Coyotes....

The first thing I heard on CNN this morning was a report on a Colorado man who was attacked by three coyotes on his way to work.  He was walking in the dark with a flashlight because his car had broken down and he had to get to work.

Everything I've heard about Texas coyotes is that they avoid people at all times.  Apparently, the Colorado coyotes aren't aware of that rule.   I've seen a coyote in our yard, back when we got our first group of chickens.  The hens were all in the coop and I was on my way out the back door to let them out when I saw the coyote with his two front paws up against the fenced-in side of the coop. (Contemplating which chicken was breakfast-worthy, no doubt.) The coyote heard the screen door when I opened it and he ran off into the yard, and kept running through the pasture till he got to the woods.  I waited about an hour that day to let the chickens out of the coop, just in case.

That was the last time I'd seen a coyote on our property, but we did lose at least four of the chickens to coyotes, one at a time.  We'd see a little pile of feathers out in the grass, and judging by the color and pattern of the feathers, and which hen was missing at dusk, we'd know exactly which one was gone. "Coyote bait," my husband would say.

We don't have chickens anymore.  After the second group of hens, I just gave up.  It was too heart-breaking.  Between the coyotes, the hawks, and the snakes, I decided that a dozen eggs from the supermarket was good enough.  Not as delicious as the fresh eggs, but good enough.

But on the bright side..... and there's always a bright side....... none of the neighbors has mentioned the cougars around here lately.  That's not to say a cougar isn't still around.... it's just that no one has seen him. (Ignorance is not bliss in this case.)