Don't Worry the Squirrel is Safe

When we saw the fox in the backyard a couple of days ago, he looked pretty cute. We looked around and didn't see any cute furry animals for him to go after (there's a reason are cats are indoor cats) and so Sadie, Nani, Grumpa and I stood by the window and watched him prance across the back lawn. Except suddenly, he stopped prancing. He skulked a ways and then ran up into a tree. I had never known that foxes could run up into trees. We thought that he was going to get onto the roof of the house, because the tree almost touches it. Instead, about ten seconds later, we saw exactly what he was going after. A squirrel plummeted out of the tree, side by side with a free falling fox. Even without seeing the squirrels chipped ear I knew who he was. Alvin. Sadie's new squirrel friend (Teddy disappeared mysteriously a few weeks ago).

I couldn't let a fox eat Alvin.

I ran outside and yelled and the fox and I were face to face. He went from being a cute, fluffy forest animal, to being a snarling ball of fury with evil, beady eyes. He was not frightened in the least. Luckily he was distracted for long enough for Alvin to escape into his burrow. The fox was still looking at the squirrel's tunnel so I threw a water bottle and stomped my feet (very dignified, I know) and he finally sauntered away.

Sadie watched the entire incident from the window and apparently it made quite the impression. She started searching through her animal books looking for foxes and squirrels and pointing them out. Today when we got home from the library Sadie sat down and showed Nani a picture of three foxes. When Nani asked her what Mommy said to the fox Sadie smiled and said "Na! Na! Na!" (which is her word for "No!" after reading Bartholomew Bear. It made quite the impression!