We played with Foxy Mama this morning!  There we were plodding along on neighborhood patrol when standing in the road, blocking our way home, was Foxy Mama.  She looked almost as surprised by us, as we were to see her.  At first Asa mistook her for a cat, and wanted to play with her.  But Dad warned us that as with cats, foxes don’t always play nice, and that we should leave her alone.  But if she wanted to be left alone, why was she blocking the road and staring at us?  Surely she remembers us from the other mornings we’ve seen her hunting for breakfast.  I thought for sure too her young offspring, who we saw playing in the field earlier on our walk, told her they saw us today.  But there she was blocking the road and staring at us.

Asa broke the standoff by wagging his tail and flashing his goofy smile.  Obviously Foxy Mama realized we were harmless, and she trotted off into the woods.  Just to be on the safe side though, Dad made us cross the street when we cautiously passed the spot where she disappeared into the bushes.  Next thing I knew, Foxy Mama surprised us by jumping out of the woods a safe distance ahead of us, and started walking along the road in the direction we were headed towards the field.  We slowly followed, keeping a respectful space between us and her.  Every once in awhile she would stop and look back at us.  This really confused me.  Was Foxy Mama joining us for our neighborhood patrol?  As the walk continued, Foxy Mama repeatedly popped in and out of the woods, always walking a safe distance ahead of us, and stopping from time to time to see if we were still following.

Each time she stopped, we stopped too.  As we walked, Asa started counting, “one…two…three…Red Light!”  Sure enough Foxy Mama would stop, and in response we’d stop too.  She was playing Red Light/Green Light with us!  But this endless game of Red Light/Green Light was starting to annoy Dad.  After all he had to get to work.  So during one of the stops, he explained to her that he needed to get home sooner rather than later.  She politely sat and listened, then darted off across the field to check on her children who were still enjoying a morning romp.  That was the last time we saw her, as we quickened our pace and headed home.

Asa is now convinced that Dad was wrong and that foxes do play nicer than cats.  After all we’ve never played Red Light/Green Light with our Kitty Cousins.  I, on the other hand, am not completely convinced she wanted to play and believe we interrupted her morning patrol to check on her children.  Either way, thanks Foxy Mama for making this morning’s walk fun!  “One…two…three…Red Light!”