Nurse Shyla and Cats, Cats, Cats

We are down for the count here - the flu has taken hold of all humans. It's a terrible bug but we've learned that Shyla is a nurse at heart. She is alert to anyone who is coughing too hard or is having a terrible moment, and she rushes to that person's side, full of concern and kisses. Nurse Shyla...

Of course, dogs need exercise even when the humans are sick. Since I am less severely sick than the Runner, I took each of them for a romp.

And, they both took full advantage of it, getting out all that excess energy. Thank goodness that they can't catch this bug from us!

On this quiet day, I want to share a series of photos from one camera that has become the "cat camera" since the bears seem to have gone to sleep. On 12/1, the female who I believe has a kitten or two stashed nearby visited the spot.

She does not leave "scrapes" on the ground, huge obvious furrows that male mountain lions leave obsessively by kicking back with each hind paw. Moreover, I again thought that I saw enlarged teats in one of the many photos of her visit.

A graceful tail...

And, one more sniff before departing...

Less than a week later, the male mountain lion who I captured photos of more than a mile away appeared at the same site. Unfortunately, he never took exactly the same posture as the female so it's tough to compare their sizes. However, he left "scrapes" every quarter mile or so. They were big and deep scrapes that I couldn't miss.

Then, a few nights later, we got a treat. Here is our mother bobcat who we've followed since summer. This audacious cat urinated in the same spot as the mountain lions who are many times her size had been sniffing.

Her kitten was slightly behind but appeared soon, catching mom's attention.

The kitten sniffed the spot that has caught the interest of many cats but didn't mark it.

With mom ahead again, the kitten stopped to look at the camera before disappearing into the night following his mother.

It seems that a mother bobcat has successfully raised a kitten in our neck of the woods each of the past two summers. By spring, this young bobcat will strike out on his own to find an unoccupied territory.

I found it fascinating to see all of these cats sniffing and/or marking the same spot. The male mountain lion is a threat to all of the other cats. Moreover, any mountain lion is a threat to the bobcats, especially the kitten. Yet, the bobcats still use this territory despite the many scent marks left by the mountain lions.

Okay, Nurse Shyla says that it's time to go rest. She's the boss!