I'm smitten

I can't help myself.  I had to go with another shot of the foxes today.  As Hubs was getting ready to head over the the Man-cave to work on the race-car, I spotted several of the fox kits at the border of our yard.  Quicker than you could say "fox", I had my camera and was slithering out the door!  I crept to what I hoped would be a good vantage point and was rewarded with some wonderful moments, this being one of my favorites.  

You can see Mama looking at me in this shot (I was probably 100 feet away, crouched down in the wet grass) while the kit was nuzzling her.  It struck me as such a tender moment - even though a second later the kit was biting her ear and jumping on her!  I spent the better part of an hour just watching them.  The kits were playing, chasing imaginary things, stalking each other, just acting like kids I suppose.  And all the while, Mama kept a close eye on me.  At one point, she started running towards me, closing the gap to about 40 feet.  I stayed perfectly still, knowing she wouldn't attack me - she eventually sat and just watched me while the kits played behind her.

Feeling extremely lucky to be able to watch this little family.

YardBird #24, the Rose-breasted grosbeak was around much of the day, looking absolutely stunning.  Monsieur Bleu was bringing treats to Madame as she sat on the eggs.  The titmice and Carolina Wrens were ecstatic when I put out some live mealworms for them (just received my order of 2,000 worms today - eeeeek).  The catbirds are starting to court and defend territory.  The chickadees are on six eggs.  The house wrens are still undecided as to a location - at one point they peeked in the bluebird box and were immediately chased away.  I think Mama Squirrels babies are out of the nest now - several young-looking and very foolish squirrels were farting around in the woods today - hopefully Mama Fox won't find them.  

An assortment of six additional photos on Flickr, starting HERE

Peg, Ellen and Kura are arriving around 4-ish this afternoon, armed with ingredients for basil gimlets (yikes!), as well as Prosecco, snacks and wine.  I've made a new recipe of fresh asparagus pesto which we'll have with pasta and bread, followed by some chocolate/peanut butter brownies with ice cream.  Oh my.  Decadence all the way around!  Nothing like time with my besties.

Thank you so very much for stopping by; and for all who leave comments, hearts and stars - special thanks!  Have a wonderful weekend, people.

Debbi