Porcupine

We're returning from Thursday morning's walk when we hear click-click-click.  We look up to see a dark animal loping towards us.  Rob asks, "Is that a dog?"  At the same time I'm thinking: is that a porcupine?!  He's seeing the tail wag, I'm seeing an odd body shape, odd lope, and a head that's too small to belong to a dog.

It's still heading towards us.  As it gets closer, we can finally see the quills.  That's a porcupine!  I fumble for my phone and fail to get the camera working until after he passes us by.  Dude's got no interest in us - he's on a mission. 

Camera up, I jog after him.  He's going at a clip and I don't want to run too fast after him, so all I mange to snap are these two blurry, slightly-from-behind photos.

As we watch him continue down the road, a neighbor drives by him, stops right next to us and says:  was that a porcupine?!?!

We stare past her truck, as said porcupine crosses the road and heads down into the woods.  Yup!

"It's a weird neighborhood you've got here," Rob says to her.  She chuckles and says, "Wait, it will get weirder!"

Excellent.  I can't wait to see what we'll meet next!