coyote

Wildlife – Day 1003

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Cutie – Photo: L. Weikel

Wildlife

I’ve had three surprisingly close encounters with wildlife in the past 24 hours – and that doesn’t even count the eight fawns (two of which popped out of the brush beside the road to scamper in front of my car – twice) and 5 does I passed.

I only managed to get photos of the first encounter. But as you can see, s/he was a cutie!

Hard to call this WILDlife – Photo: L. Weikel

First

This little raccoon was on the side of the road as I was driving home last night after taking my photos of Jupiter and Saturn. I may not have succeeded in seeing any Perseids, but – what was that? As I passed by several clusters of leaves littering the side of the road, I caught sight of what looked like a small cat-like creature scratching its ear with its hind leg. I was tired and realized it may have been just another clump of fallen leaves, but I turned the car around in a driveway and headed back for another look.

As my headlights washed a broad beam onto the side of the road, I could see that it was indeed a small animal. My window down, I pulled up slowly to see if I could snap a photo of it before it ran away. Well, didn’t this little creature come walking right up to me? It looked lost and a little like it just wanted to be held, to be honest. (Yes. Of course I was talking to it the whole time. And no, I had no intention of holding a wild animal.) But it bothered me that it had moved into the road as it responded to me.

I drove down the road a piece and turned around yet again. I hated having my headlights trained on it, but I needed to be able to see it and hoped it would want to retreat from the lights. In fact, that’s what happened. S/he crossed the road in front of me and descended into a culvert.

Next Encounter

I was sitting in my car following the tremendous thunderstorms that went through the area early this evening. Half in and half out of the car, my right leg was inside the car and my left on the ground. I was looking at something in my lap when all of a sudden a squirrel ran from behind my car and almost bumped into my left leg! It just stood there on its hind legs – sort of taken aback by the encounter as much as I was. I yelped involuntarily and it ran off.

It was an odd encounter.

Final for the Night

About an hour later, Spartacus and I were taking a walk on our usual ‘walk around’ route (our shorter, two mile excursion). He’s getting older and it shows: he’s developed cataracts and his hearing is not what it used to be either.

Thus he missed the coyote that loped across the road about 20’ away from us. What a gorgeous animal! At first I thought it was an adult fox, but the tail had more of a look of a dog than the fluffy, sticking straight out tail of a fox. And its coloring was more brown and dark gray as opposed to the usual rust-colored fur of a fox. Needless to say, it didn’t ‘say’ anything to us as it passed!

Spart may have missed it as it crossed, but as we approached where it disappeared into the bushes, his nose got him all sorts of excited. And historically, he has not had quite the same reaction to foxes. So, again, my sense is that the creature that padded across our path was definitely a coyote.

What a wonderful day, filled with close encounters with the wildlife that share our habitat. And just as I write this, a screech owl serenades me just outside my door. Wow.

Hopefully heading home – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-108)

No Comet Tonight – Day 611

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Searching for the Comet 14 July 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

No Comet Tonight

I’m thinking we were a tad impatient this evening. Perhaps we went looking (and gave up) a bit too early. Or maybe we were actually too late! Whatever it was, the verdict is in: no comet tonight.

I didn’t think so at the time, obviously, or we would’ve waited another 30 minutes or half an hour. It’s only in retrospect, as I look at the photo from Minnesota (at the top of last night’s post) that I’m thinking we went too early. Yeah, the sky in that photo looks a bit more ‘evening-mature’ than the photo at the top of this post.

Then again, I just re-read the article from earthsky.org and I realize it says the comet will appear higher in the evening sky each night between the 13th and the 19th. Hmm. I do believe I’ll give it another go tomorrow night.

Runner-up Bonus

But I have to tell you: we were rewarded with the most amazing gift tonight, which we wouldn’t have experienced had we not been out searching for Comet Neowise.

Alas, I can’t share the bonus with you (tonight, anyway) because I don’t have a clue how to upload a video I’ve taken onto YouTube. But I’m going to figure it out, and I’m going to post this recording because WOW. I had no idea we had a pack of coyotes living so close to us!

They serenaded us with such a cacophony of yips and howls, we almost thought we’d been transported to New Mexico. We couldn’t believe our ears!

We’ve heard the occasional yip or howl at night, but definitely never the joyously raucous sounds of a pack like tonight.

Always a Treat

Which reminds me: A few years ago we took a walk and left our main front door open. Of course, the wooden screen door was closed and locked, but that obviously didn’t hinder the aroma of stew I’d left simmering on our stove from wafting outside.

When we rounded the final corner of our walk-around and could see up the road to our house, we were shocked to see a coyote sitting on its haunches, directly in front of our home. It was just sitting there at the edge of the road, right beside our mailbox, looking ever so much like a ‘good boy,’ waiting patiently for a bowl of whatever yummy stuff it could smell we were cooking.

Amazing. And what a gift.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll both see the comet and hear the coyotes again. That would be better than any tv lineup.

Coyote – Photo: City of Lubbock, TX

(T-500)

Coyote and Salmon – Day 443

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Coyote – Photo: City of Lubbock, TX

My Cards Say It All

I’ve been keeping pretty quiet about the Medicine Cards®* I’ve been choosing lately, mostly because they’ve been cosmic pokes in my side. Either that or they’ve been hard to figure out.

For instance, I picked Coyote reversed twice in the past five days. Coyote reversed is tough, because by its very nature, it is inscrutable and hard to figure out. It also comes with the explicit admonition:

“Contrary Coyote may signal a time when everything you touch backfires.”

Trust me, when I choose Coyote reversed, I do my best to lay low and refrain from engaging in anything too sensitive.

When Coyote reversed shows up in my life, I make a point of choosing activities in which I have as little contact with the outside world as possible. That’s not always possible, but it’s generally a good rule of thumb. Let me hasten to add, though: I don’t go traveling into other worlds, either. No, a Coyote reversed day usually calls for channeling my energy into mundane, tangible activities such as clearing away clutter, vacuuming, and doing my best to gain internal awareness of what’s going on within myself, so I can bounce back into the game the next day with greater clarity.

Salmon Reversed

So after not choosing Coyote for a very long time – quite possibly since before I even began my 1111 Devotion – I find it fascinating to have chosen it twice in the past five days (and technically, it was twice in four days, since I chose it last Friday and then again this past Monday).

But today? Today I chose Salmon reversed with Butterfly underneath. And I have to tell you, it so accurately captures my feelings of late, particularly this morning as I struggled to swim to the surface of my consciousness as I woke from a deep sleep.

Salmon, which has as its key words “Wisdom/Inner Knowing” is not, as one might be tempted to assume, about struggling upstream. It’s not about struggle at all (in the upright position, anyway). Indeed, I love the first paragraph of Salmon:

“Salmon is the sacred keeper of wisdom and inner knowing who, despite strong river currents, will always return to the place of its creation. Its determination is driven by the wisdom of instinct and inner knowing, which yields a sense of purpose that cannot be thwarted by external forces. Coming full circle, Salmon medicine people finish what they begin, bringing life’s events and cycles to closure.”

Salmon – Photo: BBC.com

At First Glance

Superficially, I’ll admit, I may have felt as though I was struggling to “return to the place of (my) creation” today. Everything sort of felt like a hassle, and I wasn’t sure if it was my own frustrations with certain situations in my life or if I might just be sensitive to and reflecting the energies ‘out there.’

That might seem counter-intuitive, but sometimes direct action mitigates a sense of overwhelm. I care about what’s going on in Washington D.C., and yet I feel stymied by just how little I’m able to actually do to contribute to a solution to that situation. I envy those attorneys, representatives, and their staffs that are involved in the process because they know they are fighting the good fight. They’re actively engaging in work that makes a difference.

For myself, I know that my greatest joy comes from being of service to others, whether it’s by direct one-on-one work or engaging in efforts that benefit many at once.

My sense of self resonated today with these words contained within Salmon reversed:

“If you have been seeking the approval of others by being a follower instead of listening to your personal knowing, it may be time to reclaim you own authority. (…)  If so, get out of your head and get back to the wisdom found in your heart and feelings. Like Salmon, people sometimes need to backtrack upstream to see where life’s meandering tributaries flowed away from the original headwaters of their certainty, wisdom, instinct, and inner knowing.”

Yes, these words struck a chord. And underneath that Salmon reversed? Butterfly. CHANGE.

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(T-668)

Night Sounds – Day 350

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Coyote – Photo: Wikipedia

Night Sounds    

I’m sitting here with our front door open. It’s the 27thof October, and it’s mild enough outside that I have the front door open so the swan songs of the crickets and katydids can filter in unimpeded. They were so comforting tonight that they lulled me into a premature slumber.

I’ve written many times of the joy crickets, katydids, and peepers give me, especially when they make their debut appearance of the season. But the truth is, I never tire of their voices. I love having them be the background soundtrack of my life.

Tonight’s Walk

Karl and I took advantage of the complete transformation of the weather today to take a walk this evening. A vast amount of leaves had been knocked down in the torrential rains that pelted our area this morning. So this evening’s walk in nearly 70 degree temperatures (even though the sun had already set) was all the more remarkable.

We were afforded a magnificent view of the stars, unimpeded by moonlight (since it’s a new moon today!), yet serenaded by the heartiest of crickets and katydids. The survivors of the season, the holdouts, the elders, shared their words of wisdom while we gazed upwards, marveling at the brilliance of the stars, which in a way was more akin to a winter sky in clarity than the summery temperatures would imply.

Which Reminds Me

A couple of evenings this week, we slept with our bedroom windows open. Again, these ‘tween times are my favorite. I love it when there are no mechanical noises disturbing the silence. No air conditioners, no whole house fan (although that is comforting), and no humidifier, the noise we unfortunately endure throughout the winter.

There may be three weeks or so, give or take, in the spring and then again in the fall, when the temperatures drop outside enough to cool the whole house down all by themselves, with just the windows being open. Those are the times when I usually hear the screech owls and Great Horneds. Of course, the neighbors’ two wonderful donkeys, who decide to bellow brays that emanate from the bowels of their beings and (again) sound like the Sand People from the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV).

This past Wednesday and Thursday evenings, though, Karl and I both shot up in bed at the sounds coming in our window. Well, we weren’t quite as spooked the second night, so Thursday’s experience really was just another opportunity to discern the nature of the creatures vocalizing.

Coyotes

Yep, we are almost certain the calls, yips, and just plain weird noises that woke us both nights were coyotes. I’m sure, if anyone from out west is reading this blog, you’re probably rolling your eyes and wondering why I’m making such a big deal over hearing these creatures.

That pack yipping and yowling just is not something people expect to hear in this neck of the woods. And adding a bit more of an interesting twist to the experience (which really was extraordinarily cool to begin with – albeit a bit worrisome with respect to our cat, Cletus, whom we only allow out at night, for the sake of the birds) was the fact that Karl and I each picked Coyote in one form or another (either as main card or as the undercard) within a week or so of having them show up basically in our back yard.

Hmm. Are we being told to lighten up? Embrace our playful, irreverent sides? Or is the message to beware of falling for the old stories and sabotaging ourselves in the process?

As I write this final sentence, I realize that although my front door is open and the only thing separating me from the outside is the screen door, I do not hear one single sound outside. Not a leaf rustling, not a cricket chirping. Utter and total silence. It is deafening.

(T-761)