Yeti, Sasquatch, Panther or Tom Cat...

Skunk filled the air.  The dogs barked as the coyotes traveled through.  They always bark and howl with them as they pass. This night was different.  The dogs sounded more frantic, more agitated and less brave.  I could feel it as I listened in the kitchen.

Andrew had opened a window hoping it would decrease the smell in his room.  Little did he know when the central heat kicked on it acted like a suction and kept pulling the skunk aroma into his room. Later shutting the window and spraying Febreze solved that problem.

Through two walls I heard the "scream" and Andrew heard it through an open window.  We both headed toward each other through the house.  Andrew had a look of surprise on his face.  We both asked at the same time, "Did you hear that?"  Andrew said, "Nana, it sounded like a women being murdered!"

I said coyotes, he said woman.  I said cougar, he said woman.  Of course Papa didn't hear a thing in his den.  He got his giant see-every-thing-on-the-farm light and shined toward the barn.  We have an old truck box trailer set for a work shop but has morphed into a storage and feed shed.  This after much discussion was the direction of the unidentified "scream".

Nothing showed but cat eyes, barn cat eyes, or was it??

Andrew and I were not convinced it was simply a cat or a coyote.

It was not heard again that night.

Later I was watching tv and caught an episode of some Sasquatch hunting reality show.  I listened to the calls.  I researched on the computer.  I played sounds as Andrew was in the other room.  One sound Weird Scream and another sound Scream Howl caused him to run out and say, "That was it!!!"

Now wouldn't that be special if we house a Yeti in this magical spring valley?

My nephew during a big lightning storm saw a large upright lighter colored very tall hairy being a couple of years ago.  Andrew has seen a glimpse of an unidentified upright being.  I have followed one with a gun and a flashlight.  Years ago a Bigfoot crossed a highway in front of Hubby's car.  We have no proof.

It will remain a mystery perhaps like my vision of a cave in this valley, the voices I hear sometimes in the house but can never understand and a few other unexplained things.

Don't call me crazy.  Call me lucky.  I hope we see a unicorn next.  Any one know what kind of sound they make?  That is something I would like to see in my lifetime.

As I played these sounds for this post the dogs cut a shine outside and pull quickly into the yard.  Lizzy on my bed looks around the room with alarm.

And I remember what Granny Pruett always said, "There is nothing new under the sun.  We may not have seen it but there's nothing new."

Outside the dogs still bark.

The Silver Moon...

The silver moon
Cries out to me
Come see
The brilliant night
She lights the way
For me to run
With packs
Wilder
Than I can be.

The silver moon
Cries out to me
I cover my eyes
Not to see
Hearing coyotes
Yip, yip, yip
They sing
To me I ignore
The moon.

The silver moon
Cries out to me...

Dusk...

As Ki and I stepped out for potty business, the deer were drinking from the spring.  I saw a few but this was the best shot.  We know why our winter garden hasn't fared so well.
The deer spied us and white-flagged as they left.  I heard the twang of wire as they tipped the fence leaving.

Sunday night the moon had lighted the valley but tonight we were wrapped in tight fog.  You could almost hear it moving.  I half expected to see the ship-wrecked sailors march through our valley as they did in the movie "Fog". 

Ki attended to business as I stood lightly dressed, feeling the fog actually touch me.  A coyote called from the new pond and waited for an answer.  Was it a call to mate or to hunt?   The beauty nor the music was not lessened by my lack of understanding.

I hear cattle lowing from the next farm, and the calls of night birds were sprinkled here and there.  In the distance, a owl calls to the night.

The night was dressed heavily in fog.  No stars nor moon to see but the sounds were mysterious and almost hypnotizing in this valley we call At The Farm.

I Tried To Shoot The Moon...

as the geese, flying south, called to me in the early night.  The amazing V formation as they crossed the moon had me wishing I could capture the beauty and the sound of their flight. Only in my mind, did I capture it, tucking the memory away to bring out, like a good book, and revisit the wonder of it.

The coyotes were active last night and their voices echoed through the leafless trees as they pursued their night's meal. I heard them run along the cedar glade where deer were grazing earlier.  As I called my husband to hear their song, they grew silent.  I continued to listen, in the cold night, and imagined their path.  As they picked up their prey trail again, they sang to the night, crossing the creek and following the old road up the hill...and then silence.  The silence left me wondering, were they successful in their hunt or did they search for another main course.

While listening, I was warm and lost in the moment but as the night sounds left, the cold crept in.  I returned to the warmth and shut the door on the night.

One Post Wednesday

We have had a coyote problem lately. We have not resorted to this solution...yet.

They haven't moved into the livestock but it makes you wonder. Calving time would be a great opportunity to come closer.

Our dogs protest to the coyotes' nightly run, which to me seems to be getting closer, but they are smart enough not to leave the yard.

As a child, my dad collected a bounty on each pair of coyote ears he could turn in. We may have to reintroduce that bounty.