Occasionally, when I sit down

 in the living room and sit for any length of time, say five or ten minutes, instead of resting, my eyes focus on the dusty old bottle collection, the deer mounts with cobwebs linking them together, maybe a tuft of white dog hair under the coffee table, or the dusty tail feathers of a turkey. But a day or so ago while in the living room, something beautiful caught my eye...

The Bobcat! I haven't told you about the Bobcat! It was over a year ago, our "soon to be new neighbor" Steve was on his way out and got just a few feet from turning into our dirt path and saw this Bobcat that had been hit and killed by a car...

Of course, Steve stopped to tell Poppy about it and the two of them went back to move the cat out of the road. The cat was just too beautiful to leave lying there so Poppy decided to have it mounted. We waited a full year for the taxidermist to finish. He said it was the largest Bobcat he has seen in this area, and it's a female!

This is the day Poppy brought it home in the truck...

We were curious to see what Eli and Ellie would think of a big, strange cat in the living room...

Eli went right up; Ellie growled a little but then the cat is looking straight at her. :) 

I was just so sad and heartbroken that such a beautiful animal had to die this way but glad she is here with us now and not left on the side of the road. 

Who knew we had cats this size in our woods!! I mean, I've been all in these woods around our house, by myself!! They say Bobcats are rarely seen but driving home from town a few days ago, one that looked a lot like this one ran across the road in front of my car, and in the same place this one was hit! Scared me to death! 

Sorry to have gone on and on. Want to show you this vine, growing on the garden fence...

So as mama used to say, it volunteered and came up. All this time waiting for pink or blue morning glories to open and what?? We have a mass of tiny red blooms...

Anyone know what this is?

One more thing and I will hush and go away...it's the beauty berry bushes I planted a few years ago. Look how they've grown!!

I wanted a hedge along the side road to block the view. Now I can work in the garden and not be seen. :)

Never in a million years did I think these bushes would grow this big and be so pretty. Don't know how I got one white mixed in. 

Okay, I have certainly overstayed my welcome. Thank you for visiting. Hope my posting about the Bobcat is acceptable and doesn't make anyone feel bad. 

Love, Henny