Neighbors

Sunrise on Sheep Mountain

Miles run 14

Weather; mild to start then snowy and windy on the way back

Today the weather was better and Gary decided to run midday.  He has gone back to running down Fox Creek; while the footing is more snowy, the canyon offers protection from the wind.  Additionally the canyon has a creek so the dog has easy access to water.  It also has less traffic. Highway 11 can be overrun with snowmobilers hell bent for Albany and as I have mentioned before, Kaycee has an obsession with herding vehicles.

Gary's running has become somewhat commonplace on the road and today a few things happened to reinforce that.  First there were the two trucks of neighbors driving home.  Both times the driver slowed down to converse with Gary; commenting on his style and checking his speed against the odometer.  They kibitzed about road gossip and then headed off, giving him the thumbs off before they rolled up their windows and left.   No one even comments on the craziness of the situation.

The other neighbor Gary ran into was the one who has been crossing paths with him for some time, Mr. Cougar, or as we are learning, Mr. Puma in Spanish.  They met up at the ‘Luge run’ the part of the road that is narrow, icy, rocky and steep on both sides –one going up and the other straight down into the creek.  Gary was alerted to the presence of a dead animal by the ravens and magpies flying in and out of the woods by the stream, but was Kaycee who spotted the cougar first.  He leaned over the edge of the road, attentive and with his hair along his back standing up.  He has pretty bad cataracts, I do wonder if he could tell the difference between a cougar and a Volkswagen but I suspect they have a distinct smell. 

Gary called the dog back and went to the edge to see what was there; beneath the underbrush was the cat; crouched over a deer and watching.  The cat didn’t seem terribly interested in either the dog or Gary, just lying beside his meal not unlike the kitties we have in the house.  Everyone left the other in peace.

Neighbors.