A fox in the garden

Last week was a busy one for me, and the future is looking about the same; so for awhile posts here will be sporadic.

When a wild thing walks into my garden, I am always thrilled even when I know it's best for them to stay away and not trust humans too much. This time it is a small gray fox who I first saw in our little rock garden right outside the living room window. That time I started to walk to get the camera and it ran immediately.

A few days later the fox was back and this time I crawled to be below the window view. I guess I took over thirty photos of it enjoying the garden and sunshine. I was totally amazed that it would come so close to the house, but it's young. Twice more we've seen it, once hunting near the bird feeder and then Saturday evening jumping up on our rock bench.

The last time although I'd have enjoyed a photo, I felt more concern that Blackie (one of our cats) was outside. I thought maybe the fox would be aggressive. Instead it was the other way around, and to my shock Blackie took out after it!  Fortunately Blackie stopped at the fence while the fox sat out in the orchard for a bit as though trying to understand why our place had turned so unfriendly. Actually it was also chased across the pasture one day by the cows.

It's adorable but I don't want to encourage wild things to come in close to the house, not with small lambs and my cats outside off and on. Also it's healthier for the fox to learn people aren't safe. It's hard though to do that as it is really adorable. When I see something like that, I worry it's not getting enough food and needs help. That is plain foolish as to put out food for it would not be healthy for the wild thing or our place.