Foxes in the Night

Have you ever heard a screaming fox? It's creepy. It sounds like a woman, but the repetitiveness gives it away that it isn't. Still, last night at about 3 A.M., we heard it and didn't know what it was. Miracle of the internet identified the sound, but not before the dogs were out barking and Tim was in the woods with a flashlight and night-vision monocular. The fox was screaming becuase it's spring and she's a lady fox looking for a man.

In the Wikipedia description of Bull Run Mountain, it mentions that the mountain is home to the Bull Run Mountain Nature Conservancy, which is true. The conservancy is just on the other side of the mountain. I find it's often...wakeful...living this much in the forest. Apart from desperate foxes, usually the dogs keep us up in the night because a bear is (probably in our driveway) in the vicinity. A couple of months ago, with our neighbors, we hung over our fence in the middle of the night and shined a flashight on a bear while it put its whole self into another neighbor's garbage can. Last spring we saw a mama bear and her cub on the road, and people that live closer to the top of the mountain see the bears almost every day.

My favorite story to tell about the mountain is that after I'd lived here a month or so, and before we'd fenced in the yard, I looked out back and saw an enormous bear about 10 yards from the sliding glass door. I called my husband, I called my neighbor, and my neighbor called animal control in light of the fact that, "We all have children, by the way."

The lady on the phone asked, "Where do you live?" My neighbor said, "On Bull Run Mountain," and the lady replied, "Well that's where the bears live!" My neighbor told me, (she's from Georgia) "I felt so stuuuupid."

So, living on the mountain is generally interesting and often a lot of fun, and I only mind it a bit when the menagerie keeps me from a good night's rest. All the best, my friends.

[FOX] [BEAR]