A couple of weeks ago, I looked out to see a winter-coated fox on the patio, eating bird feed. This morning, it was a young, fairly beat up looking coyote. Eating bird seed – and some already-shelled peanuts. He was very nervous, more than the deer usually are. And his tail was downright ratty, with just a few long strands of hair hanging down.
S/he was smaller than the coyote I saw a couple of years ago – all bristly and with very fat fur of many colors. This one was considerably smaller, and quite bedgraggled. I was sending him energy, and wishing I had put more bird feed out.
And then, as we all did today, I experienced the wind and the changes it brought. Dead wood brought down in mass quantities, so that the driveway was partially blocked – and many of the street lights on the way home were out. Powerful – blowing car doors open, knocking over anything loose, really dropping the temperature. But a wonderful cleanness to it all. That air must have blown from Alaska – sparkly clear and fresh.
And now, it’s just plain bone chilling cold. The Christmas season is definitely here.