IT HAS BEEN A WILD AND WOOLLY DAY AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES. We awoke this morning to a red fox barking in the yard. Loudly. Sneaking out onto the deck, we watched it cross the open space, sitting and looking back from the direction it had come, barking, then moving a few feet and doing the same thing, over and over. Continually looking back, but we saw nothing in that direction. We had the feeling it was a mama calling a kit.

A woodchuck came by and decided to eat the tender tops off the wild columbine by the stone walkway. Various woodpeckers and blue jays and hummingbirds made their rounds. A heron squawked from the river. A beaver slapped its tail. Great caterwauling ensued from the eagles’ nest, where it seems there is just one young one this year. A very noisy and hungry young one. About half an hour after the initial fox wake-up call, Kathy was sitting on the deck with our cat Simon, and a young red fox kit trotted right across the deck, nearly over her feet, then leapt off and disappeared into the woods in the direction its mother had taken long before. Kathy was surprised. Simon was puffed out and apoplectic.

Soon chipmunks were running rampant over the deck, red squirrels hollering from the pine branches, a broad wing hawk keening from over the cabin, whitetails strolling up and down the driveway, Sparky the Cardinal singing hymns in fortissimo voce, and the eagles were still squalling and chirping from their nest. Simon took shelter indoors on his blanket on the couch.

Hours have now passed. It is a bit quieter this evening. The flying squirrels will soon be here for their peanuts. The eaglet is still hollering for more food. Simon is still sleeping on his blanket, waiting for evening murder mysteries.