Old Photos and Foxes

trail in the woods behind our old house

I've been working on an on-going project of digitizing and organizing our old photos.  This week I've been working of the early 2000's, and I've been immersed in those memories.  Some decades are better than others, but this was a pretty good one. I thought I'd share a sweet memory with you guys...

Our house had about 2 acres of woods along the back of the property that dipped down a ravine to a small stream.  It was a favorite place for our daughters to play when they were young.  They made a garden along the stream and lined it with wood pickets, and they spent many hours down there investigating the stream and its critters.

They found all kinds of things, even a few pockets of clay "globs" that they fashioned into bowls and spoons and art.  We were so lucky to have had such a nice place for them to play.  It wasn't until years later that one of the neighbors started using the ravine for rifle practice, but the girls were teens by then and no longer spent time by the stream.

teepee on eastside of property

On top of the ravine there was a pile of boards that had been stacked up like a teepee.  It was near the boundary with our neighbor's property which was really handy.  Those woods were pretty thick, and the line of sight up the ravine wasn't always clear.  But if you could locate the teepee, then you could navigate to the trail and back up to our backyard and not struggle through a huge bramble patch.

There was a fox hole near this teepee in that bramble patch.  I discovered it the 1st year we moved here, but it took about 10 years before I actually saw a fox.  

red fox winter 2010

It was a couple of years after the girls had left for college that I spied him from an upstairs' bedroom window.

There was about of foot of snow on the ground, and he was digging a hole in it to bury a rabbit he had caught in our front yard.  I dashed  to get my camera and he had already left and was walking back toward the teepee when I snapped this picture.  This is the best I could get from so far away, but luckily, I had removed the screens for winter, so I got a pretty good fix on him/her.  

Such an elusive and beautiful creature.

backyard looking toward ravine (brambles on right)

Well, back to work.  Until next time...

                ~~~ Karen ~~~