Today

I got a bit of a late start this morning. I wanted to finish a book I started over the weekend. It's called "Merle's Door: Lessons From A Free Thinking Dog" by Ted Kerasote. I had to finish it while I was alone, before anyone was home from school or work, because the ending, of course, made me blubber horribly. I knew that would happen because it happened when I read John Grogan's "Marley & Me".

I went for a walk this afternoon. I started at the end of the bike path at Enos Lane. As soon as I started out I thought I should have brought my camera with me today. I was right.

I went to the three mile mark and turned around. As I approached the two mile mark I heard a crashing in the brush even through the music in my headphones. I turned to look and about ten yards away stood a beautifully healthy reddish-brown coyote.

He grinned at me nervously, and turned and bound away towards the river. Right before he disappeared into some more brush he turned and looked at me again as if embarrassed. "Sorry, you caught me unawares," he seemed to say, "I'm not usually so careless."

I continued on my way. I saw a couple of roadrunners, of which I already have a few good photos. I suppose a few more wouldn't hurt. Then when I had a half mile left to go I saw a ground squirrel, his cheeks fat with something yummy I'm sure, sprint across the canal bridge.

I've been unable to catch the gopher that's been plaguing the garden. But in my defense, I sprinkled a generous amount of the gopher repellent all throughout the garden in hopes of, well, repelling any gophers from the garden.

The interesting thing to note here is, fresh potties were left at the opening to the gopher hole where the trap has been (by the red cabbage). I'm sure they are from the elusive kit fox. We will be unable to borrow the trap as our neighbor had to leave this week for a funeral in another state. Perhaps another time...