Our house is across a small private lane from what we call the Hundred Acre Wood (cf AA Milne). Most of the time it is pretty benign as Christopher Robin's woods were benign but occasionally there are events that are more creepy. The small herd of deer is more annoying than creepy, and the various birds are quite fascinating, but right now we are being harassed by a fox. I don't know if it is the same fox or whether it is male or female but this animal lurks outside our front door in the early morning hours. While we have no proof of it, we think that the fox is just waiting for our terrier to leave the house for his morning pee. We don't have a dog door so if the dog goes out we go too, but like most dogs and certainly most terriers, if Tucker sees an interloper, be it squirrel, rabbit, bird, or fox, he wants to give chase. Until this week when we opened the door the fox barked and ran away but now it sticks around in the bushes. So I have taken to going out before the dog goes out and banging on the pillars of the porch. They have been in several of my current quilt photos if you are curious.
Anyway, yesterday I went out and banged on the pillars and the fox barked and I thought that meant it had skedaddled. So I let Tucker out and as soon as he started to pee, I heard growling in the rhododendron bush next to the porch. I barely let Tucker finish his business before I picked him up to put him indoors. The fox kept growling all the while and Tucker was doing the, "Let me at him" routine but I closed the door thoroughly creeped out. Then about 30 minutes later when we went on our morning walk (two miles every day come rain or come shine) we saw the fox paralleling our path about 20 feet behind us. While that probably doesn't sound that scary it was still unnerving. Of course Pennsylvania has a very big problem with rabies so even house cats need to be vaccinated, but so far the fox seems more hungry than crazed.
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