They're Out There

When I am back home with my parents for some occasion or another, there are some things that are not generally part of my day-to-day life anymore with which I am momentarily reacquainted. There is the house (or what there is left of it that has not been changed), there is the ebb and flow of household life, and there is the incredible amount of food on hand at any given time. I'm never home long enough to fully return to the old routine, but some things come back.

Something that I think of little is the coyotes. There are hordes of them even in suburban Phoenix, to say nothing of the mountain preserves and further-out areas. They are hardly the only predator out there, and my mind turns to hawks, snakes and spiders immediately. It is the coyotes, though, that are the most outspoken foe. They can be heard to howl sometimes at night, and one guesses that they are in the process of creating some real heartache for some pet owner out there.

Actually, such things are not entirely unknown in the LA area. Some friends tell me that a pet was killed no more than a couple of miles from their apartment. A coyote was believe to be responsible, and I'm not inclined to thing it was pinned on one for bigoted reasons. Coyotes come by their violent reputation honestly. We have been lucky in my family to not have suffered horribly from them, a close brush with one by one of our dogs notwithstanding.

He had been missing for hours- long enough that flyers were about to be distributed throughout the neighborhood. Just then, he stumbled home. He was rather badly hurt, as I recall. His hair was matted and torn, his body very much the worse for wear. Still, he had managed to escape and get back home, (there to later recover). Dogs will do that. Their resilience is admirable, as I suppose the qualities of coyotes are in their own way. It is still unpleasant to fear them so.