Throughout the winter Noah and I have awakened at night to hear the howls and barks of a pack of coyotes.  The awakenings would occur anywhere from 11:30 to 3:00am, typically.  A few times I would actually drag myself out of bed in an attempt to scan the open space for signs of life.   Not once did I see anything roaming around, but then again, at 3am in the morning, I’m not likely to be willing to stay up for any significant amount of time or go downstairs and flip on a light switch.  Yet, we knew they were out there…somewhere.

Yesterday, Noah spoke with a neighbor across the street who confirmed the coyotes existence with an actual sighting.  Neighbor told Noah he got up one night around 3am and went to sit outside for a bit.  When he walked to the front of his house there was a coyote with a bunny in it’s mouth.  Seeing the neighbor, the coyote got spooked, dropped the bunny and ran off.  Noah was told that they have been venturing into the neighborhood to feast on the plentiful amounts of cute little cottontail bunnies.

Needless to say, Lava will not be allowed outside late at night…especially not to wonder the yard on her own.  And if it’s after dark, the backyard lights will be on (which we always turn on when she goes out at night anyway) and one of us will be out there with her…and by one of us, I mean Noah.