Sunday Cat

One Sunday when we were having our Sunday dinner, a sleek little tabby cat wandered up to our house. She came to beg a crust, which our nieces gave her, no doubt. "Not another stray," we groaned. "Now she's ours for life." But on Monday, she was gone. As weeks went on, we noticed with amusement, she appeared like clockwork on Sundays ~ even when we had no family to dinner. We speculated, thinking that maybe someone locked her out of their house every church day. So to us, "Sunday Cat" she became. We never thought of her as ours. She came for a visit. Once she appeared on a Monday! We checked our calendar and laughed, puzzled. One Sunday, she brought her mate. He stayed (and stayed). "Freeloader." We know his variety. But not Sunday Cat. Come Monday, she was gone.

Then Sunday Cat disappeared. "What has become of our little Sunday Cat?" we wondered. Sunday Cat had gone, we decided. She was not ours to mourn. Her people must have moved. Then one day, our mystery was solved. We opened the door to find Sunday. And, tagging along behind ~ Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday... Two short of a week, it seems, and all skittish and wild. But they stayed. We feed them. Sunday Cat retains a measure of independence. She keeps her kittens on task. They must catch a cricket or a newt, and she will bring them a mouse. We give them cat food, but they seem ravenous. They are never full. But they are not predictable. Sometimes the whole kit and caboodle disappears for a day or a week.

The kitten sitting prettily in the fall leaves (above) is one of the newcomers. She (he?) is the prettiest, but the wildest. The closest we came to catching her was to grab her once by the tail. That didn't set too well with her wild nature, and we have yet to catch her again.

The Bear Came Back

The bear came back! This time, I heard a noise and looked to see him standing, looking through the window of the door. I started to beat a hasty retreat in case the latch gave way, but he got down and started to walk away. I ran and dead-bolted the door, then grabbed my camera. I got in a quick shot from the kitchen (blurred by the curtain and reflected glass), but you can see the pads on the bottom of his feet. Then I ran to a bedroom and captured a snapshot of him looking into my car. My view was blocked by lots of vines, but you can just see his shape, standing tall, head stretched toward the Tracker ~ a big, black bear shape, not unlike a giant teddy bear. Finally, he walked off to the woods, where he stopped to maul a small tree, hoping for fruit. There is none (we had a late freeze, and there has been drought). I snapped one more shot, though it's so far away, he's pretty blurry. My heart was racing. It was scary to know that if the door hadn't been latched, or if he'd brushed the knob just right, he would have been inside the house...

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North Georgia is full of surprises!

More Wild Critters...

We had a treat yesterday: we took a short trip into town to grab some videos, and came back to find a couple of deer standing in the yard near the edge of the woods. One was a young buck. We stopped the car and watched them. They froze and watched us for quite awhile. Then another deer ran out of the woods. Then it stopped and looked back to see what the others were watching. It wasn't too alarmed, though ~ just wagged its tail and bounced over to the others. The other two continued to stand frozen, though, and when we finally moved, they all dashed back into the woods.

This was a double treat, because we had followed a rabbit up the driveway, after having spooked him from the woods. It had been just about to cross the driveway. We saw his little friend, too. It was still sitting in the brush, wanting to follow the other one, but afraid to dash in front of the car. It just sat there, looking jittery and comical, as if to say, "Which way do I go, which way do I go?"

It's not uncommon to see rabbits, squirrels, hawks, and other critters. There was a time when we saw wild animals nearly every day out near the driveway, and some up near the back woods. They became a little scarce when a hawk took up residence in the woods. He was roosting near the driveway, and apparently found the little rabbits to be easy pickings.

Deer are a little more rare, but lately they seem to have become quite easy about walking up into the yard at twilight. These three were a little early ~ it was still broad daylight. We enjoyed looking at them.

I'm afraid the black bears may begin to feel at home here, too. We're still a little nervous after the one last Sunday. This year may be a bad one for hungry animals, including bears. The drought has dried up the creek. The April freeze killed any hope of figs, and probably of hickory nuts, too. I'm told that there will be no acorns. Blackberry bushes abound, but I'm told they need lots of rain. If drought conditions persist, there will be no blackberries. I'm not sure about crabapples. The deer always love those.

That's the news from Muskrat Creek. What a lot of wild critters we've seen!

Thoughts on the Black Bear that Came to Visit...

I wasn't scared of the bear Sunday. Then, the visit was just a bizarre and exciting occurrence, a startling appearance at the window of a big, old giant teddy bear. I was secure within my home, and even those big bear claws on the window panes seemed only a novelty. I felt privileged at having witnessed it, at being honored by his visit.

Today, I have to report that a newfound fear of the black bear has crept into my consciousness. Once again, as happened at the time we found the giant claw-print, I have begun to feel... not so safe. I dread his possible return. A waving hill of tall, creamy, plush grass on the roadside reminds me of the bear's fur ~ not in color, but in its thick furriness. Will I meet the bear as I dash out to my car in the morning, forgetting to look? Will he poke his head around the corner as I take too long to unlock the door, carrying in plates of take-out?

It is disconcerting to learn that, while black bears are usually not considered to be aggressive, they are predatory. A grizzly attacks defensively, because he feels threatened. A black bear attacks because he is hungry. It will not do to lie down and play dead when a black bear attacks. You don't want to look too much like the main course!

FOR THE ORIGINAL BLACK BEAR VISITOR, SEE POST BEFORE LAST.

Visitor from Muskrat Creek...

Sunday... and a bit of excitement
when a black bear paid a surprise visit...

Sunday afternoon, blue skies and lazy afternoons ~ the whole family was here. A little earlier, we had been outside, but now we were sitting around the kitchen table eating ice cream bars. My sister starting gesturing wildly and sputtering something incoherent. Since she's not prone to fits, I looked around to see what the problem was. I found myself face to face with a black bear (separated only by a pane of glass). He got up on his hind legs and put his big paws on the window. I stood there with my mouth agape, as did the bear. He was barely a foot away from me and moving his head from side to side, trying to see through the glass. He was small, as black bears go ~ but on his hind legs, he stood nearly as tall as I. Black bears are comical, gangly fellow with big, clumsy claws and scruffy fur. They look deceptively harmless, like overgrown teddy bears.

The bear must have come up the bluff side ~ a small ravine about 30 feet deep that drops steeply down to Muskrat Creek. There's barely a foot or two of land between the house and the bluff, and in between it stood the bear. I have seen black bears once before, at Cades Cove; but I am not accustomed to looking straight down their tonsils! Still, I was unafraid, secure and protected within the house.

After giving up on the window, the bear wandered along the narrow path to the back yard, where he sniffed around the grill, stuck his head into a bucket and lapped up some rainwater. Rain is a rare commodity in Georgia these days. But we had a brief downpour a few days ago and Mother had caught some of it in a bucket.

We scrambled, madly looking for a camera, and the bear moseyed off toward the back woods. My niece snapped a picture just as her batteries went dead ~ I'm waiting to hear if she got the shot.