Tuesday

[altivo]

Fox news: No new photos today, sorry. But... Gary saw the fox chasing the neighbor's terrier again. Or rather, he was retreating and she was just sort of following him to make sure he left. Then she went up between the arena and the creek toward the den where we have seen the kits. He went around the other side of the building to spy on her. Rather than finding kits, he got there just in time to see her pull a dead chicken out of one of the tunnels. She carried it across the creek and reburied it in the wooded area over there, where the dogs rarely go (and if I catch them in there I chase them anyway, reinforcing that.) So, we know she is still stealing chickens when she can. We also know she is finding plenty of food, which is why she has time for relaxation as we've seen in the photos. According to the experts, foxes cache food by burying it when they have an excess, and they do dig it back up to eat later. Mmmm, rotten chicken. Sounds lovely. But... they also eat almost anything, like coyotes and bears. Somewhat spoiled meat may in fact be quite a delicacy to the canine palate, as we all know.

Today was Gary's mom's birthday, so I rode into the city with him and we took her out for lunch. Then we stopped at a local market that has lots of produce, like decent apples (in April!!) for only 98 cents a pound, and various imported things, like teas from eastern Europe and salt cod from (I think it was) Iceland. I was amused by, but did not buy, the "Finest American Cookies" (chocolate chip, made in Poland.) What's a Polish idea of an American style cookie? Well, I'd bet they get it right. Leave out all the butter. Triple the sugar. Fill it up with cheap chocolate bits, no need for good stuff because Americans will eat anything that looks like chocolate...

Speaking of which, Gary has nearly finished moving the pile of sheep poop. All that's left is a flat-topped island about three feet square. It's really funny to see all the sheep trying to squeeze on top of that and stand there (they can't all fit at once.)

Comments

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

It's not "rotten"... It's "aged"!

:D

[schnee.livejournal.com]

It used to be a delicacy to the human palate as well: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haut_gout :)

Also: mmm, salted cod. ^^ It's not dried, though, is it?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I admit I like moldy cheeses. But I'll pass on the carrion.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Probably still is to some humans. As you know, I'm not that fond of meat anyway. Yes, the salt cod is dried until it looks and feels like chunks of wood. I used to like that once in a while, but with the overfishing and disappearance of the cod, it's priced quite out of my budget. One slab weighing perhaps half a kilo was $39 US. That's half of what I spend for food for two adults for a whole week. So no salt cod for me.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's terribly expensive, unfortunately - although they do use a lot of fish to produce the dried product, so it's not just an artificially high price.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I haven't even seen it available in years. I think last time I bought it, I paid $7 for 8 ounces in a little wooden box. That's about a 150% price increase since then.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Hmm, quite a bit.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I've said that if I was forced to live in only
one city the rest of my life it would be Chicago.

As for the vixen, its kinda neat she's living up
to the stereotypical chicken stealer image. But
your right, they'll eat whatever they can get,
great scavangers, and one of the reasons there
still all over the place while larger canids
like the wolf are only, now, being re-introduced
in very limited numbers.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've said that if I was forced to live in only
one city the rest of my life it would be Chicago.

I said that too... before I saw San Francisco. Not that I'll ever move there or even think about it seriously.

Yep, there's a lot to be said for foxen. And their great adaptability is no doubt the reason that they remain on "least concern" status in conservation listings. In fact, they were introduced to Australia to control the introduced rabbits and are now a pest there rather than a help (like so many bad experiments in Australia, I think.)

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Australia is a microcosm of every science
fiction novel that posits human intervention
into a new environment.