boxes of fall decorations to find suitable ribbon for bows, which he carefully tied around each faux-furry neck. 

We were all happy to see our daughter and her fiancé, who dropped by last weekend between Halloween parties. Slim heartily approved of their regal vampire costumes.

Slim loves a festive centerpiece, and he has an eye for detail. In our dining room, he toyed with the painted gourds, arranging them just so in the punch bowl.

The week before Halloween was warm and sunny here in Northern Virginia. Between decorating projects, Slim could often be found soaking up the October rays and basking in the balmy breezes. While sad to see that the impatiens had succumbed to a recent frost, he appreciated the persistence of our petunias.

He was surprised to discover some out-of-season blooms on our lilacs.

A birder from way back, Slim had for years been encouraging me to join the Feeder Watch program of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Now that I have, I understand. I’ve always appreciated the peace that comes from being immersed in nature, especially at times when the human world is a muddle of confounding conflict. And I’ve found that when I’m counting birds for Feeder Watch, I pay closer attention to each little creature that appears. I’m looking with greater concentration and intentionality, and the experience is more satisfying. Slim spent hours sitting motionless in a chair close to the feeders, gazing at the variety of birds that swooped around him, not troubled at all by his presence. I found some precious moments to settle myself in a chair just beyond, and savor the pleasant ambiance.

Before long, it was time for the annual pre-Halloween joyride. The dogs piled in, and Slim took the wheel. On an afternoon that epitomized convertible weather, they merrily cruised the neighborhood, looking for old friends and admiring the numerous ambitious Halloween displays.

Slim has claimed that he and his wide circle of influencers are largely responsible for the exponential growth of Halloween, from a quick one- day celebration, to a weekend, to its own extensive season. He’s been known to get a bit cocky, so I take his words with a grain of salt.  Is it really a good thing, I wondered, for gargantuan blow-up spiders, demons and Disney villains to join us as early as August?   I asked him why he and his colleagues, if they wielded such power, couldn’t turn their attention toward easing some of society’s ills. They were trying to do just that, he replied. The thinking was this: If we can unite for weeks over a love of candy, playing dress-up and poking fun at our fears, maybe we can realize that our points of commonality outnumber our differences. 

Maybe there’s something to this.  Even one day of Halloween is an amazing occasion.  People across our country open their doors to hand out generous amounts of candy to children.  Most of these are kids we hardly know, or have never met.  We greet and give to strangers, simply because they show up, wear a costume, and say “Trick or Treat.”  It seems that over the years on October 31, we’ve moved toward a greater emphasis on the treating than the tricking.  That’s something to keep in mind and strive for, every day, whether it’s Halloween season, or not.   

Slim and my husband worked together to light up our house in a Halloweeny palette of orange and green.

Skeleton Crew ’24

It’s that time again–time for our beloved family friend Slim and his pack of devoted pups to jump back wholeheartedly into the life of our household. For the past eleven months they’ve been keeping a low profile up in their attic hideaway. In years past, my mother’s basement has served as their quiet refuge during the non-October months. This changed last year when Slim made his acquaintance with the recently finished upper room at our house. He loved it so much he found no reason to leave, as long as I promised not to be overly intrusive. He has a good four weeks of chatty, jovial cordiality in him per year, but no more. I understand. I need my alone time, too.

Slim and the gang enjoyed tucking themselves into the attic’s odd and cozy spaces. When they were huddled silently behind the screen, as in the top photo, I sometimes forgot they were in the house. Other times they nestled into the dormers, where they could lounge with a pile of books and keep occasional watch on the neighborhood below.

As planned, Slim caught up on his reading, delving deep into some of his favorite periods in art history.

Inspired by our intention that the attic serve as a studio for my painting and craft projects, Slim had rekindled his interest in a variety of artistic pursuits.  His building of a miniature medieval manor house turned out to be no more than a passing fancy, rather as I had expected.  He offered advice as I fiddled with the restoration of an old family mantel clock.  When I encouraged him to take on the task of gold-leafing the column bases and capitals, he claimed to be overtired.  What can I say, he was off duty.  

As fall approached, Slim’s energy increased.  He  painted a couple of dried gourds, delighting in their arresting shapes and textures. 

And in early October, he offered encouragement, if not actual assistance, when I began repainting our church’s battered old nativity figures, those that spend Advent and Christmas in the outdoor manger.

There was considerable room for improvement, as these “before” photos of the lamb and donkey show. Slim was by my side as I worked on the animals. The human figures–the holy family, shepherd, angel and three kings–will be more challenging. I wish I could entrust their makeovers to Slim. But Halloween is upon us, and I know he will certainly be “overtired” in the days ahead.

I can hear Slim now, starting to make ready for the big day.  He’s dragging out the orange and green lights.  Onward, to Halloween!

Before Voting, Listen, and Remember January 6, 2021

For those of you who intend to cast your precious vote for the former president, I ask you first to do this:  listen to him speak, in his own words.  Pay attention to more than the carefully clipped sound bites offered by Fox News.  Like other conservative media outlets, they do their best to sanitize him. They pick out the strongest snippets of a Trump speech or interview, repeatedly emphasizing those that make him sound “presidential.”  Take some time away from the pundits who tell you how to think. 

If you listen to the former president for more than ten minutes or so, you’ll likely hear incoherencies, bizarre claims and convoluted ramblings.  You may hear cringeworthy references to his own and others’ physical appearance: he could be sunning his “beautiful body” on a Riviera beach instead of toiling away on the campaign trail; his many super rich friends are unattractive in their bathing suits; he’s much better looking than Harris, etc.  There’s the continuing preoccupation with crowd size. There are anecdotes about groveling sycophants who approach him to kiss the ring, begging him, “Sir, sir.”  You may hear him refer to himself, inexplicably, as the “father of IVF.” He may mention that a Harris administration will outlaw cows and windows. 

You’ll almost certainly hear petty, school-boy insults: demeaning nicknames (he often reminds the crowd that he’s good with names), and mocking taunts.  You may hear him refer to those he dislikes as “human scum.” You’ll likely hear him demonize certain marginalized groups, a practice which has had very real and serious consequences.   

You’ll hear many empty promises, impossible to fulfill, and blatant, outright lies.    

But perhaps most significantly, you’ll hear some frightening, dangerous assertions. 

In a recent interview with Bloomberg News, Trump referred to  January 6 as a day “of peace and love.” 

In a Univision Town Hall on October16, he claimed that during the January 6 attack on the Capitol, “no one on the other side was killed.”  And by “the other side,” he means the police.  Five police officers died from injuries they sustained defending the Capitol.  It’s an odd and alarming construct from someone professing to be the “law and order candidate.” He claimed, falsely, “There were no guns down there; we didn’t have guns.” Then he doubled down in aligning himself with those fighting the police:  “The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.”  Note the use of “we.”  He is no longer separating himself from that day’s violent mob.

Listen to him discuss plans for a second term. He needs to win the election, or the consequences of his many illegal actions may finally catch up to him.  He intends to persecute those who disagree with him.  He plans to fill the Department of Justice with his lackeys and root out “the enemy within,” by whom he means duly elected representatives, among others.  You may hear him make barely veiled allusions to the threat of violence if he does not win the upcoming election. You’ll hear him speak highly of dictators, whom he sees as role models.  Remember that in a second term, his administration will consist of only the most extreme Trump loyalists.  There will be no “adults in the room.”  No guardrails will remain. The prospect is truly chilling. 

Did you watch the terrible events of January 6, 2021 as they unfolded? If so, you know what you saw.  Don’t forget.  Don’t let Trump persuade you that his version is the true one.

Ask yourself this:  How can it possibly be in the country’s best interests for this man to be president again? 

 

And after you listen to the former president speak, unfiltered, for a while,  I urge you to do this:  give some time to Kamala Harris, our current Vice President, former Attorney General of California, a prosecutor whose job was to enforce the law.  Maybe you’ll see that there are plenty of good reasons to cast your vote for her.   

 

Still With Us, Still Masking, the Raccoons

For many years, we rarely glimpsed a raccoon in our immediate area.  I wrote about young Kiko’s only encounter with a raccoon inside his fenced domain back in 2013.  During our Covid home confinement in 2020, we began to notice them more often, and they provided much-needed entertainment.  They were the ideal visitors for that era: always masked, always outside.  Our family would gather eagerly at the windows to watch these unexpectedly agile athletes perform acrobatic feats.  They persisted, and persisted, and managed, somehow, to feast on seed from the hanging feeders.  These days, raccoons are ever-present. 

This winter, a pair of small, absolutely adorable raccoons began appearing regularly as dusk approached.  We’d see them working patiently, using their delicate, long-fingered hands to comb the ground for sunflower seeds beneath the feeders.   I’d learned that it’s an easy task for a raccoon to remove a feeder from its hook, so I’d started securing them to the branches with carabiners.   For a while they seemed to work.  But raccoons clearly persevere.  I’d awaken to find both feeders on the ground, their components scattered across a wide area, the seed long gone.  Now I remove the feeders at night, after the last of the late-feeding cardinals has retired.  A slight delay, though, and I’ll find a feeder already on the ground.  These little guys work quickly now that they’ve mastered the carabiner.  

Once they realized that the feeders disappear after dark, the raccoons are more likely to show up during the day. Early morning, mid-day, late afternoon, whenever. Hearing a louder than expected rustling in the weeds one recent day, I watched as a raccoon vigorously dragged a feeder toward a more private dining spot, behind the garage. And I know, from the gifts they leave, that they check for the feeders every night. I still think the raccoons are very cute. But I wouldn’t object strenuously to fewer visits from these furry friends.

Back Home (With the Local Foxes)

Freddie, the senior male

My childhood neighborhood in urban Atlanta was full of large, mature trees and pockets of densely wooded areas. I grew up amidst plenty of small wildlife. Squirrels, chipmunks and birds were, and are, plentiful. For some reason, we often saw an opossum sitting placidly on the roof of our next-door neighbor’s home, easily visible from our kitchen window. Friends tell me that foxes, coyotes and deer all make the occasional appearance these days, but I never spotted any in all my years there. So I wasn’t prepared to be surrounded by the larger wild creatures we see every day here in Northern Virginia.

We had been in our present home just a few months when my husband and I awakened to a horrific screeching sound.  My first thought was that our daughter, then about eighteen months old, was crying out, in a most terrible way.

“She’s OK! She’s OK! It’s not her!,” my husband assured me. “It’s coming from outside.” It was spring, and the windows were open.

The screeching continued. It still sounded like a child suffering a brutal attack.

It wasn’t until the next day that we determined the source of the noise: a fox.  Just a little red fox.

Freddie at left, and Frankie, the senior female, at right

Over the last twenty years we’ve come to be aware of the many foxes around us.  Now that we know where to look, we see them as they go about their typically quiet everyday lives.  We consider it a privilege to share our space with them.  Their middle-of-the-night screeches no longer frighten us.  Sometimes I’ve looked out and watched with interest as a fox stands in the center of our yard and yells out, repeatedly.   During daylight hours, our local foxes regularly follow certain routes, from one patch of wooded county land to another, crossing yards, or following  paved paths like driveways and walkways.  Occasionally we’ll spot them curled up and snoozing in a patch of sun.

Kiko in September 2009

When our dog Kiko was alive, his favorite look-out spot was by the fence in our side yard, where he could watch the foxes on their rounds.  They frequently passed within a few yards of the boundary. But neither Kiko nor the foxes made a sound. They eyed one another with intense scrutiny, as if wondering if they might be related.  The Shiba Inu is sometimes called the “little fox dog,” and the two are similar in size and appearance, with their thick red fur and pointed ears.  The fox’s long bushy tail, though, contrasts with Kiko’s shorter, curly one.  In a post from last winter, I remarked that a glimpse of a fox in the front yard sometimes prompts a moment of panic when I think it’s Kiko, still with us, but alarmingly beyond the safety of the fence.  The foxes have become a sort of stand-in for our beloved dog, and I find their presence comforting.  In their mannerisms, they also remind me of Kiko. They look at humans with a calm, steady gaze in their golden-amber eyes, then glance away coolly, as if to say, “I’m fine without you.”  Their black-tipped ears twitch at the slightest sound.  And like my dog in his agile prime, they can jump up, turn on a dime, and dash away speedily.

Snowball, inside the fenced area

After our return from Cape Cod, I was glad that the fox I’ve come to see most often hadn’t moved on to new territory.  I call him Freddie, and he’s evidently the senior male, the group patriarch, father to three cubs.  Early on sunny mornings, he’s often curled up in front of his favorite tree in my mother’s yard.  In the winter, he was frequently accompanied by his mate, a nursing female.  I dubbed her Frankie, short for Francesca.  She was dainty and skittish, slightly smaller than Freddie, and lighter in color, with a narrower face.  I haven’t seen her for a couple of months.   But their youngsters are everywhere:  long, lanky adolescents,  lean and big-eared.  The sibling in charge is a spirited, fearless female.  I dubbed her Snowball for the prominent bob of white at the end of her tail. She’s a skilled and patient hunter, often lying flat in the mulch, blending in, motionless, waiting to pounce.  And sometimes she and the other young ones venture inside our fenced area.  They’re small enough to pop easily in and out through the wrought-iron bars.  Now that Kiko’s nearly fifteen-year tenure as guard is over, the area has become even more of a safe sanctuary for birds, squirrels and chipmunks.  But with his absence, his foxy look-a-likes have become bolder.  When I’m at my desk and spot Snowball inside the fence, I raise the window, and she flees immediately.  Foxes are intelligent, and they seem to learn quickly the limits of human hospitality.  But they’re also persistent and sneaky.

 

Freddie, on alert

Just the other day I happened to witness Snowball flying across the front yard with a bushy-tailed squirrel in her jaws.  It’s a wild kingdom out there.  I’d prefer that all our neighborhood critters were vegetarians, but it’s not up to me. 

Frankie

I wonder about little Frankie.  I’d like to think she’s moved on, by choice.   It’ unlikely, I know, but I hope she’s living her best life in another welcoming enclave, relishing the absence of familial responsibilities.   After all, she knows her teenagers can take care of themselves.