Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fox News


Foxes Next Door
Originally uploaded by ewidem

Returned from a couple of errands yesterday afternoon to find three young foxes wrestling in front of the barn next door. The property is vacant (clung to for nostalgia's sake by a man who grew up there). In exchange for shoveling the drive and making the place appear minimally kept up, Ph. gets to park the '90 bucket-o-bolts there--that's the ultra cheap set of wheels we picked up in February so Ph. could learn properly to drive. I don't know whether the foxes are a threat to much of anything. They're young and small--innocent seeming. One was pawing at an old tire. The other two were rolling around on the ground, grappling with each other. Of course, I'm sure they have parents. Will they run off the other barn-friendly vermin (esp. the skunks, who take every opportunity to make their presence known)? I don't know. A family of foxes also cannot be good for field mice, squirrels, and outdoor cats. But are they dangerous enough to call in animal control? As long as they don't bring Bill O'Reilly sniffing around these parts, they're harmless, right?

About the photo: I snapped it on my cell phone, a freebie from AT&T. The only way your cell phone would take crappier pictures is if you didn't have a cell phone. Even then your impressions might be crisper than this. But, hey, work with what you've got, no?