Nine Lives

February 26, 2023

Howdy folks,

Well, sure enough, we thought that we lost another outdoor cat to the coyotes again this week.  Now that we have electric mini-splits installed in our house to provide the heat, it's a little harder to hear outside noises throughout the night from inside of our house.  When we were still burning wood, other than the crackling of the fire, you could hear a coyote sneeze within a hundred yards of here right from inside the house.  Now, you just hear the mini-split running.  However, at the beginning of the week or over the previous weekend at about 2am first the dogs started growling, then Erin heard it upstairs(easier to hear there because there are no straw bale/adobe walls up that high), she nudged me and then I went running down the steps in just my underwear to let the dogs out and investigate.  Sure enough, there were roughly a dozen coyote voices all howling and whooping and carrying on just on the other side of our boss's house, between there and the pond, and, boy, were they carrying on like crazy!  From my readings on them, coyotes tend to like to hunt individually, but then regroup after a certain amount of time by calling back and forth to each other and grouping back up.  I know this is a fact, but, still, when you hear them that close to the house it's also much easier to assume that they have something trapped and are about to sacrifice it to their ancient coyote gods.  Erin saw one of last year's kittens, BRJ, head down towards the pond right at dusk when she was filling the bird feeders around the boss's house and we just had a sinking feeling that he didn't make it back.  In any event, after stepping out the door first to make sure of what I was hearing, I let the dogs out on the stoop and they immediately began howling like crazy.  This didn't shut the coyotes up, but they definitely heard it and lessened their racket.  Then, I opened the gate and let the dogs loose and the two girls took off like a shot!  Especially Willow, with her super-long legs(she almost resembles a four-legged muffler on stilts running through the dark!), must have reached them quickly and just like that, the pack was broken up or run off.  Rui, also known as Base Camp, peed in a few places around the driveway while the girls were gone, but otherwise had no interest in heading off into the darkness.  Pretty soon the girls were back and we all went back to bed.  There was absolutely no sign of the cat, so all we could do was wait it out and hope that he found some rat hole to hide out in while the pack of coyotes was out and about.  It's hard to go back to sleep on a night like this, but it certainly is a prime example of life out on the ranch.

So, about four days went by without hide nor hair of BRJ being seen anywhere around the ranch.  I heard his Mama, Bootsie, out calling for him at night and I pretty much had the feeling that the coyotes had won again and grabbed another cat.  By the way, I have no animus towards the coyotes and in no way want a war with them, I'm just trying to keep my cats in the little safety zone that we have between the houses and the barns, but then again, there is a popular, old saying about herding cats...it just ain't easy!  Then, lo and behold, on the fourth afternoon after the incident, I'm at home right after work, sitting on the couch, when I look up and see through the bay window that BRJ is sitting outside on the cat table eating.  He looked like every coyote mouth out there had slobbered all up and down the top of him and his fur was sticking out in weird and interesting clumps, but he was alive.  He did have a big patch of skin missing right at the nape of his neck...right where a coyote would grab you before running off with his catch.  It's kind of spooky, and BRJ hasn't revealed exactly what happened, but I think he's down a life or two on the old 9 Lives Scale.  We sure are glad to have him back and our outdoor pack is currently up to six...with sixteen in the house just waiting to come out and meet everybody.  So, not much else to report on this week other than it was my friend, Valentin's, birthday.  He turned 40 and has been talking for months about going to Ojos Locos(Crazy Eyes) down in Albuquerque, which is a chain out of Texas with super-cute girls(scantily clad) serving your food and drinks while you watch sports on one of 50 or more giant TVs that they have in the place.  So, one night after work, I picked him up after we got cleaned up and zipped down to the big city and were there in an hour and a half.  Let me just say that we had a great time and the birthday boy was quite pleased.  I don't even remember what we ate for dinner, but, boy, were those girls cute!  

So, this week's batch of pictures are all from Erin, other than the first one which was a scene from Ojos Locos that I played around with on the computer a little bit.  Then, two shots from the couch: first, two of the older kittens chilling; then, Ela using my shoulder as her headrest.  Next, a series of five food shots: first, a meal that Erin had at Smiling Faces in Las Vegas; then, the favorite mixed drink name that she's found so far out here at the Capitol Grill in Santa Fe; next, finding an old friend at the wine store again after many years; then, the Hot Chocolate Chile Cake that Erin made for Valentin on his birthday; and, finally, a plate full of mussels that was Erin's lunch at Cleopatra’s one day in Santa Fe.  Then, two shots from out in the garden after I moved a huge pile of mulch into the back corner with the tractor and Erin raked it out: first, me chilling and observing; then, watching the fireworks start in the sky as we near dark.  Next, a shot of one of the boss's orchids that Erin excels at caring for...we'll have a greenhouse/atrium area with skylights once we move that can all be for plants! Then, proof that Erin and I have indeed entered the digital age as she texted me this photo to see if this was the product I wanted for the horses...let me tell you, trying to put anything on a wild horse's hoof is a huge pain-in-the-ass!  Next, two shots from the big bison herd(captive) that we have just south of Las Vegas and see every time that we head into town.  Then, a snowy scene that Erin encountered as she left the boss's house one night and headed back home.  And, finally, she got this mug shot of me one night when we went into the Skillet in Las Vegas to get dinner and a few drinks...I always stare at the wall and let her people-watch the whole time, it's just how things work between us!  And, in this case, the Skillet has every square inch of the walls covered in their own artwork and sculptures, so there's plenty to look at.

Take care.