Cats at home, Cats in the forest

It's amusing sometimes that I search every square inch of the land in our forest for the perfect places to put my trail cameras, and then I get really cool photos when I just slap a camera to a tree next to my house.

Do you remember the bobcat mother and kitten who we've been following? We first saw them deep in the forest, in a secluded area with almost no human presence.

Well, they've been visiting our house recently. Here's the kitten...

Here's mom. You can clearly see the big size difference between mom and her kitten when you compare the two photos.

Here's the rabbit who hangs out near this spot, getting his photo taken every night. I'm pretty sure that he's the reason for the bobcats prowling so close to our house and vehicles.

Of course, when I scour the corners of the earth for the best place for a trail camera, I get photos like these next three. I believe that this is our mother mountain lion who is staying close to her kittens. I suspect that her kittens are stashed somewhere nearby. I chose this spot for a camera because now I know what the ground looks like after a mountain lion has marked it by rolling and wriggling on it. I spotted a trampled area that shouted "mountain lion" to me, and I captured these photos the very next night!

I'm beginning to wonder if mother mountain lions are particularly prone to this kind of rolling and wriggling behavior. I've never seen it before, not even in trail camera photos taken by others.

We just learned that Shyla does not have a fungal infection so we'll get her x-rayed after Thanksgiving to see whether the bone lesion is changing. Based on the new x-ray, we'll assess whether she needs a bone biopsy. For now, I'm taking the good news and enjoying it, even though we still don't know why she has a lump on her bone.

In the meantime, we're going to be taking a blogging break for the next little while. Life has been too hectic and nerve-wracking lately so some quiet time is just what we need.

Just in case I don't post before then, Happy Thanksgiving. I am truly thankful for the wonderful world that we live in, the gorgeous wildlife all around us, the glorious mountains, and my pack, both human and canine. Last but not least, I am thankful for the support from all of you!