Coyote Chorus

Coyote Chorus

(Remembering Susie-the Howler)

I felt like one the people in Twas the Night Before Christmas last night when I was "nestled all snug" in my bed. There were no visions of sugar plums dancing in my head though! And literally, not a creature was stirring that late at night. Well, that is, except for the coyotes. It's mating season and these creatures have been making quite a stir at dusk, dawn and all through the night. 

I hear their yipping in the vineyards all around us and see their footprints in the freshly fallen snow, evidence that our side yard is a footpath from the fields to the forest behind us. Each morning when I let the dogs out, they eagerly examine every bush and tree, almost incensed that another animal had the audacity to enter their territory. Gus, the male of our two dogs, marks every spot with intensity, reminding the coyotes that this is his yard. I feel sorry for the little pine in the far corner that has taken quite a bit of marking and its lower branches are looking dry and withered, showing the signs of strain...

Last night, as I woke up to the coyote chorus across the road, I had to smile, remembering the time years ago when my sister and her family stayed with us. We had a husky-cross back then named Susie. She will always have a special place in our hearts as she was, hands-down, the best dog we ever had! But Susie was a howler. She would start howling unexpectedly in her sleep. She would howl when the coyotes howled. She would howl in protest when we dared to go outside and not take her with us. She was a very vocal dog! I know I have written about her howling during my sister's visit years ago, but to recap, Susie slept in the furnace room during her visit which was located directly under the room my sister and her husband were staying in. 

When my sister's family got up the next morning, the conversation focused on the coyote that kept howling directly in front of their window the night before. My husband and I burst out laughing, knowing full well that our howling Susie had been the culprit and main reason for their disrupted sleep and not some coyote.

But back to being woken up by the Coyote Chorus last night...  Gus, our little Pomeranian, who has an attitude that is bigger than he is, lay curled up at the foot of our bed and did not even stir when the howling began. Sadie, our big lab, snored softly in the hallway, How interesting that both of our dogs are not bothered by the coyotes around us. So much for being watch dogs!

There is a simple pleasure in snuggling under the covers in your warm bed and being reminded of the peace and serenity around us. Living rurally has its cons as you know from the "Septic Sagas" I have written about periodically. But the quiet is something that I would not like to trade with living anywhere else any time soon. I have been showing condos over the last while and a real concern for my client was the traffic noise. I never have to contend with traffic noise myself. It's not a concern at all when you live rurally - besides tractors and grape harvesters throughout the growing and harvest season. But those rumblings have a pleasant sound to them. Even the windmills that I get so annoyed with in the wee hours of the coldest mornings, have been fairly silent this year. Their underlying whirring was something to contend with when we first moved here. But now, even those sounds can be comforting in their own way.

I remember seeing some coyote pups many years ago tumbling about and playing around a ditch. Despite the fact that coyotes have gotten such a bad reputation lately, they are still creatures that need to live and survive around us and serve their purpose with rodent control. Of course, their yipping and howling is part of rural life. I recently came across a quote online on Pinterest which stated: Without music, life would B flat. How true that is! I enjoy the Coyote Chorus that, like Flash Mobs in local malls, are a nice surprise when they pop up and remind us that music comes in all shapes and sizes, even from coyotes!

Lolita Schimann Hale