Wild Life

Red fox flies across the road
before my eyes...and my mind thinks
how accustomed I've become
to seeing these four legged ones...
fox...deer...elk...cougar...bear...and more...
have become as much a part of my life
as these tall mountains around me
and the cover of stars above me...
even to the cities below they come...once in a while...
to remind the forget full
that they...are...still...here.....
still...a part...of creation...

A couple of weeks ago my daughter informed me that she saw a bobcat standing at the top of our driveway when she came home that night...and that the bobcat had run down the driveway and into the woods upon her arrival. When I had a chance...I looked more closely at the tracks it made in the deep snow...to compare it to some I had seen a few days earlier all around the area and had assumed were coyote's. Yes...these were different indeed....but were imbedded deep in the snow...so were somewhat indistinct in specific shape. I recalled how my granddaughter had wanted to follow the many tracks when we had been walking around that past weekend...excited at the possibility of getting a view of whatever had made them....and how...bobcat...had never crossed my mind...
So...for the past two weeks...I've been looking...and hoping...to get a view of a creature I have never seen...in the 20 plus years I've lived in the high country. This morning...as I came out of the house to go about my daily business...I noticed distinct tracks in the fresh...but not so deep...snow...like cat tracks...but much larger...coming out from under my back porch...right along and up against the side of the house...onto the walkway and out towards the fence... Wow...that's close I thought...not with fear...but with wonder. I knew it was not house cat...too large... or dog...different shape...and suspected the elusive bobcat was still hanging around....my house. When I got to work...and had access to the net...I searched for bobcat tracks...to make sure... and do believe that this is what rubbed against my house...last night. Could it be that this one has decided to seek shelter around mine and stay awhile?? I know that the rabbit and smaller creatures such as mouse and ground squirrel...favored delicacies...are abundant on the land...as are the elk and deer which the bobcat sometimes take a chance on pouncing on....and that human activity is scarce or almost...nonexistent. Or...could it have something to do with...my two feline housemates...who like to sit at the window and look out whimsically...without a care in the world...
The thought of bobcat being a regular visitor...or resident...is exhilarating....and reminds me that anything is possible...that change is constant...and that life as I know it should never be taken for granted...or feared. Yes...there is a chance that such an occurence could be dangerous... but for some reason...I don't think so...and don't feel threatened or intimidated...by the knowledge...that mystery and wild ness come to my home...to stimulate...the day to day...here...in these...wondrous mountains...............