No road runners were harmed in the incident.
I hadn’t been home from work long before I had to pay a visit to the captain’s chair tonight, and as is often the case when I have most of the house to myself, I left the door open, and again, as usual, Xena parked her big fuzzy butt just outside the bathroom door and laid only her chin on the tile, her eyes big and sleepy.
Shortly after 3:00am, I began hearing a strange noise. At first I thought it was the wind, but we weren’t due for the kind of wind that makes high-pitched shrieks of its own accord tonight. Then I saw Xena perk up and growl toward the east side of the house. And the sounds became louder, and seemed to cross from the east to the west, seemingly just on the other side of the exterior wall facing south. At this point, due in no small part to being in something that could reasonably be described as a vulnerable position, I was getting distinctly unnerved by the whole thing. It was the sound of dogs. A lot of dogs. An awful lot of awfully noisy dogs.
Coyotes!
Needless to say, I didn’t show my face, and I sure as hell didn’t let Xena out the door, which she was practically bucking to do. I have no doubt that my dog would do anything to protect my home, but I value her enough as a companion to rein her in when stuff like this happens. I’ve heard mountain lions screeching before, an equally if not more unnerving auditory experience that sounds somewhat like what I imagine one would hear if a woman was being brutally murdered nearby, and this experience was right up there with that. Ah, life in the country.
The first mountain lion screech of the season can’t be far off…… Read more
