A Fox Eats a Rabbit and then tries to throw himself at the Chicken Pen: Seriously

Okay so I am back after a lengthy absence because of technical difficulties but I finally broke down and got a smart phone, mostly at Andrew's prodding. The smart phone acts as hotspot so I am back on my little netbook blogging! Below is a slideshow of pictures I took on Sunday March, at about 4 in the afternoon. I had just returned from a conference in Boston, we jumped ahead an hour, and the kitchen looked like a bomb hit it. I was doing dishes over the kitchen sink and then I noticed all of the sudden the fox! Right there just past the lavender, eating some unidentifiable item. A hungry fox is no joke. There is a readon why the gingerbread men stories talk about the fox eating the gingerbread man in one gulp. It could have been a cat or a skunk, or a rabbit. He ate it in 4 minutes. I timed it from when I started watching him. He must have caught it practically right in front of me. Then, like a kid high on candy, he decided to play. He ran through the orchard. He stopped at the under construction fire pit hole to take a drink, so I caught a picture of him with just his tail sticking out. He ran to the compost pile and jumped up and down it a couple of times like a preschooler on a big bed and then he ran to the chicken pen. This is where things got really exciting, he ran a lap around the pen, and then threw himself at the panel of chicken wire just at the chicken tractor entrance, exactly the same spot where I saw his tracks in the snow all winter. I couldn't believe my eyes, as I snapped pictures through the window. So I watched him do it again. A lap, then a hurl at the wire. Then another lap, than another hurl. My favorite picture in the slide show is Mr. Fox rounding the corner with one black booted foot raised in the air. Even after a meal, Mr. Fox meant business. I wondered how often he has done this at night, or when we aren't home. Probably a lot. Andrew's chicken pen withstood the assault. I finally got on the back deck and shouted and clapped my hands. The fox ran to to the field immediately behind us but I didn't think he was taking me seriously so I figured I may as well go out and take care of the chickens. In the time it took for me to get my boots, coat, egg basket, and go out through the garage, there he was, back again at the chicken pen. I was like "seriously." Then he ran away and took one look bag further afield. So that pretty much describes the slideshow below. Click on the first picture to load the bigger images. There have been some recent renovations to the chicken pen in light of the fox attack and how hard it was to take care of the chickens with all the snow this winter. Another blog post soon, now that I am consistently back on the internet at home.