Coyotes

I'm reading a book called The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton. I really like it. It reminds me of where I live now, my childhood, and all the daydreams I have of rugged mountains and rolling plains. Oh, and it satisfies my coyote infatuation. I really like coyotes.

Coyotes are not as romanticized as wolves, but in some ways I think they are even cooler than wolves. For instance, instead of becoming endangered when over-hunted, they actually increase in number! They have adapted to living within the human world with very little difficulty and are often seen hanging out in suburbs and even cities.

I can remember waking up in the middle of the night when I was a kid to hear the raucous yipping and howling of a pack of coyotes that lived on our land. They would come down the bluff from the woods to drink from the pond behind our barn. It always sounded like they were throwing a big coyote party. They were laughing and shouting and having a big time. Instead of being afraid, I was entranced. They just sounded so happy to me, like they would be a lot of fun to hang out with. I could even hear the high yips and barks of the pups which was too cute for words. Then I would fall back asleep to dream that hundreds of coyotes were surrounding our house. The dream was a little creepy.