A Fox and Her Babies: Being cunning, free–and ALIVE!
Posted by overmanwarrior 9 years, 11 months ago to Philosophy
This is a little bit of a different topic for me, but I think many here will appreciate it.
I found it fascinating and ironic that a family of foxes made a home in the drain pipe at the end of my driveway. For as long as I have been alive I have loved the character of Zorro which means “fox” in Spanish. They are nocturnal creatures who are extremely difficult to catch. As a young man in Liberty Township I knew plenty of people who trapped foxes hoping to catch them for their pelts. I always hoped that the foxes would evade capture—like Zorro—my favorite defender of justice. Only a few times did I see them captured, but otherwise they were like mysteries of the night. I would see them occasionally like ghosts sneaking across the yard—cat like, but large like dogs with their big bushy tails flowing out like the cape of Zorro. As soon as your eyes focused on them, they were gone again leaving their presence to be in question—as if doubt could be placed on their existence. So it came with some shock that a fox came to my home to give birth to her pups. It is highly unusual to see a fox in the daylight but because the babies had no idea what night and day was yet, they were up at all hours blowing the cover of the normally nocturnal fox. Here is a video of their activity at the end of my driveway.
I found it fascinating and ironic that a family of foxes made a home in the drain pipe at the end of my driveway. For as long as I have been alive I have loved the character of Zorro which means “fox” in Spanish. They are nocturnal creatures who are extremely difficult to catch. As a young man in Liberty Township I knew plenty of people who trapped foxes hoping to catch them for their pelts. I always hoped that the foxes would evade capture—like Zorro—my favorite defender of justice. Only a few times did I see them captured, but otherwise they were like mysteries of the night. I would see them occasionally like ghosts sneaking across the yard—cat like, but large like dogs with their big bushy tails flowing out like the cape of Zorro. As soon as your eyes focused on them, they were gone again leaving their presence to be in question—as if doubt could be placed on their existence. So it came with some shock that a fox came to my home to give birth to her pups. It is highly unusual to see a fox in the daylight but because the babies had no idea what night and day was yet, they were up at all hours blowing the cover of the normally nocturnal fox. Here is a video of their activity at the end of my driveway.
People who worry are really concerned that they aren't in control, or picked an option that was incorrect. She knew she was smart and could escape in a whim. So she played it cool. It was pretty neat.
Fred Speckmann
commonsenseforamericans@yahoo.com
You have foxes in your drain pipe, I have skunks in mine. Wanna trade. D)
We see fox here during daylight. One was sitting on our courtyard wall, obviously upset with the smell form the neighbors newly fertilized lawn. Another time my three idiot cats surrounded a fox in our back woods. She sat there unmoving, unsure what was going on. I tapped on the window, but no one moved. I went out back and told the cats to lay off, and they reluctantly came, one at a time. The fox shook her head, as if to say, "What was that!", and then went back in the woods. We also had a coyote follow our one cat to the courtyard one noon, while the cat walked in like nothing unusual..We have 200 trees, half evergreen, some planted as shelters for the wild one. Still we were surprised when a 7 foot black snake spent an entire summer with our courtyard as home base. It allow the pets to jump over it to get out the door, sat in the middle of the courtyard while I weeded, went out, but always returned. Nature is amazing, and you don't need a liberal to understand it. Our bat is very Randian, we provide his house, he earns his way eating mosquitoes.
Perhaps even more than that, we also owe you a thank you for posting all the information about the history of the Zorro character in book and film form. It is a timely reminder of what Books, film and TV used to be before so many perversions of these art forms came to the forefront became the standard of entertainment.
A time when you didn't need to fear what your children would see on TV or in movies. When you had to be concerned what they might read, even in school as the arrest of the man at the school board meeting recently taught us. His concern was that a reading assignment exposed his early teen daughter to explicit sexual situations without parents being advised of the reading list.
I'm far from being a prude, but at what age are such books acceptable and when did parenting and concern for your children become a crime? The same of course is true for TV and film on a daily basis. Is there any wonder that we long for the carefree days of the 50's?
Thank you for reminding us of simpler times when we could enjoy nature and every day was not a struggle for a little decency in our lives.
Fred Speckmann
commonsenseforamericans@yahoo.com