While I certainly didn’t set out to do this today, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth! (After all, when we practice presence, we see opportunities as they unfold.)
As I was taking Tucker for our usual early stroll around the neighborhood (he likes to water the plants), I heard some rustling in bushes across the street. My head glanced up and my first thought was that it was a cat going home after a morning mouse hunt. Then my adrenaline kicked up and my sleepy eyes focused in as I realized that it was way too big to be a cat…that is a freakin’ coyote, who had just jumped six or so feet onto a red brick wall to survey the landscape before jumping down as quickly as he made it up there.
Thankfully he was far enough away that I felt comfortable taking out my phone, instead of say, running the other way screaming like a crow and alerting the neighborhood.
It also helped that he was running the opposite direction or this would have been a very different video.
Needless to say that every doggy mom and dad that we passed while finishing our loop were given fair warning of Mr. Wiley’s presence in our community. I sure hope the neighbors brought their cats in because he was not out for the sake of exercise like the rest of us.
What I learned from this? Coyotes can and will jump walls. While I didn’t catch him in the act, this is the wall he jumped up onto. I’m now rethinking our doggy door on the patio as much as Tucker would like a play-date.
I can now say that I’ve experienced filming a coyote in my neighborhood and didn’t need coffee this morning. Two new experiences for the price of one!