K’den.  Here in the wilds of Damascus and Boring, Oregon, we see lots of critters.  Some are like this one, my neighbor, Vaquero.

Ricky and Rayado stay in our pasture.  And we get one sheepie, too.

Some critters… we’re not too crazy about dem ones.

…even when they bring their cute keiki.

Maybe especially when they bring their cute keiki!

We had a loose pīpī in our driveway once. You can read about it hea.

My neighbor Sharon and I kid back and forth about gladly sharing the skunks…she thinks I should have them, and I think she should. But the skunks go wherever they want to. And we let them.

But really, nothing tops what Sharon saw just last week.  Foa realz. She was coming home one morning, and saw this, just around the corner from us and on the way to her house. At first she thought it was a lost dog.

Can’t tell what it is? How about now?

Still kinda blurry… but now try look:

Yep, you’re right. It’s a cougar!! Out for a morning stroll, no doubt.

Sharon immediately posted the photos at our nextdoor.com neighborhood website and on Facebook, and we were all pretty astonished (and grateful) that she’d gotten the photos. Not to mention rather stunned that this big cat was wandering around our area.

The website came alive! The cougar, and possibly two of them, have been spotted all over the neighborhood, along with his/her paw prints. We are all very concerned about keeping kids, pets, and livestock safe.  The cat has also been spotted across the valley from us near Persimmon Golf Course.

Sharon also got this cool video of the cougar.

I haven’t seen the cougar, but I do worry about our sheep, llama, and horses.  I’m not in favor of killing the cat; ideally, I’d like it/them to be relocated to a more cougar-friendly area.

So eh. No tease us about Boring being boring, k?

(All cougar photos and video courtesy of Sharon, my neighbor up da hill.)