31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: A Broad and Rich Life

We've lived in the country more than ten years now, 

but one thing that never gets old is hearing the coyotes howl at night.  

They run through the creek beds that wind around our property, 

and also frequent a nearby pond.  

It's not uncommon to hear them go off at least once a night,

sometimes two, maybe more, packs at a time.

We've never seen a pack, but we've seen a couple lone coyotes on occasion.  

They're bigger and more beautiful than I expected - 

I thought they would be weak, thin and skanky looking, 

but they're actually healthy and quite beautiful.  

(image source)

Once I watched our dogs chase a coyote through the back field ...

 it appeared to be running fast - until the dogs got close, 

and then apparently it switched on those Wylie Coyote Acme rockets  

because it made the running dogs look like they were moving in slow motion.  

When the coyotes howl, our dogs howl along with them,

and it's another reminder to stop a minute to soak up the joy this everyday life brings.  

I took this last night, standing on the front porch ... all you can see is the tiny speck of moon, but you'll hear the coyote pack that's less than 1/4 mile away.  Our dog Raider is singing backup vocals :o)

Have a listen:

“Coyotes move within a landscape of attentiveness. 

I have seen their eyes in the creosote bushes and among mesquite trees. 

They have watched me. And all the times that I saw no eyes, that I kept walking and never knew, 

there were still coyotes. 

When I have seen them trot away, when I have stepped from the floorboard of my truck, 

leaned on the door, and watched them as they watched me over their shoulders, 

I have been aware for that moment of how much more there is.

 Of how I have only seen only an instant of a broad and rich life.” 
― Craig Childs, The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild