One of the things we enjoy most about living in Country Place are the wild animals. There is something very satisfying about watching a family of deer cross the road by our house, or admiring the variety of birds who show up at our feeders. John Vardeman and I were talking one morning recently about the two fox kits we’ve watched grow up this summer in the woods across the street. It’s been interesting to see them progress from clumsy attempts to catch field mice to serious hunters.

Yesterday morning as Kratos and I walked up to our house after our walk we were both startled by a loud bleating, like a kid goat caught in a barbed-wire fence, I remember thinking. Then we saw the big cottontail bounding in the tall grass across from our house, and right behind came one of the foxes in hot pursuit. To add to the drama, just as the rabbit passed the cedar tree a fawn jumped up and began running with the rabbit. After a moment the fawn came running back and proceeded to tear around a clearing two more times before disappearing into the woods.

We didn’t hear the rabbit again, and I’ve not gone down into the woods to see if there’s blood and fur on the ground. For some reason I’d like to think the rabbit found his den and escaped the fox, although I know there are plenty of rabbits and the fox has to eat. Better the rabbit than our cats, I reason.

Mary Strickland called today to report that she and Odell had seen a couple of unknown vehicles in the neighborhood. One was a speeding black Chevy SUV, the other a green truck. If you see suspicious vehicles in the neighborhood, please get the license plate numbers and report to a board member so we can do our due diligence in finding out who’s visiting.

If you haven’t been down to one of our lakes recently, you should go. Kratos and I walked all the lakes today and they are in great shape. Lake #1 is off-color, but the work on the road is finished and the water is flowing over the dam. Actually, it’s flowing over the dams on #2, #3 and #4, too. The erosion on Lake #4 dam is getting serious and we’ll need to address it in ’09. These big rains are cutting into the middle of the dam now. The water in #2 and #3 is perfect for fishing now and the fish should be moving again. In fact, I talked to one of my fly-fishing neighbors who caught a 6-lb bass recently on a frog pattern. Now that’s fun!