It's a long hair night

Much to his own surprise Joey cornered a grey fox munching sun flower seeds on our deck.  To my knowledge this was his second encounter. He had no intention of getting into a tussle but found himself face to face with this screeching fox when all he wanted to do is signal me his interests to be inside.  It's cold out and he's a short haired cat.

The night before I was awaken by a new sound. Wild. It sounded like a warning. I rose and looked out my window knowing all well that the dark wouldn't reveal the source. Concerned I went downstairs and turned on the back porch light.  All I saw was Joey, sitting quietly looking out into the dark with BIG green eyes.  I opened the door and he reluctantly stepped inside.  We went upstairs.  Joey revealed nothing.  He slept.

At night Joey adventures outside and, well, he's Joey. When he wants back in he knows he'll find us in the family room and goes around to the double doors on the front side of the house and stands tall.  We usually hear him before we see him.  Squeak, squeak, on the glass.  He's in.  On this particular night, however, he encountered a  grey fox, the size of a large cat, helping himself to the bird seed we put out for the local avian families.  And it's then we discover the source of that wild sound, the warning.  I turn on the overhead beams and in the corner, with nowhere to go but down one flight was this creature.  The sound was more fitting for a large bird of prey. Weird and scared.  I saw Joey and went to the other double doors and called him inside.  He hesitated, but came in and quickly turned around to view, from the other side of the glass, the little fox run the length of the deck, leap over the railing and disappear. This guy knows the lay of the land.  He's been here before.  He knew there is a sizable distance between the rail and solid ground - without even a turn of the head - gone.

Tom and I were excited.  We have a grey fox.  Who knew that bird seed would give us so much entertainment.  But, unfortunately it's probably not a good idea to invite wild guests to our home so we decide to make sure the seeds are only out during the early morning hours.  It's winter. These are long hair nights for a short haired cat.