Guess who's coming for lunch?

I have learned to pay attention to the screams of our two Guinea hens. According to the books, they don't squawk for nothing. So this morning, when I heard them screaming, I looked out the kitchen door just in time to see a coyote right in our courtyard near the chicken coop.

I opened the back door, which has a nice loud farm-door squeak, and that scared the coyote into moving away from the coop. When he saw me on the porch, he retreated further into the backyard. When the coyote saw that I was walking on the back porch in his direction, he started running across the yard, went thru the fence rails, and ran off into the pasture towards the woods.

The Guinea hens were still squawking a bit, so I walked over to the coop to calm them down. Thankfully, I wasn't wearing my coat with the hood-- I unlocked the coop this morning with the hood pulled up on my coat and that made them scream as well. They didn't stop yelling till I took the hood off so they could see that it was only me. (Who knew that the Guinea hens would be so sensitive?)

A coyote. Something else to worry about now. Even though the coyote ran off into the woods, I locked the gate of the chicken coop. No sense in taking any chances. And now, of course, we're wondering if the coyote was responsible for some of our "missing" chickens. There was a pile of feathers from Henny Penny in the front yard, so it's possible that she and the coyote had a struggle there.

The hawks just swoop down and grab whatever they have come for, barely touching the ground after having searched for their prey during their fly-bys in the sky.... which would account for finding very few feathers from both Dolly and Jaye.

Needless to say, we're learning a lot about the wildlife up here. Lessons that we wish we didn't have to learn. Like shooting a gun. That's what the neighbors keep telling us. Y'all need to get a shotgun.

Apparently, the only way to keep coyotes and bobcats away is to just shoot them, say the neighbors who have lived up here for a good long while. Just aim to kill 'em and then y'all just bury 'em out in the field. Good grief.

One of our neighbors has a tiny Yorkie who likes to walk around their backyard. This dog is small enough to be taken away by a coyote, and could probably be lifted up by a hawk if the hawk was hungry enough. This neighbor is going to Houston tomorrow and plans to stop by one of the sporting goods stores to look at shotguns. He said he would call us if he found "something suitable at a decent price." He also said that if he did buy a shotgun, he could come down here with the gun if the coyote comes back. I asked J if that would work-- should I tell the coyote to "sit and stay" till J could drive down the hill with his shotgun?

I wouldn't be surprised now if my husband decides to get a shotgun. I would be even less surprised if someday soon, my husband and I are taking shooting lessons from one of the neighbors.