Expect the Unexpected

Cougar: A large cat of the family Felidae native to the Americas

After our morning coffee, ole Grumpy and I finally had time to call the gravel hauler.

We're sitting at the dining room table as ole Grumpy dials the number.   "Hello," the lady answers.  "Hello, we say.  "We're calling to find out if you folks are hauling gravel?"  She replies, "well, sure we do, when did you (silence then a shriek) ..."Randy, turn off that damn noisy weed eater and get over here quick!  There's a critter in the front yard!"

(Unintelligible reply--what the??? we hear way off in the distance)  Again she yells, "Randy, hurry up!  You know, a black and white critter--a skunk!"  (Pandemonium and noise in the background) "I'm sorry, she says to us, "I should have been more professional on the phone."

We all break out laughing.    

We tell her about an incident we had several months back.  We're sitting at the dining room table looking out the window when I head to the kitchen.  Ole Grumpy startles me-- "get back in here"!  You're not gonna believe what's standing on the pool cover! 

I came running over and we looked out the window.  Lo and behold there was a small feral hog standing somewhat precariously on the edge of the pool cover.  You could tell it wasn't happy as it was unsteady on its feet.  Note:  Where there's one feral hog around you know there's got to be One Big Mother nearby.   It turned and ran into the tall grass and instantly was gone.  If you hadn't seen it you would have never even known it was there. 

Then we went on to tell her about another encounter one week ago.      

It was late afternoon and I was coming home from town.  Ole Grumpy was following me.  He got out to unlock the gate and then climbed back into the truck so he was a few minutes behind me.  While he was walking back to the truck I started driving up to the house.  As I rounded the corner by some large trees I spooked two deer.  Nothing unusual.  They took off across the drive in front of me.  But what immediately followed them and close on their heels was something very unexpected.


It sprang up and sailed through the air, with the greatest of ease.  I couldn't tell if it had been laying close to the deer (certainly seemed so) or if it just happened on the scene.  I personally believe it was the former.  I estimated it to be about 80 - 90 lbs, light brown with dark markings on both ears and a long tail that closely matched the length of its body. 

My mind was saying, "that's a cat" but one breed I definitely had not seen around this neighborhood.

Turns out it was a Cougar.  Cougars are excellent stalk and ambush predators and this certainly could account for why it was so close to the deer.

This is the second time I've seen this animal.

The first time I saw it its head was showing above the tall grass so I couldn't see its body but when it stood up  and slowly ambled off into the pines I knew what it was.   

This time it was brazen enough or hungry enough? to be seen stalking its prey in the open.
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The moral of this post:  Be prepared.  You just never know what is lurking around.  Calamity and Chaos take no prisoners.  There are predatory animals out there and they don't always happen to be animals.  Always be observant and aware of your surroundings, no matter where you happen to be.