365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Monday, January 15, 2018
A Friend To Lean On
Day 94: Despite having been spayed as a young kitten, Skunk's mothering instincts run strong, particularly in late winter and early spring. Her two favourite stuffy-toys are a spongy-soft wolf cub and the hedgehog she's leaning against here. The wolf cub is not easily transported, although she occasionally drags it a few feet. The hedgehog gets carried from spot to spot until she feels it's properly nested, and she massages it, kneading it with her paws just like I knead a loaf of bread. When she's feeling particularly...um...driven, she "sings" to it, perhaps not feeling quite so motherly as "unfulfilled." The caterwauling which sometimes goes on for hours in the middle of the night is done in a voice which could peel paint. Although she's had the hedgehog for a number of years, she's never discovered its innermost (literally!) secret: velcroed inside its tummy are two little baby hedgies! Skunk, you're a grandma and you don't even know it.
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