It’s only been a couple of weeks, but this city-mouse is beginning to adjust to country life. Before, I found the lack of city lights and din of cars unnerving. Now I find it more comforting than creepy. Although town is only an hour away it feels further, and we try not to make the trek unnecessarily. We plan “town runs,” a marathon day of getting provisions and hitting the hardware store. It makes me feel very Little House on the Prairie. Solo town runs are a little less fun, because I’m still scared out of my gourd when it comes to the woods + nighttime. If Hubs is at work and I’m on my own, I refuse to engage in any type of social activity that leads to my coming home in the dark. I am The Omega Man, in before nightfall. I open the door and let Szuka out for her nighttime pees, but you’ll sooner see me dancing a jig, naked in a top hat at my high school reunion, than stepping a toe outside alone in the dark.
More frustrating than my totally irrational fear of the woods at night has been a lack of internet. When our realtor and the lakehouse seller kept saying, “oh yeah, you’ll get internet out here no problem,” I didn’t realize dial-up was still on the menu! After considering various services (Satellite = reliable, not super zippy, outrageous $700+ start up costs; CDMA network = super affordable, really pokey; Dial-up = makes me cry) we went with a Roger’s Rocket Hub, which runs through the 4G network. It’s not cheap ($75 a month for only 20GB, plus a $200 doohickey we had to buy), but not painfully slow either. Frankly, the $700 was beginning to look reasonable after so many days offline. But I’m back now, for good, and I have so many lakehouse updates to show you (it seems we’re frighteningly productive without internet to lure us into indolence).
But first, I finally snagged my Mom’s cellphone photos from our fox adventures in the fall. Oh my gosh.
These photos are super incriminating. Hubby had one rule when I was working on the lakehouse in the fall: don’t feed the wild animals. I just want all of the forest dwellers to love me and save me from the zombies I know are out there, is that so unreasonable?
oh my gosh i want a fox! 🙂
I will ship one over promptly, lol.
super adorable. I would be careful, though, if you had any pets-don't think you'd want the fox coming around in that case.
That's what Hubby said too! We didn't have a puppy last fall but now we have Szuka so I don't even think the foxes will come around anymore.
omg that fox is soooo cute! My husband always tells me to stay away from wild animals, but I would definitely be feeding a fox too if I had one in my backyard!
These little guys were so gentle. But feeding some wild animals can be super dangerous (bears, I'm looking at you).
THAT IS SO AWESOME! Ah, so cute.
It is nutty how close they got to my Mom's cellphone as she was snapping incriminating photos of me.
I love the fox!!!! So unbelievably jealous of your interaction with that little guy.
It was surreal! I hope I don't have as close an encounter with the bears that leave their poop on our lawn 🙂
omg i can't believe he came that close to you just for a snack! so adorable!
I know!! I think the previous owners had been feeding the foxes because there were three of them that knew to come to us for snacks. They were still a little hesitant, though.
That fox is so cute! Amazing that you got so close!
He wanted to touch noses, looks like.
Yep, I'd say that third photo is just about as incriminating as one can be! 🙂 This former country girl has lived in the city far too long. I used to consider a pack of coyotes crossing the lawn a normal thing, but now it would freak me out. And bears in the yard? I think that ALWAYS would have freaked me out.
Yes, that is the worst one :)Bears ARE worrisome, aren't they?? The former owner joked how the apple trees lured them and all fall I spotted their poop around. It freaks me out a lot, but no one else seems as worried. I definitely won't be feeding them, that's for sure!
Sounds like you are settling into country life day by day you'll see the good things outweigh the bad (like no internet!). Im with hubby – dont feed the animals. Except if they're a cute fox of course!
Day by day! Don't worry, I pledge to no longer feed foxes, either. There was a one-time pass for country newbies 🙂
I do just want you to know that foxes can carry rabies. These guys obviously aren't sick and are acting normally, so they probably aren't carrying it. But in the instance that you got bit by one you would have to undergo treatment for rabies anyway, and they would likely have to trap the foxes and euthanize them to test them. I'm a veterinary student, and just thought I'd share 🙂
Yes, I know, it was always in the back of my mind so I'm happy you've left this comment. It's not cool to feed these fellas. They probably shouldn't be eating muffins, either. Bad for the diet. Luckily, these guys were super gentle – they'd been well versed in taking food from humans. But I know it was unsafe. I was just outside eating my snack when this guy wandered up out of the blue!
Love the fox! I was wondering if they'd e around now that you have the pup. If she's friendly with them ,they may. We had some squirrels in the townhouse that had no fear of our cats. Those squirrels were my buddies, I missed them so much when we moved that I tried to make friends with our woods wildlife, but they have no interest in meeting me.
No signs yet! We're hoping they don't meet.