Why, Hello to You, Dangerous Animals

I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned the first time I saw a coyote. I hear coyotes every night. A few times a night they bay and howl, usually after they find a, um, snack. In December I was sitting at the table, working away, when I noticed a dog outside the window. I thought, "What a pretty dog. Oh, it doesn't have a collar. Maybe it's a wild dog! Like a dingo! Or....crap." A quick Google images search confirmed: Coyote. Right outside the window in the middle of the day.


He stayed by the house for most of the afternoon. Sam never noticed. Good guard dogging, buddy.

Last week, a cat slinked into the yard. Some neighbors had recently posted signs about their lost cat, so immediately I thought it might be that cat. No, that one was black and this is gold with black coloring. And this one doesn't have a collar. Man, those are some big paws, and I've never seen such a muscular house cat.....crap. Google confirmed it: Bobcat. Right in the front yard in the middle of the afternoon. Fantastic.

You can see it if you can zoom into the photo, he's heading toward the brick wall:

Today Skip called out for me to keep Sam out of the office. When I asked why, he responded, "Do you really want to know?" That could mean only one thing: snake. Sure enough, somehow - and for the first time since he's lived here - a snake got into the house. He captured it and escorted it away, and we're pretty sure it wasn't a rattlesnake, but I'm guessing I'm not going to get a lot of sleep tonight.