All creatures great and small

Interesting morning here.  I awoke at 7:30 to a gray chilly morning - 26 degrees and clouded over.  I made French toast for breakfast with the rest of the Challah I made 2 days ago, which all turned out very well.  Later in the morning as I was just drinking my tea, to my great surprise, (alright, complete astonishment!) I spotted a fairly large creature with light markings on its fur, a bit bigger than a dog - well, it looked something like this!

                                             Coyote                  Photo Credit:  Nature's Pics

The young coyote was standing in the middle of the yard amid our chickens, quite close to the house and deck.  I really couldn't believe what I was seeing, and it felt as if I was in slow-motion getting to the door.  Once outside and on the deck I used my voice and hands to scare it off.  It took some work for it to move away - it was young and maybe getting used to the ever-encroaching development of the "country" out here.  It went near the edge of the woods at the end of our property where it joined another coyote which looked exactly like it.  In a moment, they were gone, much to our relief.  It was nearly deja vu for me, as we have experienced this a couple of years before.  Sometimes we hear them howling (summer nights this can be a common occurrence), and nothing makes my blood run colder, I'm ashamed to admit.  (No, I'm not a city wimp!)

 In dealing with chicken predators over the years, the worst offenders are hawks, skunks, and foxes.  The coyotes are apparently harmless, according to the animal control we spoke with several years ago after a run-in with quite a few of the above predators.  They are really after the foxes which coyotes find to be "candy".  I guess we will now have to keep our eyes open as to what might happen over the next few days.  Hopefully St. Francis will protect our lovely chickens and all will be well.  This comes only recently after a hawk fly by (New Year's Day) that rattled the flock, no damage done, however. I'm wondering if the 6 degree cold snap of Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning sparked wildlife appetite. 

So, perhaps a bit-off topic for the general atmosphere here, but nothing like a bit of (unwelcome) wildlife to set off the adrenaline for the morning!  But now, on to more routine adventures: haircut and grocery shopping.