Ordinary Critters

I looked out on my porch to see if any packages were there, and yes, there were two boxes, and guarding them was a cat! When I opened the door he dashed away, but only as far as the shed. I see he has a collar so I guess he's a neighbor's pet. I've seen him in my yard a number of times.

I stopped in the library on Thursday and saw this holiday bird.

Back in my car, I saw an odd shaped animal up by the fence. It took me a minute to recognize that it was probably a ground hog. I'm not positive because I didn't see his tail, but he was large and there was no water around so I'm guessing ground hog. Usually when I see one, he's standing beside a road looking around.

On the day before, I was also in Front Royal, so I took a brief ride up on Skyline Drive to drink a cup of coffee and look for animals. They had just opened a section beyond Dickey Ridge so I didn't see other cars on that part of the Drive. I did see deer though. I didn't go far because daylight was fading, and for the same reason, I only got a few pictures that were bright enough to show off these fine animals.