I wake early, so that’s not a problem. It’s that my sit dog wants to go out immediately after eating before dawn, while coyotes are more likely to be wandering.
At home, we see coyotes (or at least their glowing eyes) when walking our dog. He’s always on leash when we walk him about and we don’t leave him alone on our property. As long as we’ve had him, we’ve lived in places with wildlife. Even right after we moved into our current place, we soon saw a coyote in our yard.
In our area, the coyotes seem to prey on cats, rather than dogs, based on accounts in community groups. They might just be more prevalent and roam on their own. Someone or other is always posting about how their cat hasn’t returned for X days and others post about finding partial cat remains. When people post about dead dogs, it’s always seemed to be about them being hit by cars.
That’s true, cats are always going missing and must be kept in at night for sure! Once, at dusk while I was walking my dog in the woods, we were surrounded by yipping coyotes! Ugh scary. It’s hard to fault them cuz we built our houses in their habitat, but still…..
My husband carries bear spray and a heavy flashlight (like a police baton) when walking our dog at night. In case of coyotes.
No serious run-ins yet. Knock wood. They do make awful rackets sometimes. Drives our dog mad. Even when we can’t hear them, our dog barks his head off, because he can.
We live in suburbia, bumping up against woods, farms and suburban amenities. The way land use is tightly controlled in our state, that mix should hold in my lifetime. I really hope so.
We found the unique combo serendipitously. Didn’t even know that mix existed. My must-have: where there’s enough density for good restaurants and DoorDash.
Today, my sit dog and I explored a state park with a historic shipwreck, along a coastline where many wrecks happened.
We enjoyed a nice, relaxing drive to and from, about an hour away. Then stopped by a great deli/shop, which my host had given me a gift certificate for. Tasty, as she said it would be.
Was chatting with the guy making my sandwich and he said he recently heard about THS from another customer, who had someone sit their dog. Coincidentally, that sitter came from my area, too, a few hours away.
There, we explored Fort Canby, which was established during the U.S. Civil War (fought from 1861-1865). The fort was aimed at protecting the mouth of the Columbia River from Confederate and foreign threats.
According to a Google search: “The fort was heavily updated and modernized for both World War I and World War II, housing advanced artillery batteries before finally being deactivated in 1947.”
We explored what’s left of the fort and took in ocean views, including a historic lighthouse. Plenty of exercise for us on the trails as well.
The dog is on my lap to get a better view of the breakfast table! He’s not fooling me!
No bread left ( he got that off the counter last night, along with the peanut butter!)
Pet sitting can be a great way to diet!
One of the things I enjoy checking out on road trips are truck stops/gas stations that cater to long-distance travelers. The U.S. has a lot of these stations, since the country is huge and Americans love road trips. Plus, the trucking industry is massive, transporting many of our food and other products.
The stations are usually chock full of random items. Like in this case in the U.S. state of Idaho, along with tons of snacks and drinks, they had trucking auto parts, a walk-in beer cooling room, a variety of wine glasses, loads of wine (chilled or not), trucker record keeping supplies (they’re federally required to log and limit their driving hours for safety reasons), souvenirs, pocketknives, purses, coolers and more, plus a food court.
Some have showers, barbershops and church services for truckers. They often overnight at the stations, and many people in RVs do, too.
Visited a replica of a historic fort, a replica tiny town and a local history museum today in the U.S. state of Idaho. I love history, especially Americana.
