Peek-to-Peek: Fox Tale and Museum Visit

Vixen just keeps me totally entertained.

What a character. This morning I was out of chicken and eggs but I gave her kibble and unsalted chicken broth I had left over from cooking some chicken legs (99 cents a pound) earlier in the week. She kept waiting around for something she could take back to the den, so I gave her a small piece of country pork rib left over from last night's supper. She trotted off up the road with that, but soon returned.

I had taken my coffee and some cheese and saltines out to the picnic table for my breakfast and was reading. She joined me on the deck and kept getting up on the opposite bench, checking out what I was eating. I gave her some cheese and she seemed to like it, but I wasn't sure it was good for her so decided to come back in the cabin to get a can of dog food I'd tucked away just for such an emergency. I could see she was eyeing the cheese, so brought that back in the cabin with me. When I went back out with the dog food, there she was, trotting up the road with the entire sleeve of saltines in her mouth!

I thought I was taking all these cute pictures of her this morning and then discovered my camera hadn't been functioning except for this very last shot. The other day when I made the last minute decision to make a run down to the apartment hoping Dixie would be gone by the time I got back, I left my camera out on the picnic table and it rained on it. It seems to be functioning except occasionally, when it should be in picture taking mode with the lens extended, you see nothing in the viewfinder. If it's really bright outside you often are unaware this is occurring and that's what happened this morning. So the only photo I have is this one...

...but it fits right in with the story....wily fox and packet of saltines in the lower right corner.

Just now, as I was preparing this blog, she hopped up on the picnic table and looked through the open south window...

...time for supper. She's starting to come in and out of the cabin regularly if the door is open, especially when she has meat she needs to hide. I think she may be starting to think this would make a dandy den. Just about the right size.

Today, I did my usual chores...post office, library, spring for water, picked up pine cones and still had some time before 4 p.m. when the Cheap Wednesday Chicken in Every Pot goes on sale at B&F Market. I've never been in the Mining Museum in Nederland...

...and the building housing the museum wasn't open today, but I decided I'd take some photos of the mining machinery outside. I think they need to go for a grant. This probably could be a very interesting museum and perhaps the displays inside the building are, but the grass is growing up through all the equipment outside...I thought it was interesting that my sister and her husband just returned from a cruise through the Panama Canal and here, in Nederland, free for all to see, is the only existing steam shovel used in the creation of the Canal...

It's huge. This is just about half of it. I would have had to have gone across the street to get the entire piece of machinery in my viewfinder. Here is a close-up of some of the teeth of the scoop...