Early Morning Visitor

I was making coffee in the kitchen at about 6-30 this morning when I happened to glance out the windows and saw a bobcat walking slowly along the edge of the side lawn, where it meets a large row of pine trees. The cat disappeared into some bushes, then came out the other side, stalked along the edge of the carriage house, and then settled down between the corner of the carriage house and another bush, in the shadows, waiting for an unwary chipmunk at the edge of the stone wall. It stayed for about half an hour.

Bobcats are common enough in western Massachusetts, but they generally prefer a rockier, more wooded areas and tend to be shy of the open fields that we have around here. I suppose we must have just enough woods for him to find enough shelter to be comfortable, especially our woods out back, which is more than three acres and fairly dense.

Well, that was a nice way to start the week off. Back in the city the most wildlife we saw was the neighborhood skunk who would camp out under the side porch every once in a while.

We've got a busy week in store- the "Just Catalogued" proofs have to be sent to the printer by Friday, so I'm busy cataloging books now, and the "Books on Ceramics" catalog will return from the printer a week from today, so we are putting the finishing touches on that mailing list. If you'd like a copy of either, just let us know.

Tomorrow we will have a tale about buying books when you see them...