Coyote Blues

 "Mom, guess what I saw last night!"

Since #2 Son gets excited about everything from a great new song from his favorite bands to a really fabulous recipe he's heard about, or even a funny thing one of his friends has done, i wasn't sure what to expect, but when i asked about it, i was totally unprepared.

"There was a coyote in the field!"

My blank stare was then met with, "Really!  It was a coyote.  It actually ran out of someone's back yard, and was going across the field.  So I whistled, and it headed for me.  I had to push at it with one of those pieces of wood I haven't sawed apart for burning yet, it was really going to attack me!  It ran off after that, though.  It didn't like being smacked at with a big piece of wood."

Well, i would imagine not, i replied.

This development shouldn't surprise me.  The coyote is so very well adapted to living alongside human habitation it's amazing.  They live off of trash people throw out, road kill, and pet food left out, hunt rodents and small pets, and have been known to go after small children, too.  They are losing their fear of people, and since they've never been domesticated, they are very dangerous.

Some people have tried to rid areas of them by killing them, but coyotes have a trick of breeding more frequently and having bigger litters when their populations are threatened in order to replenish themselves.

They can also cross breed with dogs and wolves, and have done so.

Well, son, don't try to attract its attention again, i told him.  Also, i added, make sure you keep Dansig indoors at night and with you when you take him out.  They will eat cats.  Tell Little Girl to be careful taking Link out, too.

"I will," he said.  "This is amazing.  I just hope he stays away from me now, after I smacked him with that wood."

Yes, i hope so, too, if that's indeed what he saw.

Also, if it is, i get the feeling that our feral cat population is going to decline around here.  The ones that live at the creek are in danger, and i need to warn the lady who keeps her numerous cats outdoors.


Today is:

Anna's Day -- Sweden and Finland (commemorates the conception of the Virgin Mary by St. Anne, celebration for all females named Anne or Anna, and the day to start the processing of the Christmas Eve lutefisk.)

Christmas Card Day -- the first commercial card went on sale on this day in 1843

Christmas Gift Memory Day -- the day to reminisce about your all time favorite Christmas gift

End of Days of Reckoning -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by St. Anne -- Orthodox Church

Hanukkah -- Judaism (began sundown yesterday; through sundown Dec. 16)

International Anti-Corruption Day -- UN

National Heroes Day -- Antigua and Barbuda

National Pastry Day

Quincy Preserves Christmas Candlelight Tour -- Quincy, IL, US (walking tour of beautiful homes in a different neighborhood each year)

Remembrance for Egill Skallagrimsson -- Asatru/Norse Pagan Calendar (Viking Age poet, warrior, and rune magician)

Republic Day -- Tanzania

Search High and Low For Your Gingerbread Recipe Day -- or just give up and go to the internet for a new one, that's where i found this "holiday"

Second Sunday of Advent -- Christian
     Lighting the Candle of Love

St. Leocadia's Day (Patron of Toledo, Spain)

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting -- in memory of children lost the previous year

Weary Willie Day -- birth anniversary of Emmet Kelley, Sr.

Yuri's Day in the Autumn -- Russian Orthodox Church (a celebration of St. George, as following the Gregorian Calendar)


Birthdays Today:

David Kersh, 1970
Jakob Dylan, 1969
Kurt Angle, 1968
Felicity Huffman, 1962
Donny Osmond, 1957
John Malkovich, 1953
Dick Butkus, 1942
Beau Bridges, 1941
Judy Dench, 1934
Buck Henry, 1930
Dick Van Patten, 1928
Dina Merrill, 1925
Redd Foxx, 1922
Kirk Douglas, 1916
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., 1909
Margaret Hamilton, 1902
Emmet Kelley, Sr., 1898
John Milton, 1608


Today in History:

The Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire, 536
New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster, 1793
The Republic of Texas captures San Antonio, Texas, 1835
The first Young Men's Christian Association in the Americas is founded, in Montreal, 1851
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback becomes governor of Louisiana for 35 days, becoming the first black US governor, 1872
Levant Richardson patents the ball-bearing skate, 1884
Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department, 1888
The Norwegian parliament vote unanimously for female suffrage, 1903
The first broadcast of "Coronation Street" on British ITV, 1960
Barbados joins the United Nations, 1966
NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco, 1968
The United Arab Emirates join the United Nations, 1971
The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, 1979
Lech Walesa wins Poland's first direct presidential election in its history, 1990
Princeton University scientists produce a controlled fusion reaction equivalent to 3 million watts, 1993
Canada's Supreme Court rules gay marriage constitutional, 2004