fox

We first met in 2019 when I saw him pass through my backyard. He didn’t stop to say hi so I called out, “Oh, so you’re going to play hard to get, huh?”

Things got pretty serious for us in 2022 when we first made eye contact.

But he quickly looked away, turning to a profile position as if to say, “Look how handsome I am from this angle.”

Sometimes he likes to play hide-and-seek with me.

But he mostly uses this steep hill to hunt. I hired a National Geographic reporter (just kidding, it’s me) to add commentary to one of his hunting expeditions. Watch three attempts here:

My mom has a hound dog, and I told her to bring him here immediately. I recently watched a very interesting movie where I learned a fox and a hound can be good friends.

A fox and a squirrel, on the other hand, do not make good friends. His hunting expedition was ultimately successful.

Our friendship had a staggering development on Valentine’s Day when he walked into my yard and we stared at each other for about a minute. Safe to say he is a romantic.

He paid me another visit a few days later, and I can only hope this means I made an impression.

One day, I saw him walk through the back like he was headed somewhere. So before the snow has melted, I followed the direction he took and am fairly certain I found his den. I didn’t get too close, though – I don’t want to be rude and invite myself in. Once the snow does melt, I will be returning to analyze the wood pile because I will obviously be recreating one in my backyard for next winter. I saw him poke around a couple of my wood piles this past winter, but they must not have been to his liking. I will remedy the situation.

I shared his photo on a Facebook group called “View from my window.” He was very popular there, and I loved talking all things fox with people from all over the world.

An artist in Pennsylvania contacted me to ask if she could paint my photo. I am happy to share this painting by Gloria Powell. I think he would be pleased with this portrait. I would love to show him, but I do not want to look like some sort of crazy lady waving my phone around at a fox. Maybe I’ll have one of the kids do it.

Then I was contacted by a publisher in Japan who was releasing a book of a selection of photos from “View from my window,” and they sent me a copy of the book once it was published. I probably would not even be able to walk the streets of Tokyo without people stopping me to ask, “Are you the fox lady? From the book?!”

He has not returned in this winter of 2023, but that doesn’t mean my eyes aren’t always looking for him.