I was driving through an area of Nashville called Hillwood the other day, on my way to a taping at our local NBC affiliate. I think there's some sort of weird force field that surrounds WSMV, because I've been there for TV 4 times, and I've gotten lost all 4 times. This isn't a hard place to find, either. Maybe I'm just distracted, or nervous, or whatever, but this taping wasn't any different - I managed to turn on the wrong road, ended up in driving circles, and found myself completely turned around.

So I called Randy, who can naviagate in the dark with his eyes closed, and asked how to get there. He sighed. I turned around. And poof. This is what I saw.

I apologize that the pictures aren't great, but I did the best I could.

Foxes, EVERYWHERE! A skulk of foxes, to be exact.

I counted three adults and at least eight kits. Gamboling in the grass.

Of course, my first thought was: she's rabid. Foxes don't hang out during the day like this. But as I watched, I realized they were totally fine, just airing their feathers. We've had so much rain lately that I'm assuming their den under that big magnolia tree got soaked, and the kits were probably driving everyone mad....

"Mom, can't I go out?"

"No son, there's a tornado out there."

"But Moooooooooooommmmmmmmmm. Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark."

(Mother fox sticks fork in eye.)

I am a big fan of the fox. To the point where I use the Japanese Teahouse as my iGoogle theme so I can watch the little fox throughout the day. I even named him - Jinn Kitsune. We had a number of red foxes where I grew up in the woods in Colorado, heck, they come on the back decks and eat dog food, but I've never seen anything like this.

It was quite the blessing. If I hadn't gotten lost, I would never have seen them, frolicking in that front yard. Sometimes stumbling upon the road less traveled is worth being a few minutes late.

I'm going to be relatively incommunicado for the next couple of weeks. Lots to do! I hope your holiday was blessed, and I'll see you soon!