Walk with a Cane, Spot a Cougar

There have been at least two Magic Zoo milestones this week. Graduating from an “old lady walker” to a cane happened practically overnight, and made me feel like a dare-devil. Ed hovered protectively for a while, but has since gotten used to the tap tap tap of (what sounds like) a pirate with a wooden leg on our flagstone and tile floors as I meander from room to room.

I’m getting used to this new hip thing, do my exercises religiously, and (like my surgeon instructed me) I walk, walk, walk.

But mostly this takes place inside, because almost every afternoon has brought thunder and often a real downpour. Our backyard profusion of wildflowers, native grasses and flowering vines now reminds me more of Florida than New Mexico.

The Hummingbird Horde

Instead of subtropical butterfly swarms, I have over 50 hummingbirds draining 6 feeders daily. (And no, I am not exaggerating.) Some of my friends observe this flock jealously, complaining they haven’t been able to attract more than one or two hummers to their feeders.

Our secret? My husband and I are suckers. We keep them in sugar water, provide nesting trees and welcomed them back from their long migration north again in April. I don’t know where it will end, because I suspect the newly fledged birds will travel south in October, then return ready to make their own babies next spring. There might be a little attrition, but overall I imagine things will only get worse (or better, depending on your viewpoint)

The Other Milestone, if you can call it that

On Saturday, Ed and I were sitting in the kitchen going over our day’s doings. Something outside the window caught my eye and I looked up just in time to see the back half of a really, really big cat slink behind a juniper tree about 50 yards away.

Here is how I computed this surprising event within ¾ of a second. “Oh, a deer. Right color. But a deer doesn’t have a long tail like that and is much, much taller. It couldn’t be Firework or Willow, because we put them inside 20 minutes ago, plus our cats are definitely not that big.” However, like I said the thoughts were in a ¾ second jumble, not laid out nicely like this.

Basically, I was quickly trying to make sense out of something that seemed impossible. Why impossible? I don’t know, I live at the base of a mountain range home to cougar, bear, elk, deer, bobcat, coyote and lots more. But I just never expected to see a cougar outside my kitchen window. Just like the time I saw the bear by our propane tank. Never expected that either.

I called one of my neighbors who lives about 3 miles away. “Have you ever seen a cougar on your property?” She said no, but they had seen big cat prints in the snow one year. She and her husband have a cabin at a bit higher altitude than where we are, so it wasn’t surprising.

Why this big cat came to visit I don’t know for sure. But we aren’t going to leave cat food outside at night anymore. Do big cats enjoy a meal of kitty kibble? Maybe. But I’m not going to test that theory.

What wildlife do you have in your neck of the woods? You might be surprised. When I lived in Florida I spotted bald eagles and coyotes on the golf course across the street, so even if you don’t live at 7,000 feet, you might be surprised!