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—Newton's First Law of WTF
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CASE IN POINT: coyotes in our neighborhood.
We'd heard the rumors, but we hadn't seen the real articles.
Until oh-dark-thirty this morning.
The dogs and I always get out early. It's just easier that way, since the three of them are disorderly in the best of circumstances, and the one of me is barely able to contain their nonsense.
TODAY three runners ran by us, and were flagged down by a passing car. I couldn't hear the conversation, but I imagined it had something to do with their running in the road in the dark.
Nope. The same car pulled up next to us and the driver hollered, "I just passed two coyotes. Not sure if they'll attack dogs or people."
Me: "How far up?"
Him: "Just by the entrance to the park."
Me: "Okay, thanks for the tip!"
As a result of that conversation, did I expect to see coyotes? I did not. Because though we'd heard multiple, credible reports of their presence in the past few weeks, I HAD NOT PERSONALLY SEEN ONE...therefore they couldn't possible exist.
Besides, THE park in our neighborhood is Discovery Park, the closest entrance to which was nearly two miles away. Dude MAY have seen coyotes up there, but we were down here, and never the twain shall meet.
HAHA. I'm an idiot.
Not just because coyotes travel, but because there was another small park (more of a scenic overlook, really) about 150 yards up the hill from where we were.
Toward which we kept walking, ignorant, blissful, oblivious.
The time between the friendly warning and the coyote encounter was brief. Three or four minutes, tops. I saw it first, which is inexplicable since there are no streetlights on that stretch of road, and it's still quite dark here at 5:45 a.m. PLUS I was traveling with three dogs, one of which is supposed to be an LGD (which stands for "livestock guardian dog"). But I'm the one who spots the direwolf in the dark??
Not cool, dogs. Not cool at all.
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| Representative coyote. Actual coyote may vary. |
I turned on my headlamp and pointed it {gestures over there in the underbrush}. The coyote froze, its eyes shining back at us...and THAT'S when the LGD barked.
Fortunately, when a Great Pyrenees barks, people (and other creatures) listen. The coyote turned and bolted up the hill, whilst I wrangled the dogs back down the hill. No need for an early morning confrontation with the local wildlife after all, wot?
Was I remembering the guy distinctly said, "two coyotes"? I WAS.
Did I continue looking back over my shoulder whilst we hustled away? I DID.
The rest of the walk was boring. Standard dog hijinx. We get that here every day. {sighs}
Back home, we had barely gotten in the door and I could already hear our chickens fussing out back.
"Two urban coyotes walk into an urban chicken farm, and the first one says {nothing because coyotes don't talk with their mouths full}."
UPDATE: The chickens are fine.
So far.
But I'm confident that will not remain the case if the coyotes get a craving for poultry cacciatore.
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