Dan was walking with one of our preserve visitors today when they saw this Mountain Lion sitting right on one of our trails. He estimates they were 20-30 yards from the cat. The cat ignored them at first, then looked directly at them for a bit before it slowly sauntered down the small hill off the path.
In other news, we spent our first week setting up for our long term winter stay. Dan spent more time cleaning up around the office, our site, and along the trails while Sandy spent time cleaning up the office.
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| Bird feeders and Hummingbird feeders....check! |
We believe the cats are quite happy to be back. As soon as the motorhome stopped, we swear the cats knew our new location. They tend to beg to go outside as soon as we stop, but this time it was different. They were constantly in the stairwell trying to run out the door.
All four kept saying: "We know this spot! Freedom! No loud trucks, no people, and no leashes!" But, we only let them out when we can supervise them and Hitch still needs to be on a leash. We don't want our cats hunting small birds, nor big birds of prey hunting our cats. Plus a 3 foot black tailed rattlesnake was within about 30-40 yards of the motorhome one time this week, and then there are also skunks, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions in the general area. A preserve wildlife camera also captured a photo of a black bear in early October on the 312 acre preserve.
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| Dusty telling Dan he is one happy cat |
But, they had to wait while we setup our site and spent some time with the preserve manager to reacquaint ourselves with the office procedures.
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| Max |
Finally! We opened the door and all four cats were out the door. We did not have to ask them twice if they wanted to come outside. Even Max immediately left the safety of the door to go explore. All summer, it took a lot of coaxing to get him to take a step outside.
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| Hitch and Max |
Squirrel spent the most time exploring. We had to keep herding him back. At least, he did not hiss at us for making him stay near the rig. He was probably happy to be outside without the leash. Yep, enjoy it while you can, because this will only last for 4 months.
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| Squirrel |
We have been walking the trails almost every day since we got here. Mr. Owl is still in his favorite tree.
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| Western Screeched Owl |
We're not sure about the look he was giving us. Sort of looks like a "well, there goes the neighborhood" look.
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| Well, there's a fine "Howdy-Do!" |
Since we came back earlier than last year, it is rather nice to see the area looking green with a few flowers blooming.
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| Wetland flower |
The hummingbirds greeted us on our first day back by buzzing our heads. We soon found out there was a nest in one of the trees near our door although it does not look like they are using it at the moment. There are three of them - daddy? mommy? and baby? Anyway, they are happy to have the feeders close to their home.
