the weather

Well, I am forced to talk about the weather.
No one seems to have a sense of humor anymore.
If I make a joke and get a lecture about the morality of breeding shetlands....it's time to let people be bored by their own company....and the lists go empty.
Sooo....
It's foggy this morning. I know the sheep went out to the hay ground because I watched their hind ends disappear into the fog. I tried to walk our little dog, when I got thirty feet down the road, some of the ram lambs started baaing. As I stared out into the foggy fields, I heard something like a wooping crane. Now we do get flocks of king geese coming over in the late fall.
It's a great game to figure out where their big "V" is in the sky before they fly over. Kind of like trying to see the Airforce jets ahead of their sound stream. But, this was more likely a hound who had been running and barking all night in the fog. He sounded hoarse, when I figured out it was a dog. I put the dog inside, and walked out across the creek. The sheep stopped baaing, and the dog went on about it's way home. Big excitement.
I read with interest about one of our northern shepherds who is watching a cougar near her sheep. Wow....bad news. The thing that made me nervous was that she mentioned the cougar sitting ten feet up in a tree.
Good grief.....they climb too? I kind of forgot they were cats....We have something here...in our pastures. I mentioned we saw some long tailed cat crossing the road a few yards from the pastures about a week ago.
Now, I know there are cougars here. My closest shepherd saw one in her driveway. She had several kills during the years she was raising sheep in the area.
The folks that sold this place mentioned watching a panther carrying a fawn going through the hay fields. OK I thought, it can't be a panther. They are something from South America....or Africa...or zoos. I come from the northern midwest....and I remember seeing pictures of a big black cat roaming the cities' parks.
When I talked to my neighbor, who is a native....he said these dark cats were wild cats. As far as I can tell, they are grey....have long tails....and the one I saw was about the size of a ram lamb.
The first thing I thought was that a ram lamb had gotten out of the yard....well....I know....my ram lambs don't have long tails. ...but that was the size....We have found big cat footprints out in the pastures....and our nice neighbor said he stopped his truck and watched one day to see if he could get a shot at a wild cat that was crossing our field....nice fellow.
When I check for wild animals in Missouri....there is nothing called a wild cat....of course they also say there are no cougars....funny. There are no other big cat type things with long tails....our neighbor has killed two in his long lifetime....so whatever they are they do exist....they are grey with long tails.
My new problem is that I have never looked up. Wow just think....there could be a big cat up there too.....argh!!! I know cougars can travel 40 miles from their homes....we live near a mountain called panther hill....I suppose they have caves up there.
Considering that I have walked very little out in our woods....I suppose we could have caves too. Now when I hear a noise in the woods...I have to remember to look up too. I hope it's a wild cat and not a cougar....bother!
Well, the weather is foggy with some storms coming in later....hope you all have a good day.
bopeep