Bobcat: A Missed Opportunity

My family lives out in the country in the central coast region of California. More than out in the country, we live in the foothills of the Diablo Range, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges. We are only seven miles from the nearest large town (pop. 36,000), yet this out-of-town location provides us with many opportunities to view an array of wildlife.

Since we moved here we have seen red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, golden eagles, American kestrels, turkey vultures, blue herons, snowy egrets, red-winged blackbirds, various species of sparrows, great horned owls, barn owls, and other sundry birds. Although we’ve never seen them, we’ve heard screech owls as well. We’ve also seen cottontail rabbits, ground squirrels, grey squirrels, gophers, mule deer, wild pigs, coyotes, and bobcats. Friends in the area have told us that a mountain lion had been seen nearby, but we’ve never seen any.

I love taking pictures of the wildlife around our house; however, many are very shy and difficult to approach, let alone photograph. I have tried many times to get a good picture of a bobcat. (We see bobcats more frequently than once a day.) The pictures usually are blurry and dark, because the bobcat is running, and I have taken the picture at dawn or dusk.

This morning I was working outside the house at about 7:15. The sun had not yet risen over the eastern hills, and I thought to myself that this would be a prime time to see a bobcat. No sooner had I thought it, I turned to see a bobcat about ten yards from me. I’m not sure if he knew I was there, although, as alert and skittish as they are, I have hard time believing that he wasn’t aware of me. He was trotting casually away from me and was quickly out of view. Naturally, I did not have my camera with me.

Later, I left for work in my truck. As I drove towards the main gate, at a distance, I saw a small, dark lump in the grass. I thought, maybe, it was a gopher poking his head out of a hole. I drew closer noticing it was too large to be a gopher, so I slowed down, hoping it was a bobcat. Rolling the window down to get a better look, I approached it cautiously until I could clearly see that it was a bobcat crouching tightly to the ground, staring directly at me. I stopped the truck. The cat was not more than twenty feet straight out my driver’s side window.

Why didn’t he run? My truck was positioned between him and his escape route. Consider for a moment what the bobcat thought of me. I was a larger predator, which could possibly outrun him. He was too close to me to feel comfortable trying to outrun me. So he crouched, either hoping that I wouldn’t see him, or if I did, that he would be ready to fight or run if necessary.

The question now was whether or not I had my camera with me.

You know how sometimes your thoughts are clearly and precisely thought out, yet occur in split seconds. That’s what happened to me right then. I wondered if my camera was in the truck, but to reach the right conclusion I had to think about the last time I saw my camera. I had cleaned out the truck just ten minutes earlier and had seen the camera on the back seat. Logically, if I had been cleaning out the truck then the camera would have gone into the house; however, I remembered having seen the camera but not having picked it up.

The cat was still crouching in the grass, so I quickly threw a glance over my shoulder to the back seat to see if the camera was there. Aha! It was!

Fearing that taking my eyes off the cat would give him the opportunity to escape, I knew if I was to get the camera I would have to do it fast. I’m not a very small man, so throwing myself into the back seat to snatch the camera was probably dumb. To my knowledge there were no adverse consequences of my uncoordinated stunt except that I probably looked ridiculous, but my only audience was a frightened bobcat.

I thought for sure that my flopping around in the truck would have given him the best opportunity to escape. Maybe he was as dumb as I was, because he was still sitting there, and now I had the camera.

I tried my best to keep my face towards him while trying to operate the camera. I turned it on. You’ve got to be kidding me! The batteries were dead. Slowly, while keeping my eyes on the cat, I reached into the case and felt around for more batteries. There were two more double-A’s and a double-A battery pack. I was pretty confident that the individual double-A’s were dead as well, so I grabbed the pack. The battery pack had a specific way of going in the camera, so I needed to look down to get it in correctly. The cat was still there sitting quietly. I looked down to get the pack in the camera, and then I closed the camera. I looked up.

Wouldn’t you know that was the opportunity he took? I watched him gracefully bound away.

Of course, now I was hoping those batteries were dead, too, so I wouldn’t feel so bad about his having run away. They were. But I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I checked the individual batteries I passed over earlier. They worked.

There’s no guarantee I could’ve gotten a picture, but had I, it would have been a good one. As often as I see bobcats, there’ll be other opportunities.

I think I’ll go charge my batteries now.

The Four-Way-Stop

I have an issue with a few California drivers. The issue, particularly, is how they deal with four-way-stop intersections. (I understand that this problem probably reaches beyond my cozy corner of the continent, but since California drivers are the ones I deal with most, they are the ones I'll pick on.) I know, I know, it seems a bit trivial, but it really irks me that people don’t know their driver handbooks or at least disregard them.

Of course, you know the laws regarding four-way-stops, but I’d like to briefly go through them. The first basic rule is that the first vehicle to stop at the intersection is the first to go. The rub is when vehicles get there at the same time. Two vehicles pull up to the intersection at the same time on opposite sides of the street. Let’s say one is going north and the other is going south. The vehicle going straight or turning right has the right-of-way over the vehicle making a left hand turn. Hopefully, turn-signals have been engaged, if necessary, to indicate to the other driver the vehicle’s intentions. If two vehicles arrive together with intersecting paths, i.e. one is heading east and the other is heading south, then the vehicle to the right has the right-of-way, no matter what. If three arrive together, the far right-hand vehicle still has the right-of-way, followed by the next right-hand vehicle and so on. Finally, if four arrive at the same time, one car at each of the four stop signs, the right-hand rule falls apart. In this instance and only this instance someone needs to signal to someone else to go through. Courtesy reigns during this scenario, for the vehicles are at an impasse. There is no other option.

Now, let’s move on to my problem. Here is the scenario. I pull up to an intersection at the same time as a vehicle to my right. Following the driver handbook rules, I wait for the other driver to pull through. He has the right-of-way, so I let him go, but he doesn’t go. He sits there and looks at me, waiting for me to go. I don’t go, because I don’t have the right-of-way. Unfortunately, I apparently am the only one who knows this. Finally, he waves me through. What?! Don’t you know your driver handbook?! You have the right-of-way!! Don’t wave me through!! But, in the interest of time and courtesy I pull through.

Another situation that has happened is equally disturbing. I pull up to the intersection at the same time as another car, only this time I am on the right. Just as I begin to take my foot off the brake to drive through, the driver waves me through. Really?! You’re gonna wave me through?! I have the right-of-way and already know it?! Don’t wave me through!! So, naturally, I punch the accelerator, swerve through the intersection, just clipping the front bumper of the offending vehicle, shake my fist angrily at the annoyingly, unnecessarily courteous driver, and speed off down the road. Then I clear my head and realize I’m still at the stop sign. So, I finish releasing the brake, slowly apply my foot to the gas, and nicely, discreetly drive on my merry way. I know it won’t be the last time I have to endure another four-way-stop.

By the way, thank you to all of you who have met me at these intersections and followed the appropriate procedures. I love you.

Now, if only I could solve the problem of world hunger.

Happy Birthday, Hannah!!

I would like to say first of all that I will try my best not to get bugged by my many friends who do not update their blogs frequently. I have been in the blogosphere for several months now and this is my second posting. I wish I had many excuses as to why I have been so slow; however, I have none.

Today is a very special day. It is my daughter, Hannah’s, fourth birthday. Happy Birthday, Hannah!!

She is a very special girl to my wife and me. (Of course, so is Hailee, but this is Hannah’s day.) Amy and I wanted children right away when we got married, but that was not God’s will for us. Amy suffered three miscarriages in the first four years of our marriage. That kind of thing is very private and disturbing to a couple, but God showed His grace through it all.

Finally, we found out in the spring of ’03 that we were pregnant again (yes, I said ‘we’). God graciously allowed this baby to go to full-term, and on January 15, 2004, we had a very special gift given to us.

The story of Hannah and Samuel in the book of I Samuel was a great help to Amy and me through those first four years. As we read about God’s grace to Hannah (in the Bible) and we experienced God’s grace in our lives through the trials and the successful pregnancy, we chose to name our new daughter, Hannah Grace

Now, she is four years old, and we have two daughters with another child on the way. Praise God for his all-sufficient grace!!