Wild in the city...

and lots of attitude in the country...

Last time I was at Redbud Ranch, this little guy was giving me a hard time when I needed to open the gate to let my car out to the road. Would he move when I got out of the car? No. I opened the gate and it must have passed a 1/4 inch above his head but would he move? No. Since he was so adamant about staying where he was, I took a picture. Did he move when I got to within an inch of his face? No. That was his spot. He was not moving. Would he move if I used the flash on my camera?

Obviously, no. It was getting pretty darn ridiculous so I picked him up and put him down on the other side of the driveway. And while I was carrying him across the driveway, he let out one delayed croak. Just one. Like he just remembered he better put up a protest before it was too late and found himself settled on a new spot on the ground.

As my car proceeded slowly down the gravel road, I saw a couple telltale frog silhouettes doing the same thing. Sitting on the the gravel road and not moving for any reason. I had to carefully drive around their stubborn little bodies and when I reached the paved road, I didn't see one frog profile contemplating who knows what. I don't know what was in their heads. I suppose it was a good quiet night for sitting on gravel and that's what they were going to do...until dawn, I guess.

This stubbornness streak I've been seeing continued into the month of June. I was coming home from work late one night and saw two little animals standing their ground in the middle of the road. Two gray foxes. I turned the car around after I passed them (oh, I should explain that this was in the middle of the city, not the country!) because it was so unusual to see what I first thought was a coyote times two. I got out of my car and clapped my hands and told them to get off the road. Well, they didn't want to. Huh? And I found out that it is not as easy to remove two willful teenage foxes from the road as it is one small willful frog. I had to raise my arms over my head and walk toward them and they finally did get out of the road although they steadfastly stood their ground just two feet away from the curb. Bad little foxes. I know as soon as I took off they were out playing in the road again.

I was surprised last winter, when I was following tracks in the snow on my land in Kansas, that all tracks followed definite trails, the same ones I used when there wasn't any snow, the ones created by the ATVs that used to race through the woods before that land became mine. The dogs, the deer, the rabbits, they all used those trails and they all crossed at the same intersections. Those wild animals out there sure do appreciate human civilization's development of easy transportation through the wilderness (or city). Apparently those roads and trails are heavily used not just by people but every animal and frog out there too.

Eric said he saw a deer walking down the middle of the street in our neighborhood. I know that that deer must have appreciated the extra-wide aisles of the outdoor supermarket (known to us as our neighborhood) and probably thought a silent "thank you" as he or she passed through.

I was talking about all these unusual wild animals I've been running into, animals I shouldn't be running into so easily, to the woman who cuts my hair. Well, she said she had a story for me. Her husband looked out the back window where they live and saw pigs, feral pigs. She thought he was totally nuts but that night on the news there was a story of feral pigs wandering the town. I can't top that story and I hope I never will(!!!!!!).