Marmot tonight

I saw a huge marmot tonight as I was mowing the lawn.



I had just finished with the front, and was walking around the backyard, removing sticks, when suddenly: there it was.




Lumbering down the far side of my backyard, headed for the stream down in the woods. It stopped when it noticed me looking at it. I yelled something friendly at it, and it lumbered off a little faster, disappearing in the creek.



After the shock of unexpected discovery and encounter wore off, I began to assess my danger. It looked to be about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and nearly a foot wide. And I had no weapon nearby, should it decide to act mean or scared, and turn to attack me. I was sure I could not kick it to death. My situation was bleak. I returned to the front yard to get the reel mower.



Who knows where it is, what it's doing, what it's thinking now?



I might look around the property with a quartz halogen spotlight and see if I run into it again. I'm sure he's as curious about me as I am about him. Maybe the rodent, commonly known as a hedgehog or groundhog, hog I guess because of its size, a cross between a brown wood squirrel and a giant river rat.

The marmot. Tonight. ?