Life, Interrupted

I went to a local semi-regular gathering Friday night, with a few others, and friends who live maybe four long blocks south and two long blocks west asked me if I'd heard about the cougar.

"What cougar?" or something of that ilk was my response.

"The cougar spotted stalking a deer around...what's the street that north of XXX?"

"YYY."

That street! We're talking two blocks south of my house. Apparently TX Parks and Wildlife have found tracks and a seriously gnawed deer carcass.

This is not the first time I've heard about a cougar. There has been one northeast of here in the suburbs. And cougars do appear in the hill country.

I don't want anyone to get hurt. But the poor cougar will be lucky if they can tranquilize him and relocate him quickly.

Apparently it's rather big. I do not have a confirmed size, but let's say bigger than I want in my back yard.

Welcome to Texas, where the Old West is only a block away....

He was quite cute, perhaps three inches from nose to tip of long tail, and proudly on his feet, head raised, tail out--and I was perhaps 5 steps ahead of his death, two Burmese up from their naps. I feared a lizard grab a la my friend Thinker, so herded him onto a laundry basket and took him outside.

The anole let me know who was boss by refusing to be herded--he hopped out a hole in the lattice of the basket! And then ran 18 inches in the dry leaves, changing color as he moved.

I'm glad he's okay--we had to put out a sweet bait for the rover ants, and I was worried about the anoles. With luck, everyone died underground...