back again

Last week, when I had my wild wildlife day and saw all the pretty birds and the not-so-pretty snake, I mentioned that I had a bobcat visit too. I have not seen much of them for the past few months and we have been wondering if they would come back for another spring birth. We are hoping not, as we like all the birds that are in our yard when the cats are not. Although, the bobcats are a novelty and we are the envy of the kids' friends. But I'd rather they stay on the other side of the fence.

Last week, I see this guy on the patio off of our bedroom. My back was to the doors and I actually saw him in the reflection of a mirror in front of me. So, when you are looking in a mirror and you see a bobcat walk in front of your face, which is really behind you and it looks closer than it actually is,(in fact it looks like it is in the room with you) well you kind of jump just a little. But that is my usual response when I see these things anyway. Side story: You know that black king snake that I saw last week? Well, I saw it out on the patio by the studio last night and a little startle sound came out of my mouth. Like this..."AHHHHGGWHH!" Rachel was in the studio and came to the door. She said, "oh, by the way mom...there is a snake right there." And then later, we were eating our dinner out on the back patio and I look over towards the rose bushes and see the same snake creeping along the brick wall. I let out a similar gasp and everyone said "What?" I pointed to it and Rachel said, "Mom...why do you scream every time you see a snake?" Ummm... isn't that what most people do when they see snakes? Thank goodness the Reptile Wrangler was sitting right there. He continued to eat his dinner as we have decided to let these black and white snakes have full slither of the yard, as they are known to keep the rattle snakes away. Instead, we made up a song with lyrics about the Reptile Wrangler. It could be a future post. Just sayin'.

So, here is the visitor by our bedroom doors. He looks a little menacing here, I must say. I think he was looking at me looking at him.

There is a little something that I noticed about this latest visitor. I think it is one of the babies from last spring. In fact, I think that it is this one in this picture from last June. Do you see the little tell tail sign?

Here is a picture from last week. Look at the end of his tail. See how it curls up? Every time I would see the cats, I would notice that one had a little curl in his tail.
Here he is again last October.
And again last week.
Again in December.
And again last week. Not so much of a curl in this picture, but it is still turned up a bit.
The spots are much more faded so I don't know if it is the same cat or not. Maybe they just curl their tails when the are being curious. You can at least see, if it is one of the babies...it has definitely grown up.

My current pictures are looking a bit out of focus. This is my small handy little camera that I always carry in my purse or have sitting on the counter. I love it. So do other people in this family. It met with a little disaster last summer (not mentioning any names) and I have been prodding it along hoping it would be okay. But, I think not. It just seems to be giving me more and more out of focus pictures. I loved that camera. I think I mentioned that already. I love my big camera and use it a lot too, but this one is just very handy. I will miss it.

Good thing Mother's Day is coming soon. Or my birthday. Oh and our anniversary.

So, what do you think? Do you think this is the same bobcat all grown up? Or do you think the tail thing is just something they all do?