Day 27, Year 7: Encounter with a Red Fox
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011
Weather: Overcast, Fog Late, High Temp in the Upper 50’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
We always go up to bathrooms in the clubhouse first thing when we get up in the morning. And the past couple of mornings, as soon as we step out onto the deck, we have been overwhelmed with the amount of bird pooh. Dozens and dozens of birds have been landing on Windbird first thing in the morning and doing their business. This morning was no exception and the run to the bathroom was as usual. But a little later when we left the boat at 8 am to head up the dock to the car, I saw what looked like a small dog at the top of the dock. I looked again and said to Mark that it looked like a red fox. The animal ducked behind the trash bin and I got out my camera. It then played hide and seek with us as we walked up the ramp and it became apparent that it really was a red fox. As soon as we stepped onto the road, we saw her slinking away. I think it was a she, so I’ll call her that. She looked at us and almost ran away, but then decided to walk right out to the middle of the road and sit down to look at us It was definitely a neat encounter with a wild animal and we will look forward to meeting her again.
I was so upset with myself for being so clumsy that I didn’t mention in last night’s log that I had let my foot slip off the bike path we were walking on when headed to the parade yesterday. The bike path drop-off was about three inches and when my foot slipped off, my ankle turned. I didn’t break my ankle but I certainly sprained something in my foot. So I’m limping around, but at least I can get around. Last night we had to dig into our medical storage areas to find Vet wrap and an ankle brace. Vet wrap is what is used to wrap horses’ legs. It is great stuff, thinner than an Ace bandage, and it sticks to itself. So that is holding my foot in place, and I am wearing the ankle support brace that I used after removing the cast from my broken leg. This injury is to the left leg, not the same one I broke in the South Pacific. In digging into our medical kits to find things, we found Power Bars and smoked cheeses and sausages that we had put in our “ditch” bag in 2005. Thankfully, we never needed a “ditch” bag, and it is certainly time to replenish the supplies. We won’t do that until we take off on another cruise, so in the meantime, our arsenal of wrist and knee braces, along with a ton of Ace bandages, can reside in the “ditch” bag instead of the bathroom cabinet. And we can use that space for things we actually use!
Mark went to Boston to Mass General today. He met with Dr. Cutie, his urologist, before heading to his pre-op testing, but after being brought up-to-date on Mark’s recent issues, the operation for this Friday was cancelled. Dr. Cutie won’t do the surgery until the cause of the anemia is tracked down. Mark is disappointed but he agrees with the decision. So now it is back to the family doctor here and the upper and lower gastro-intestinal testing set for next Monday. In the meantime, Mark will just have to continue self-catheterizing six times a day until sometime in the New Year when the surgery can be done. We thought the surgery was out-patient, but Mark found out today that he will have to be admitted and spend the night.
Heather and Jed gave us an early Christmas present today. They have heard us complain about our bird problem and after doing a little research, Jed actually found that West Marine right here in Falmouth where Mark works has a product called Bird-B-Gone. Jed called there this morning and found that there were five boxes of these spiky things that repel birds hidden on a top shelf. I stopped at West Marine on my way to pick up the boys and got a couple of boxes as well as a couple of strands of plastic flags. We put up the flags tonight and will put up the spiky things up tomorrow in the hopes of deterring the dozens of birds who are using Windbird as a rest stop. Windbird is getting her winter cover on Wednesday, so tomorrow is our last chance to try and deter the birds. Until we put up the Christmas lights we had been flying a strand of signal flags. When we took those down, we started having hordes of birds visiting us each morning. So hopefully the new flags and the spiky things will end our bird woes. Whether or not the new arsenal works, we really appreciate the early Christmas gift from Heather and Jed.
Heather came home early from work today and when Sam was getting up from his nap, Heather was leaving to do a bit of Christmas shopping. When Sam came downstairs, he asked where his mommy had gone. I said she went Christmas shopping. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Then needs to rent a truck.” I almost fell in the floor laughing. I don’t know what Sam thinks he is going to get for Christmas that won’t fit in a van, but obviously he thinks the van is way too small.
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| 111205 Day 27 Cape Cod, USA–Red Fox at Fiddler's Cove |
