Early in our life and times here, we were visited by a rangy, skinny, hungry cat we called Mouser.  We had hoped he would take care of some of the unwanted wildlife we discovered here early on.  “Field mice,” Elise called them.  Somehow that sounded a little less yucky to us, almost friendly, like cartoon mice, Tom and Jerry and Mighty Mouse come to mind. Nevertheless we were not eager to have them around and we hoped Mouser would enjoy them. Alas, Mouser moved on or passed on before the field mice did.

Next came Steven, a long and lanky Abyssinian.  We learned that his home is across the road from us.  But he befriended us on Thanksgiving weekend 2011, and demanded his share of the bounty on Thanksgiving Day.  We really enjoyed him a lot.  He’d show up soon after we’d arrive and pretty much hang around for the weekend.  He was necio and loud when he was hungry, but he’d join us on walks and race up the trees and seemed to really enjoy life.  Alas, the joy we took from him ended when he, too, disappeared. The owners posted signs on our road to see if anyone had him or had seen him, but apparently to no avail.  We haven’t seen him since then.

Then there was the all-too-brief and fuzzy appearance of a bobcat on the critter cam.  A bobcat!  Imagine that!

And this brings me to another cat–the ringtail cat.  We’ve only seen brief glimpses of it via the crittter cam.  See for yourself:

Now what brings this to mind is that today, this afternoon, with our very own eyes, we saw on the deck, near the stairs to the tower, a small ringtail.  We thought it was a kitty.  Until we saw that distinctive tail. It disappeared quickly and I thought it had gone to the pond. But it hadn’t. And then I saw it, that tail disappearing into the eaves or the rafters of the bathhouse.  I wonder if it lives in there.  Maybe we’ll see it again soon.

So I’m heading out now, to put the camera on the deck to see who shows up next! It’s wild around here!