Planted cat and fox tales

Hmmmm, plant Izzy or the bougainvillea????

I promised pics of the newest members of the Vulpini tribe, Sten and Rimpy, and here they are!
They were very bold and bad yesterday, stealing bread from a very patient dad, Sebastian - Saint Sebastian! Fox can be saints too, can't they????

This is Sten

Sten thinking "bad"!

Sten stealing from Sebastian!

Rimpy

Rimpy thinking "dinner"!

Rimpy goin' for it!

Rimpy being 1/3 successful!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Overwhelmed …

…in a very good way! I am truly touched by all of your comments on the last post. The Buffledog would have loved to have had you all in one place so he could keep all that love herded together! The tighter the herd the better!

I think I’ve found a solution to the video problem for the montage. Since we are supposed to have rain tomorrow, it’ll be a good day to put that together.

I got the pleasure of meeting Lime over the weekend. She happened to be attending a wedding in the town next to mine and I was happy to steal her away both before and after the wedding...and it was her birthday to boot!!! She has been gracing the comments for almost as long as the DD has been around and it was unfortunate that we weren’t able to meet when Taylor and I were on our trip back east. We made up for that bloggy transgression this time. So we talked and walked and wandered the San Antonio Art Museum and the River Walk and our own Fox Hollow – however our fox got stage fright and did not make an appearance that day…ungrateful urchins they were…all that bread…were gonna have a talk! It was a delight to spend time with Lime and get to know her outside the limitations of the cyber community. I’m grateful and honored that she was able and willing to spend that much of her time with me. Blog meet-ups just ROCK!

April 10th

Six months ago at this hour of the day I was as frightened as I can ever remember being.

Six months ago my friend Varla posted on my blog for me as we talked on the phone and I was approaching Texas A&M near midnight.

Six months ago I was having a lot of conversations with the universe, with god/goddess, myself and with my best friend.

Six months ago “B” and Laine talked me through a very nerve wracking morning as I sat on the concrete floor of an exam room for several hours with Taylor’s head in my lap.

Six months ago today I lost my best friend and companion.

Six months later it is still as painful, but at least I can write this without crumpling up.

I’ve put off writing this all day, choosing instead to wage war on the cactus and prairie grass in the pasture. I really didn’t know if I could write this. If you are reading this I suppose I could finish writing.

It’s 2 in the morning as I’m tapping this out and all the things I wanted to say as I was warring with the Gorgons of overgrowth have long since fled. One thing that became abundantly clear as I was soaking my overused back earlier is that the Buffledog was the most deliberate thing that has ever happened in my life. I remember having a similar thought while eating lunch at Applebee’s in Wytheville, VA nearly 5 years ago. I was looking at Taylor’s 5 week picture, a complete “AWWWWW!” photo that’s appeared here several times, and the waitress looking over my shoulder asked, “Wow! Is that your puppy?” I think I replied, “That’s my boy and I get to meet him at the end of the week!” I was flying into Boise on the tail end of the business trip to meet the breeder and the Bufflepup. Nothing about this was left to chance – nothing opportunistic or circumstantial. I know I’ve told this before, but when I arrived at the breeder’s she had me sit in the kitchen floor and then let the thundering herd out of their kennel and they all came rushing in from the garage – all 10 of them full of puppy teeth, paws, tails and tongues. There was one that sat right down beside me after a typical puppy greet and gnaw fest and stayed there. The breeder smiled and nodded and I realized it was Taylor. It was serendipitous…and thus it remained for 4 years and 2 months.

I said in my last post that I was getting anxious about the new Bufflepup. In all honesty my anxiety is not when he will arrive, but is whether or not I’m ready. I know he won’t “be” Taylor, but I want to have the same kind of bond. One thing is for sure, he will get an abundance of love and attention as Taylor did. I hope to talk with the breeder this week to see how things are in Buffleville.

Tricia wrote a comment several posts ago that I saw many days later. She was able to say what I haven’t been able to and here is an excerpt:

I miss coming here and seeing his soulful eyes staring back at me. And the way he would always leave his toys out in the rain.
The way you were always having to round them up and throw them in the washer. And you never did mind doing it. As long as he was happy.

Yes. I gotta say it. Some of the soul went out of this place when he left us. I guess in a way it wouldn't feel right if it hadn't. He was a huge part of this blog and he definitely had an impact on everyone who visited here. There's just no way to ignore that feeling that something's missing.

I'm sure that time will eventually make his absence here less conspicuous, but for now... Well, he's missed. I know your enthusiasm for doing this may wane, and sometimes you just sound so sad that I don't know what to say. The words here haven't changed too much, but the spirit behind them has.

I don't think anyone whose been visiting here for a while minds waiting though. Just waiting for you to find your balance again, waiting for the sadness to fall away. He was your boy. Your companion. He also played a big part in making you the man that we've all come to know and love.

So yes. We don't mind waiting.

I do hope I can find the balance again. I did go back and read some of the earlier posts and damn if she wasn’t spot on. Thank you Tricia for penning what I could not. I’m sure I’ll get there, soon or late.

Speaking of his toys, there have been several mornings that I’ve awakened on the sofa with his bear or fuzzy bone (his first toy) tucked under my head or arm. I’m not generally a sleep walker, but I don’t remember moving or retrieving the toys that reside on the nightstand bottom shelf. I suppose there is part of me that just needs to sometimes. The first time freaked me out. The latest times I have just gone with it.

I had hoped to do a photo/video montage for this post, but I’m having some technical difficulties with the video portion of it. There are video clips of when he was 7 months and then from our last trip in April. I’ll post it very soon.

Generally speaking...

Can a person have a general epiphany? Seriously, can one just wake up one day and their world shift just a bit to the right or left or perhaps come back to center? Let’s just assume that it’s possible, but in truth, I cannot give you any specifics. How weird is that? It’s like suddenly the auto-focus on the camera began to work and there is a huge part of me that doesn’t want to trust it – it’s still focusing though. It’s been like a long, 72 hour long wave crashing over me. I wonder if it’ll drag me out to founder or simply wash me clean – I suppose time will tell.

Meanwhile:

• Fall has arrived – it’s midnight and it’s a balmy 80 degrees – woo hoo!
• The north fence line has been cleared – guess a fence is next, huh?
• More work on the pasture – at least a path has been cleared to the stable (resulting in a mountain of cut prickly pear). Meeting with extension agent next week regarding further renovations.
• Pasture gate has been fixed.
• Layout for pasture #2, larger barn and round longeing pen are staked out.
• I’m getting anxious about new Bufflepup – soon I hope!
• Most of the song birds have departed for the winter.
• Our buck has quite a rack – I hope he survives the killing season :o(
• Our fawn has lost most of its spots.
• The hummer feeders have to come down at the end of next week – I’m going to miss them greatly.
• My dad turns 91 this month – hard to fathom actually.
• I’m starting to sleep without the aid of drugs – yay!!!
• I went through a town today that was having a “Ducktoberfest” – what the hell month is that?????????

Sten & Rimpy

My girl, Eartha, has returned! Eartha had been MIA since we returned from the trip back east to retrieve our stuff from storage. Yesterday evening she appeared in the back, standing in the waning sunlight as if to announce her return. Her tail is as full as ever (it has always been fuller than the boys’ have been) and she has a calmer attitude – although Simon (who made an earlier appearance) is catching up to her in that regard.

Right on the heels of that bit of good news, Sebastian appeared along with 2 very young fox – perhaps from the latest litter. The young ones didn’t venture too far from the cover of the undergrowth, but you could still see them gamboling about and snatching the buns out of Sebastian’s and Eartha’s mouths. They were too far away to sex them, but for the time being they are named Sten and Rimpy (yes, the spelling is correct). They were acting pretty idiotic with their attempts at thievery. They haven’t appeared close enough to photograph yet, but you can bet when they do venture out of their cover you’ll get to see them in all their scrawny glory!

…and now they are five!