Spring returns, and so do the Big Critters

Spring has finally arrived, only three short weeks from June, and summer. I've been waiting for the bear to make an appearance. All has been quiet. I haven't been feeding the birds, so there may be nothing to draw them here.

Today I was picking up sticks in the yard so I could mow, and found a pile of poop that was too large for a raccoon or fox, but not large enough for a bear. Coyote, I wondered? But so close to the house? Nah...

Tonight Molly gave an alarm bark out on the porch, so I brought her in. I could hear something crashing in the brush along the gorge. Not as loud as a bear, but too sustained for a deer. Huh.

The the coyotes started yamming right by the barn...where I had been planning on going to tuck the cats in. Loudly! I yelled and stomped, and this had no effect whatsoever. They were in the field I had been mowing not three hours earlier, and that's where they were going to stay. Up until now I've heard them off on the hill, but not right in my yard. And frankly, it was creepy.

I'm afraid the cats will just have to sit tight until morning, because I'm not wandering out there into the darkness. I know the coyotes won't bother me, but I don't care. That's just too close for me! The cats are probably sound asleep anyway, and they won't mind waiting until morning. The cats who live in runs are at liberty during the day and won't mind having liberty all night as well. The cats who are normally at liberty at night live in a 12x14 cat room during the day, and will be perfectly happy there for 6.5 more hours until the sun rises.

From now on I'll just have to do their final tuck-in before 9:00 pm. Then I won't have to dodge bears, raccoons, skunks, and now coyotes.