Abby 1
Abby 2
Abby 3
Abby 4
Abby 5
Abby 6
Abby 7
Abby 8
Abby 9
Abby X
Abby XI
Abby 12
Abby 13
Abby 14
Abby 15
Abby XVI
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Clash of the Fuzzy Titans
A few days ago I was out in the back yard, looking around and seeing how things were. It was a bright sunny warm day, and the kitties were out enjoying it. Marshmallow likes to tag along with me when I'm in the yard, and Abby decided to follow along, too.
The eastern side of the yard borders on a wooded lot, with a little grassy meadow in the middle of it. This is a favourite prowling place for my feline friends, but it's also a good place to see other critters. The skunk lives there, for example, and on occasion everything from squirrels to deer can be spotted lurking.
I was standing near the split-rail fence at the edge of the yard, with Abby near my feet sniffing at some plants and Marshmallow a couple meters away sitting on the ramp leading up to one of the outbuildings. Suddenly, I heard some thrashing and crashing from the far side of the meadow. I looked, and I saw this:
Movie 1
Our resident giant groundhog, Groundhogzilla, was sumo-wrestling with a smaller rival. I'm not sure what the scuffle was all about. Food, perhaps, or territory, or mates, or the television remote control. They didn't say. Instead the smaller one broke away and went dashing madly across the meadow, Groundhogzilla in close pursuit. They zigged back and forth, back and forth. . .and then right under the fence and at me. The smaller one ran right between my feet and hurtled beneath the outbuilding. Groundhogzilla stopped for a moment to perch on my right foot, peering to see where his opponent had fled to. Then he, too, dashed beneath the outbuilding.
Abby and Marshmallow had been right beside me when this all started. I'm not sure what happened to Marshmallow. Apparently the sight of two groundhogs, one an enraged rodent probably weighing more than both cats combined, was too much for her. She totally vanished. Abby ran off a little ways and crouched in the grass, ready to flee or attack or fall over twitching from hysterics.
From beneath the shed came some sounds of scuffling, and then the smaller groundhog came flying out. It charged across a bit of open yard and tried to fling itself beneath a smaller outbuilding. This didn't work out too well, though. Even though it was the smaller of the two groundhogs, it was still a bit larger than the space beneath the building. So it sort of smacked into the side of the building, managed to wedge its head beneath, and spent a moment scrabbling away madly trying to wiggle its way beneath. Hardly graceful, elegant, or dignified. It finally managed to work its way under.
Groundhogzilla had emerged from beneath the first outbuilding, too. For whatever reason, he decided to just watch the other groundhog rather than to keep chasing it. My theory is that he was just enjoying watching the other one trying to squeeze under that building. He sat back on his hind legs watching his opponent for a moment, until the other one managed to disappear beneath the building. Then Groundhogzilla suddenly appeared to realise that he was sitting right beside a human, and turned and dashed beneath the first outbuilding again.
I waited for a few moments to see what else would transpire, while Abby decided that she needed to reassert her authority as Queen of the Yard. So she went stalking in under the building after Groundhogzilla. I don't know what happened under there, but a moment later she came sauntering back out looking pleased with herself.
After another moment, I saw Groundhogzilla peeking around the far corner of the outbuilding at me.
Movie 2
He didn't appear to know quite what to do, and kept hiding back underneath. I crept over to the corner and climbed up onto a fencepost, to be up out of easy sight to him. He stuck his nose out a few more times and looked around, but didn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere. Then Marshmallow appeared from whichever alternate universe she had vanished into, and worried him into retiring for a while.
Movie 3
After that, Marshmallow joined me up on the fence, and I spent a moment petting her. Then I left, so as to allow Groundhogzilla to wander off and attend to his groundhogy business.
I saw no further sign of the smaller one.
The eastern side of the yard borders on a wooded lot, with a little grassy meadow in the middle of it. This is a favourite prowling place for my feline friends, but it's also a good place to see other critters. The skunk lives there, for example, and on occasion everything from squirrels to deer can be spotted lurking.
I was standing near the split-rail fence at the edge of the yard, with Abby near my feet sniffing at some plants and Marshmallow a couple meters away sitting on the ramp leading up to one of the outbuildings. Suddenly, I heard some thrashing and crashing from the far side of the meadow. I looked, and I saw this:
Movie 1
Our resident giant groundhog, Groundhogzilla, was sumo-wrestling with a smaller rival. I'm not sure what the scuffle was all about. Food, perhaps, or territory, or mates, or the television remote control. They didn't say. Instead the smaller one broke away and went dashing madly across the meadow, Groundhogzilla in close pursuit. They zigged back and forth, back and forth. . .and then right under the fence and at me. The smaller one ran right between my feet and hurtled beneath the outbuilding. Groundhogzilla stopped for a moment to perch on my right foot, peering to see where his opponent had fled to. Then he, too, dashed beneath the outbuilding.
Abby and Marshmallow had been right beside me when this all started. I'm not sure what happened to Marshmallow. Apparently the sight of two groundhogs, one an enraged rodent probably weighing more than both cats combined, was too much for her. She totally vanished. Abby ran off a little ways and crouched in the grass, ready to flee or attack or fall over twitching from hysterics.
From beneath the shed came some sounds of scuffling, and then the smaller groundhog came flying out. It charged across a bit of open yard and tried to fling itself beneath a smaller outbuilding. This didn't work out too well, though. Even though it was the smaller of the two groundhogs, it was still a bit larger than the space beneath the building. So it sort of smacked into the side of the building, managed to wedge its head beneath, and spent a moment scrabbling away madly trying to wiggle its way beneath. Hardly graceful, elegant, or dignified. It finally managed to work its way under.
Groundhogzilla had emerged from beneath the first outbuilding, too. For whatever reason, he decided to just watch the other groundhog rather than to keep chasing it. My theory is that he was just enjoying watching the other one trying to squeeze under that building. He sat back on his hind legs watching his opponent for a moment, until the other one managed to disappear beneath the building. Then Groundhogzilla suddenly appeared to realise that he was sitting right beside a human, and turned and dashed beneath the first outbuilding again.
I waited for a few moments to see what else would transpire, while Abby decided that she needed to reassert her authority as Queen of the Yard. So she went stalking in under the building after Groundhogzilla. I don't know what happened under there, but a moment later she came sauntering back out looking pleased with herself.
After another moment, I saw Groundhogzilla peeking around the far corner of the outbuilding at me.
Movie 2
He didn't appear to know quite what to do, and kept hiding back underneath. I crept over to the corner and climbed up onto a fencepost, to be up out of easy sight to him. He stuck his nose out a few more times and looked around, but didn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere. Then Marshmallow appeared from whichever alternate universe she had vanished into, and worried him into retiring for a while.
Movie 3
After that, Marshmallow joined me up on the fence, and I spent a moment petting her. Then I left, so as to allow Groundhogzilla to wander off and attend to his groundhogy business.
I saw no further sign of the smaller one.
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