Current news update:
While I have been busily, anxiously watching the skies of late for the two golden eagles which wouldn't hesitate to grab a quick kitty dinner on the fly, only Brou the pup kept a constant vigil on the entire spectrum from ground to the heavens.
On several occasions yesterday, he erupted into rounds of uncharacteristic growls and serious business barks. And on several occasions yesterday, we ignored him, thinking that he was crying wolf to get our attention. When clearly no abatement was in sight, we each took a turn in coaxing him to elaborate, each of us walking towards the direction in which he was aiming his guttural threats. As we suspected ... nothing.
After another half dozen similar noisy displays, I stomped back out the door again, determined to find the cause; these were simply not the usual puppy-foolish barks at errant newspapers playing with the wind. He gladly followed behind me again. Notice that I said 'behind me'. He's not a foolish pup in that one respect and is quite willing to point me into battle - from a safe distance. Once more, we trudged out to the base of the mesa, this time to the avocado green steel tub which had abdicated earlier from the rat trailer. (I briefly entertained an idea of having an 'al fresco' bathing/soaking spot with a better view of the taller eastern mesas but the technicalities have yet to be resolved.) Brou kept up his intensity this time and I was able to narrow down his target area to an area below a large boulder. It was not my failing eyesight but my hearing that finally pinpointed the culprit. There, within the small cavern beneath the boulder, was one very annoyed creature. With no desire to get too much closer, I leaned slightly over the tub and strained my eyes to define the intruder. The creature was familiar to my memory banks but not from personal experience. By George, this was a badger!
Now, with my presence and confirmation, Brou's bravado was ratcheting upwards and I had to sternly warn him to not pursue his instincts. He settled down remarkably well but the badger was clearly agitated by now. The badger emitted long-winded hisses like a leak in a bicycle tire while his whole body rocked in a slow rhythm. I ran to get the digi camera but, by the time I returned, he had already hidden his impressively long claws. While he seemed to be a fairly young creature, those sharp curling claws matched the length of my fingers. I wanted neither the pup or the cats to engage this fellow and hoped that he would remember this unpleasant encounter and move on in the night. Thankfully, he was indeed gone without a trace this morning, according to both Brou's and my own careful inspection.
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