The Weekly Smile for the 25th of January #weeklysmile

71 Replies

This week was a pretty good week and I had a lot to smile about. How to chose? Hmm, a good problem to have :)

I was out walking the dogs Friday afternoon. There is a road at the edge of our village that goes up a large hill to several houses. A field covers most of the hill and at the bottom the is a Community Garden. Just above the garden, a small strip of woods lines the field.

I was walking down the road, heading back into the village, when I saw something up the hill close to the edge of the woods. I stopped and sure enough, it was a fox. I watched as it came down the hill towards the garden. The dogs hadn’t seen him, so I stood and watched. I also talked to the dogs in a loud voice, so the fox would know I was there. And that the dogs were there….

When it entered the garden, I felt it was close enough so I started to walk again. The fox had another idea – it barked. Just a single, strange bark.

That got the dogs attention!

I am sure Fiyero wanted to play! He was straining at the leash pretty hard. Idina? I’m not so sure. I think she wanted to chase.

The fox ignored them. He sniffed around the compost bins. And then did something to prove it was a “he” – it marked a post, just like a dog. I had never seen that.

Anyway, I was finally able to get the dogs down into the village. Once they were on the next road, they were back to normal.

Of all of the carnivorous mammals in the region, I see fox more often than any of the others (coyotes, bob cats, fishers (aka “fisher cats”), bear, etc.). Still, I do not see them often. It was cool seeing one and hearing it!

That is my smile for the week, seeing a fox up close.

What made you smile?

****

Come on, I’m sure you smiled at least once last week.  Why don’t you share it?  I hope you can join in!

Here is list of “rules” and guiding ideas.  If you don’t have time to read it right now, just remember that this is an exercise to spread positivity.  Don’t smile about the misfortune of others.  Don’t smile in a way to excludes others.  Make sure a 12 year old can read it.

To join in, write a post to share your smile and then leave a comment on this post with a link to your smile.  Or, if you prefer, do a pingback to this post (pingback = have a link from your post to this one) (Note – pingbacks have been very inconsistent – please leave a comment :) ).   You can post any time until next Sunday evening (to be simple, I will say midnight GMT, which is 7 PM Sunday for me).   Next week I will compile all of the Smiles and do a separate post of them on Monday morning just before the smile.  (I will shoot for around 7 AM EST).

71 thoughts on “The Weekly Smile for the 25th of January #weeklysmile”

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  8. Natasha

    Maybe this piece of writing will give you reason to smile too. It surely did give wings to my heart when I was grieving, yet at the same time celebrating the flavours of life and freedom.

    https://natashamusing.com/2021/01/freedom-wordlesswednesday-wednesdaywisdom/

    Wow, that fox sighting is so exciting.
    I managed to get glimpse of a lone fox – (for the first time probably) when I was in the mountains around New Years. It blew us off. We believe it had a den somewhere around the place it was strolling. The DH had spotted it and we went back looking for it. And then it just disappeared.

    Would love to see Coyotes and Bob cats some day. We don’t see them in India, but we have various sub-species here.

    It was good to be back here after a long time.

    Keep spreading the smiles.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I do love seeing wildlife! I saw what I think was the same fox a couple of days later, but this time it ran off. It was in the snow, so the bright red really stood out. You have a lot of wildlife in India that I would like to see. Of course everyone wants to see a tiger, though maybe not literally run into one in the wild ;) And the various leopards are all cool.

      I’ll be by to read your post in a few minutes :)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
      1. Natasha

        Running into a tiger on a wildlife Safari is good, while you are on a jeep. It is one of the most exhilarating experiences ever!

        But yes not when you are alone and on a walk. Lol!

        I’ve had the good fortune of seeing both a tiger and leopard on the wild.

        That “bright red” of the fox sounds fascinating. Next time hopefully you will share some images too. 😊

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓
        1. trentpmcd Post author

          I would love to see those big cats! One reason I mention running into a tiger is that last year, I came face to face with a large bear while out running. The bear, while almost 4 times my mass, ran off into the woods instead of at me, something I wouldn’t trust a tiger to do ;) But very cool that you’ve seen one!

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply ↓
              1. Natasha

                You said it! And the most dangerous at that. They know just the laws of nature. We have forgotten them, and continue to ravage nature and them.

                Though I know things are getting better slowly but surely.

                Liked by 1 person

                Reply ↓
          2. Natasha

            Tigers are NOT man eaters. Like all wildlife as long as you don’t disturb their habitat or them, they go about with business as usual. 😃

            Was that a grizzly bear? Those can be quite ferocious too, but again the same law applies to them as to the tigers. The law of the jungle!😊

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply ↓
            1. trentpmcd Post author

              No, it was a black bear, which are not very aggressive and very really hurt people unless protecting themselves or their young. Still, coming face to face with a 225 kg bear, even if it is gentle, I wasn’t frightened, but very cautious!

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply ↓
              1. Natasha

                Oh those are darlings. But I know what you mean too, they get aggressive if provoked. In our forests we have the Sloth Bears.

                Quite different from a sloth.
                And guess what they piggy back their babies till they are 18 months old! Quite an enchanting sight.

                Liked by 1 person

                Reply ↓
  9. PurplePumpernickel

    This must have been quite an adrenaline-pumping experience – for you, the dogs, and the fox!
    I’ve seen foxes on 2 occasions when in London (they are not native to Singapore), but both from a distance: once from my 3rd floor window (which already illicit much squealing) and the other time walking alongside a park during dusk.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It seems odd to think of a fox in London, but they have adapted to humans more than most animals. I see them occasionally here, but they do a pretty good job of staying out of site. It is always great to see one up close.

      Like

      Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      They are great dogs! They are both very active and intelligent dogs, so a lot of fun :) Seeing the fox was great. i saw it again on Wednesday. Not as close, but it was in the snow, so the red stood out more. Unfortunately, it saw us and ran quite a distance – at least a quarter of a mile – before I lost sight of it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

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  17. dawnkinster

    Wow! We have fox here, but I’ve only seen them 2x. Once in my yard, and once out on a road. They sure are beautiful. My husband heard one in our yard one night, he thinks it was just barking to let him know he was there, husband was taking dog out to pee. He said it was a creepy sound, not so much a bark as a warning note. I’m sure they’re still around here, but with houses being built behind me in what used to be the woods, maybe they’ve moved further out of town.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      They are very common around here, but I don’t see them very often – maybe once every two or three years or so. My brother lives in a built up area near Philly and had been wondering what to do with all of the vermin digging up his yard (moles? voles?). One night he heard a bunch of happy yipping and there were no vermin in the morning but he was sure there was one very full fox someplace sleeping it off….

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is great to see animals up close. Far enough away isn’t as big of a deal with a fox (except for the dogs), but is for something like the bear I saw last year ;)

      Like

      Reply ↓
  23. Shannon

    I love spotting wildlife! My husband and I were driving back from our vacation in the Everglades Sunday before last, and we left super early to get a jump on traffic and saw a panther crossing the road!!! It was officially our coolest sighting ever, and we’ve seen a lot of cool things!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Wow! That is cool. A panther in the road is cool enough, but I know that the Florida panthers are extremely endangered, so even more cool. In the last two years I have seen all of the animals that I listed, but they are pretty common.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply ↓
      1. Shannon

        In all fairness, the road we were on cuts through the FL Panther Nat’l Wildlife Refuge, but there’s probably less than 200, so we hadn’t even hoped to see one – we feel incredibly fortunate. We were crawling along, but even so, we were hauling our camper so by the time we stopped it was long gone. Wish I could have gotten a picture, but still feel incredibly fortunate.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply ↓
  24. workinacresnothours

    Foxes do have a funny yelpy sounding bark, I love the personalities of our menageries, Princess our little old half blind & deaf dog would try kill any intruder where as Walter our big rotty x border collie has a bark then hides behind me. Hilarious.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I think I have heard a fox yip in the distance, but this was the first time I heard full-fledged bark from close up. It was a funny sound, and sure got the dogs attention! Dog personalities are funny, Idina is very much the alpha. She can get aggressive, but a big part of it is that she is afraid, so it is strange (she was a rescue). Fiyero is a typical boxer and just wants to play

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply ↓

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