Night Visitors

Last year was a quiet year where the coyotes were concerned.  They weren't living on the mountain behind the house.  In some ways it was weird, so eerily quiet at night.  You get used to the yips and howls and the coyotes and the dogs saying hello.

This year has been different.  And most different Sunday night into Monday morning.

I had gone to bed about 10pm and hadn't been in bed long enough to even fall asleep when the four dogs outside went bonkers barking.  This carried on for about ten minutes before I decided I should go check and make sure everyone was still where they belong.  The escape artist (Turin) was inside, but maybe someone else had gotten loose.

I went out, did a head count, everyone was where they were supposed to be.  However, they were very interested in something that was off towards the south.  I shown my headlamp out into the pasture, not expecting to see anything since the headlamp is just for around the house and not very strong.  I got the white reflection of two eyes glowing back at me.

I decided it might be smarter to jump into the 8x8 kennel that is the entrance to the big kennel I was standing next to.  I figured it it was a bear, I might have problems, but if it was a coyote, I should be fine behind the fence.  After a bit the dogs calmed down and I figured whatever it was had headed off.  So I went back up to the house.

I climbed into bed, had barely settled when the coyotes started yipping and howling right outside the house.  In fact, they sounded like they were on the lawn between my house and the hill to my parents house.  The dogs went crazy.  They finally settled down after a while and I managed to drift off to sleep, only to be awoken less than an hour later at about 11:15pm by the dogs crazy barking again.  And again with the coyote yips.

This continued throughout the night until about 2:30am.  If I had know it was going to last all night, I would have brought the other four dogs in.  I'm not sure I could have gotten any less sleep.  But normally if the coyotes are nearby, after about a half an hour, they are gone again and the night is peaceful.  Not this time.

Funny thoughts come into one's tired brain at 2am.  Thoughts of handfuls of grenades to throw at the coyotes, wishing for your coworker who hunts coyotes to be sitting on your porch with a rifle...

I dragged myself into work, thinking tonight will be better.  The coyotes will go somewhere else.

Monday night rolls around, I crawl into bed,  haven't even settle in when the crazy barking starts.  Really?! I think.  Do the dogs have a camera in my room so they know when start barking so I can't sleep?  The coyotes were back.  I was thinking thoughts like: My guys are all fixed.  No puppy makers or bakers here!

About 2am the barking stopped.  But like the morning before, I still didn't get much deep sleep after the quiet before the alarm clock rang.

Wednesday night I got a little smarter.  At 2am when the crazy barking was still going on, I turned on the outside lights and quiet.  Blessed quiet.  So I left the lights on every night after that and the dogs were still a bit louder than usual, but better than Sunday and Monday.

I did find that my new compost pile I had started was probably the reason this all started in the first place.  I had begun a new compost pile on the edges of my lawn between my house and the hill to my parents.  I didn't quite get the food scraps covered with dog poop, so the coyotes probably smelled the food and came for the free dinner.  Before I try another pile, I'll have to make sure I have enough poop to cover the food scraps entirely...