Sleep...

Too exhausted to write anything today.... I need a week of sleep.

 

The Red Fox

There are four kinds of foxes in North America: the Arctic Fox, the Gray Fox, the Kit Fox and the familiar Red Fox.

The Arctic Fox, as its name suggests, live at, near or above the Arctic Circle. They are brown during the summer and turn white in the winter. As many arctic mammals do, they have small ears, which protects the blood flow during the freezing winter months. Arctic Foxes live primarily on mice, voles or other small mammals.

The Gray Fox lives from extreme southern Canada throughout the US, with the exception of Montana (of course), Wyoming and most of Washington (what, it occurs in Idaho???). and ranges into Mexico and Central America. The Gray Fox is more cat-like than dog-like and can climb trees like a cat!  Because of this ability they are sometimes called “Tree Fox” or “Cat Fox”. The pupils of their eyes are also oval like a cat’s eyes, rather than slit-shaped like other foxes.

At only five pounds, the Kit Fox is the smallest member of the fox family and lives is semi-arid to desert habitat in the American Southwest and parts of northern and central Mexico. Just as the Arctic Fox has smaller ears to help hold in body heat, the Kit fox has the largest ears to help release body heat and keep it cool in its desert habitat. 

The most common fox is the Red Fox, which lives in a variety of habitats, from woodland and forest, to open fields and sage brush. They are also fairly common in small towns, suburbs, and even cities! The name Red Fox is somewhat misleading however. While the most common color is a rusty red, they come in a variety of coat colors. The Cross Fox in a lighter version of the Red Fox, and has a dorsal stripe down it’s back and another stripe across the shoulders on each side, hence the name “Cross Fox”.  The “red” fox can also be solid black, which is the rarest color, but if the black guard hairs are tipped in light gray, it is then known as a Silver Fox. The different colors are not sub-species, but are all the same animal, and kits of every color variation can be born in the same litter.

A typical litter is 4 to 5 pups and they start exploring outside near their den around mid-May.

Foxes can make over 40 different sounds, and use the earth’s magnetic field to hunt! 

How?? I need to research this! 

 

Write From the Heart

I love to write. It's my escape from the chaos of everyday life, and a place I go when I need to reconnect with myself. There are times when, from one tiny idea, my fingers type relentlessly and the words are an endless flow of unconsciousness - as if they are typing themselves and my fingers are just a vessel to get the words on paper. When I finally stop I’m always amazed at how much is written and I often wonder where the words came from; obviously somewhere deep inside my soul, because they did not come from my conscious mind…

 

The USS Montana

Rural Montana Magazine has an article this month on the newly commissioned nuclear sub, named the USS Montana, and WOW! 

A volunteer committee from the state of Montana planned the commissioning ceremony, along with many other activities and ideas.

The commissioning ceremony included a tribal drum group doing an honor song, tribal elders from the Salish-Kootenai tribes doing an honor ceremony, and a luncheon that included handmade pasties from Butte. Officers and crew members assigned to the boat had previously been flown to Montana, to see how special our state is. There are future plans to bring other crew members to visit Montana.

Artifacts and photos of Montana will be all over the boat, along with signage to explain what an item is, what it was used for and other interesting facts about it. The boat will also carry with it, throughout its life, a sacred peace pipe, bestowed on it by Montana’s tribes. Bunks in the sleeping quarters are named after Montana towns, and the walkways are named after Montana rivers. The machinery room, which is where the sub makes its own drinking water (how do you make water??), and pumps it to where it is needed, was named “The Big Hole pumping station.

Prints of Charlie Russell paintings adorn the walls. Tables in the mess area are covered with images and facts of Montana, along with several images and some facts about both the University of Montana and Montana State University, and a “wrap” was placed on the walls of the mess, with imagery of Glacier National Park. They even have Montana shaped cribbage boards!

A young man from Cut Bank is one of two Montanans who currently serve on the submarine. When he was asked to list where he would like to be stationed, he requested to be aboard the Montana, which at the time wasn’t even commissioned yet. He said that serving on a ship named after Montana makes him proud, and that it motivates him every single day. When asked what it’s like to live in a relatively confined space with a large crew for months on end, he answered, “It’s more normal than you think. It’s like a couple billion dollar, underwater, nuclear powered RV.”

The crew has been dubbed “Vigilantes of the Deep”, a take-off of the Montana Air national Guard’s 120^th, known as the “Vigilantes”, and Governor Gianforte has declared that all members of the crew will be honorary citizens of Montana.   

There were photos in the article showing some of the “décor”; this sub will be a floating museum!  Do they do this kind of stuff with all of the ships that are named after states??  I’ve never heard of it before - maybe Montana is the first one! 

Little Critter Visit

What a wonderful end to an oh, so ordinary day!  At about 8:30 this evening I took the hummingbird feeders down, one at a time, to wash and refill them. When I took the second one outside, a hummer - that I believe to be an immature male - couldn’t even wait until I hung it up to take a drink. It flew all around me, up to inches away from my face, and then settled on the perch of the feeder, while I still had it in my hand!  

I was also very happy to see him feeding from the flowers on the deck!!  He spent quite a bit of time at the geraniums, checked out the marigolds and drank from the dahlias.