I was pretty shocked to find out that we had a visit at 5 AM from Bob this morning. Apparently he was hungry and decided that we had the best leftovers on the block, so he chose us to visit at that hour.

I never got to see him myself, but my husband described him with enough detail that I knew instantly who he was.

A beautiful adult bobcat sauntered into our yard, into our garbage can and then left dragging a bag of garbage, good garbage: turkey innards, leftover mashed potatoes and stuffing, egg shells and stale bread plus, unfortunately for Bob, some coffee grounds, behind him.

While he was in the yard, so was Tripper our older cat and Finbar the big fat baby cat who is a total scaredy cat too. Finbar was actually following this grown bobcat out of the yard, but turned back when the bobcat left our yard.

Tripper had the good sense to head for the porch and the open door immediately as Bob was about 4 times his size. Finbar at 17 pounds wasn't as intimidated by Bob's size but prefers his Fancy Feast for breakfast and wouldn't think of eating anything from the garbage, so he reluctantly left his new best friend.

So Fairfield County, don't be surprised to find a huge cat in your yard one morning...I did in mine. You'll know Bob by his large head, tufted ears and bobbed tail. Don't be afraid of him, bobcats are gentle shy creatures. He'll run away once he sees you.