Coyote Convention

What was going on last night? There may have been 20 coyotes within easy earshot...singing from the road to Dry Creek. The pheasants seemed to gather near to the house...they wanted no part of those festivities.

Dave and Amy came over to talk wheat and sip drinks at the fire pit just after sunset. Purple skies and chatting about being out here and not in town. Their house is our fourth closest neighbor, about 1 1/2 miles away. We were laughing about the critters; gophers and coyotes, pheasants and the little red fox that we spotted and that Dave has not seen in years.

Being out here really isn't like being in town. When you're in town, you don't see the Horizon Air 8:45 PM flight from Seattle coming in from sixty miles out. Yesterday morning at 6 AM I was up on a twenty foot ladder with my mask and goggles on, spraying wasp nests along the roof line and knocking them down with an eight foot stick. It has to be done. Just at this time of the year, in the heat of the day, there are too many of them. Oddly enough, they are entirely docile. I've been in the middle of dozens of them, going after the nests, and they have never attacked. Goodness...wish the wasps in Bellevue were so accommodating. Could not be more different. The Bellevue wasps are just plain scary, not live and let live like these. These are "paper wasps" that seem to have no interest whatsoever in stinging. I have had dozens land on me, buzz my face, and not a single issue. Takes some discipline to get over the fear factor, tough.

Amy has great vision. She spotted deer down by Dry Creek that Sue could hardly see when the deer were pointed out. Amy and Dave just had three bucks and three does in their yard.

People are so nice! Yesterday, I got a kite lesson from a great fellow who loves to kite and wanted to pass on his enthusiasm. I also got a tutorial in astronomy from the head of that department at Whitman College. Both were so excited by what they love! I sure hope that I can learn the basics. Cannot wait both to fly the new kite and to start following the cosmos!

The week ends tomorrow and then back to the city and work. Such a lovely vacation, but I do wish that it had been two weeks and not just one. Pretty cool to come to our own place and have one of the most enjoyable vacations ever...