view halloo!

Today I drove west out of town a little ways for my twelve mile run in a rural neighborhood with farms and big estates. I had only run a mile or so when I came upon two people in fancy outfits on horseback, and just after passing them I heard a bunch of barking. "Could there be a real live fox hunt going on?" I wondered. But I didn't think much more about it and continued on my way.

Another mile or so down the dirt road, however, there was a bunch more barking. And then in the woods on my right I saw a big orange fox run by.

At this point I stopped running and started looking around at all the trees and wondering if I should try and climb one. I mean, a pack of hunting dogs was clearly headed right toward me. What if I distracted them from the fox and they came after me instead? What the heck was I doing in the middle of a fox hunt?!?

Luckily the dogs didn't pay me any attention, even though I was standing on the road maybe twenty yards away. They just kept going after that poor fox. Then the people on horses came by again, and when the man in the fancy red jacket passed I asked him if I was okay out there. He chuckled and hollered "you sure are!"

Photo taken with my phone. Wish I could have gotten a picture of the dogs too, but alas.

 That was a relief. And once I wasn't worried about being attacked by fox hunting dogs anymore, and had called my brother who informed me that they don't actually kill the foxes these days, I was able to appreciate the excitement of having just witnessed my first hunt, like in Mary Poppins! (Only there were no trumpet soundings, sadly.)