Coyote Curmudgeon

My “old” friend, Mary, joined the girls and me at a quaint bed & breakfast in the rural community of Rainbow a couple of weeks ago. https://rainbowinn.smugmug.com/ Mary’s not THAT old but our friendship goes back some fifty years. FIFTY YEARS!?! Okay, I guess she IS that old.

Mary and I became friends when we were in seventh grade and we discovered we both had a crush on the same boy. There was no rivalry as he didn’t know either one of us existed. Our friendship was further enhanced because I was horse crazy and she had two horses. We never lost touch over the years even though she moved away at the end of ninth grade. Each of us married young and our husbands joined our friendship. The four of us spent many weekends and vacations together despite the two hour drive between us. Now, entering our retirement years, Mary’s husband is suffering a life-threatening illness, and that weighs heavily on Mary both mentally and physically. An overnight getaway with her old friend was just what the doctor ordered.

I loaded up the girls and all their gear, beds, bowls, homemade dog food, etc. and we were off.

The girls loved Mary, who is (of course) a dog lover and the B&B hosts were most gracious. The weather was rather cold and breezy but the girls enjoyed the pool nonetheless. A good time was had by all.

Back home we fell into our usual routine of biking and walking. This morning, we were thoroughly dressed down by an irate coyote who told us in no uncertain terms that we were unwelcome trespassers on his turf. When we were about 100 yards away he began his yammering, standing in the middle of the paved road, between us and home. I courteously put the leashes on the dogs, though they showed no interest in mixing it up with him, and stood patiently waiting for him to finish his tirade. After a minute or two, he grudgingly moved a few yards off the pavement, but continued his harangue. We proceeded past the place where we knew him to be by his yapping, even though we couldn’t see him in the brush. The girls showed less interest in him that they do the dogs along the way who are behind fences. I would call him cheeky but, in his defense, we were invading his territory.

The road is closed to vehicles here but motorcycles can get around the gate.