From the wonderful people at Project Coyote, download a free ebook to learn more about the beautiful songdog: Coyotes in our Midst:
https://projectcoyote.org/resources/books/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=8962dc96-ad12-412d-9113-cb717cf36b2c
And definitely watch this video encouraging the concept of compassionate coexistence:
Around 6:30 this morning as I pulled back the curtains and looked out my bedroom window, I was greeted by a darling bun chewing on a few kale leaves I had picked but forgot to bring inside.
I thought I read somewhere that rabbits don’t like kale, but this little one enjoyed every bite.
What a happy way to wake up and face a new week!
Yesterday was April Fool’s Day and I had to blink twice and do a classic double take when I looked out the kitchen window and saw a fat opossum waddling through the garden. I grabbed my camera and quietly opened the screen door to get a better look.
It’s not unusual for them to be here but they’re mostly nocturnal creatures and don’t often appear during the day. If you see one at odd times like I did, don’t automatically think they’re sick. My research revealed that it’s not totally out of character if it’s a new mom who needs to bring home a lot of food for her babies.
With their poor eyesight, she didn’t seem to know or care that I was there, so I followed her a bit up the steps and over the neighbor’s fence and back again.
Opossums eat a wide variety of foods: fruits, grasses, insects, rodents (yay!) mammals, birds, fish, and even carrion. Also good to learn is that opossums are resistant to rabies and rarely carry the disease. They are extremely beneficial.
There are LOTS of mice and rats around here, so I hope she or he went home with a full belly.
I don’t know why some people think they’re ugly or scary. Isn’t this a most adorable face?
There will always be a hole in my heart for all my loved and departed souls.
I had a dream about my Border Collie and I thought of “melon collie”, our joke because Victor loved to eat almost anything including cantaloupe and watermelon, and then I saw this.
Sometimes this is exactly how I feel; a void left by grief, sitting on a bench, adrift in sadness.
I’m updating this post to include some research into this sculpture because I feel it’s relevant.
Albert Gyorgy felt intense sadness and isolation with the loss of his wife and went on to create this beautiful piece of artwork as a way to cope.
This hole represents the massive void that we all feel when we lose someone dear to us, and many people have expressed their appreciation for this sculpture for it portraying the exact emotions they feel, but perhaps haven’t been able to quite put into words.
Curated from: https://www.penwellgabeltopeka.com/Blog/6245/Melancoliesculpture
It was super quiet this morning until I heard a familiar staccato taptaptaptap, ran outside with my camera and was FINALLY able to capture a visit from my Downy Woodpecker!
Usually they’re playing hide and seek in my garden; this time he’s just over the fence on the neighbor’s palm tree. A while later, his mate came to eat in the exact same spot.
Isn’t he simply magnificent?
In many ancient cultures, the symbolism of the woodpecker is associated with wishes, luck, prosperity, and spiritual healing. The woodpecker often symbolizes new opportunities that come knocking into our lives. Other cultures consider the woodpecker to represent hard work, perseverance, strength, and determination, all positive attributes for sure! (curated from Google search)
Happy Sunday, friend!
I’m so glad I noticed this before our big rain event tomorrow because it would probably decompose or deteriorate beyond recognition.
It’s bobcat scat!
I’ve seen a lot of coyote and raccoon scat on hikes and in my garden but this is the first time I’ve been able to identify bobcat scat here in my own little world.
I’m super excited! The location is directly off my deck so that means the bobcat has been roaming all over, not just up on the hill. It makes me so happy that he or she is marking this territory.
Don’t you especially LOVE the heart-shaped piece? What a gift!
I might run out and save some to show the angels because of all the little bones imbedded in the scat, but I won’t take it all because I want the lovely bobcat to return…this is his (or her) home, too.
And you’re correct; it doesn’t take very much to bring me joy!
Or how I became the spirit human to a wandering white egret. Do you have a spirit animal? I’m sure we all do, but today I became a bird’s spirit human. At least that’s the story I told myself.
(I’ll not bury the lede and confess that I’m NOT the naked lady, just in case you were curious.)
I don’t know if it’s because of the lingering full moon energy coupled with another Santa Ana heatwave, but this was a strange and interesting Sunday.
I’ve been able to increase my mileage according to the doc’s plan, as long as my foot doesn’t hurt. It can be bit sore, but if I start limping, that’s my cue to give him a call. So far, so good.
On today’s walk, I got a late start and didn’t want to walk to the beach because that’s about 7 or 8 miles round trip, much more than the five miles he approved.
I walked up and around the lagoon. On the way back, I saw one police car and then two and when I saw the third one, my interest was piqued and I decided to follow it. They seemed to all be parked on a street that leads to a lagoon beach.
I stopped and asked a neighbor what was going on and he said he heard there was a naked woman wandering around the area. I then walked up to a police officer and asked him to corroborate what I heard, and he did. I exhorted (strongly encouraged) him to be kind to her since the police dog was there too, and it probably was some sort of mental health issue, not a “let’s unleash the hounds of hell” issue.
By the way, when did cops start dressing like urban warfare combat fighters? The ones I saw today were dressed in FULL ON body armor, in FULL ON FIGHT MODE to what was probably either a domestic or a mental health situation. They were incredibly intimidating looking for a little beach town, way too hard core.
I decided to move on and continue walking out of respect for whomever it was and whatever was going on. Sometimes I hang around to document possible police misconduct, but there were other people gathering, so I felt it was okay to leave.
After walking for another block or so, this is what I saw.
Yup, a beautiful white egret simply standing as still as a statue. S/he took a couple of steps…do you have any idea how SLOWLY egrets walk? It’s like doing a mindful walking meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh, something I’m not at all good at, ‘cos I’m not patient. At all.
But this time, I slowed down to enjoy the moment. S/he walked across the street SO S L O W L Y, turned his/her head and seemed to beckon me to follow, so I did. I stayed a couple feet back and every so often, s/he would turn to look at me and continue.
When it seemed as if (I’ll just call it a female, cos that’s the vibe I got) she wanted to cross a street that’s a bit busier, I went out in the street to warn traffic and to escort her safely. A mom and her two kids joined me and we all followed this queenly white egret up the street. Cars stopped to watch and it was so joyous and so delightful to participate in the Queen Egret Parade. The mom and kids went back home but I continued on our journey together to shepherd this magnificent bird.
I felt as if she was a bit timid, a bit unsure about where she was, and needed me. When we came to a clearing with a field and tall trees, I decided it was time for her to fly. I raised both of my arms outstretched like wings and silently communicated to her that it wasn’t safe on these streets and she needed to fly.
And she did. I watched her circle the area and land in a tall eucalyptus tree. Another egret flew by and my hope is that they all ended up back at the lagoon, safe and sound.
Honestly, I feel like in that moment, I became the spirit human to this pure white egret wanderer.
I don’t have any new information about the naked woman, and I’ll update if I hear anything.
It’s only 11 a.m. and I’ve already had a magical day. It’s time to put a clothes in the washing machine and check the video to see if my coyote or bobcat came to visit. For me, that would be the icing on the cake.
Check out how S L O W L Y she walks.
I’ve only asked for help one other time for a wolf rescue that was in dire need, now I’m highlighting an absolute earth angel who devotes her life to rescue.
I have vetted Virginia and can vouch for her honesty and passion for helping animals. I donated what I could and asked my son to do the same (and he did.)
If you can spare anything at all, this is a very worthy cause. Thank you.
From the post I received:
This is an emergency situation….
IMMEDIATE NEED: PLEASE SHARE.
Dog found in Mexicali with 2 broken rear legs. Surgery needs to be done ASAP to save the legs and allow him a chance to walk again (he’s just a pup!). With surgery, he has a chance not to be paralyzed, according to vet. He needs all- a rescue, a place to land, a place to recover. He needs surgery, $800 for both legs.
if you can help please contact Virginia Ramirez Wright who never walks past those that need help, but she needs an organization to help this soul. For right now, please consider a donation directly to Virginia, as she has care of him and is working with the vet:
Via Paypal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/vicky1660
THANK YOU AGAIN and please share.
I didn’t write this and I can’t find the author to cite, but here’s one of the best posts I’ve seen about coyotes that’s worth reading and sharing:
“We humans have a strange urge to create monsters. For many, it’s not enough to believe in predators that hunt prey. We have to also project strange, sinister, and even supernatural forces onto the creatures who share our planet.
Since the beginning of time, we’ve created and exaggerated stories of dragons that abduct maidens, giant eagles that grab children, the Big Bad Wolf who pretends to be a sheep or a grandmother. The most modern version of these myths involves none other than the coyote: a 25-pound omnivore often seen in the suburbs, where it eats a diet containing mostly rodents.
You’ve likely heard about how coyotes are vicious beasts who come up with complex, cunning plans to befriend innocent dogs. When the dog thinks it has made a friend— as the legend says— the coyote will lead it back to a den, where a large pack of vicious coyotes leap upon the dog and eat it.No matter how many times you’ve heard a version of this story, it’s not true.
Coyotes do not live or hunt in large packs.
A coyote family usually includes just one pair of adults and their young of the year. While the family does occasionally work together to hunt, they usually prefer to hunt alone, and they never hunt in the large groups of 10, 20, or 30 animals that many claim to have witnessed.
While coyotes are extremely intelligent animals, their minds don’t work like human minds. They don’t develop complex plans for the future, and they don’t have a theory of mind— the ability to conceptualize and predict another animal’s thoughts and perceptions— in the same way that humans do.
A coyote simply isn’t capable of “lying” to a dog by pretending to be its friend or developing a plan to lead it into a trap. Like many other myths, the story about the coyote luring a dog to its death probably started as a misunderstanding.
Coyotes and domestic dogs are very close relatives, so coyotes have been known to sometimes approach them socially. That can include the kind of bowing and tail-wagging that we all know means, “Be my friend!” in dog language.
When a family of coyotes is heard singing and yipping later, the same people who witnessed the coyotes approaching dogs might mistake them for a pack ready to hunt. Coyotes use rapidly rising and falling notes fo create an auditory illusion, which makes a pair or trio of coyotes sound like a large pack, so it’s easy to be intimidated by the sound.
But just because coyotes are singing doesn’t mean they’re killing a dog or making sinister plans: it just means they’re a family and they’re together.With all that said, coyotes are opportunists, and like any other predator, they will eat whatever prey is available if they’re hungry enough. A small dog, especially a toy breed, may be hunted by a coyote. This is one of many reasons that small dogs should not be left outside unattended, particularly at dawn and dusk. Although coyotes aren’t known to target larger dogs as prey, they will fight with a dog if provoked, and both the dog and coyote can be injured or killed. Responsible pet owners should always take steps to prevent these incidents.
Lying, deception, and complicated, evil plans are human traits, not coyote traits. There’s no need to project the flaws of our own species onto our wild neighbors or to assume the worst of a coyote’s friendly or confused behavior.
We need to understand and coexist with our wildlife, not to fear them.”
I’m writing this post from the dentist’s office where I’m waiting for the lidocaine to take effect. This time it’s merely to replace the temporary crowns with the permanent ones, but I have time to share a couple of photos from yesterday.
Happy October 1 from a couple of my bunnies.
They LOVE watermelon!
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 