Brazen American Jackals

It's very tempting to say something political with that title, but I'll keep my opinions to myself today. Did you know that coyotes are known as American Jackals? It makes sense, but I only learned about it when I read their Wikipedia page. Ours seem to get more bold every day. Smitty was relaxing on the catio yesterday morning...

when he came running inside the house grrrr-ing and ran to the window in Mike's office. I knew it was a coyote, but I didn't see it at first. Then, off at the far corner of the property, I spotted it, lying in the grass like he owned the place.

I grabbed the camera and went outside to take its picture. I was using the hood of Mike's truck to steady myself for this way-zoomed-in shot when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. To add insult to injury, another ran past me, no more than 50 feet away. He turned to look at me before running on, and I was only able to capture him as he ran away.

Well, this is too much. Immediately, I got on the internet and looked up our state's animal control laws. We've now spoken with a person who is known in our state as a "Wildlife Control Operator." These are folks licensed by the state to assist with removal of pesky wildlife. Different ones will handle different kinds of animals. Where it stands now is that he's looking at our property via Google Earth, and he'll get back to me with a proposal about what to do and how much it will cost. I'm really hopeful it will be within our means to pay someone else to take care of this problem.

It doesn't help that we have these guys running all over the property.

I'm suspicious that the two coyotes pictured above are a breeding pair, and they probably have pups somewhere. No doubt the many squirrels, moles, voles, mice, and gophers make a good source of food for their family. In any case, I'm feeling at least a little more hopeful about resolving this problem with the coyotes. Time will tell, and I'll continue to keep you posted about what I learn.

After all that excitement, I was happy to get back to my slow-stitching and to still my beating heart. The first of 16 snowmen is stitched now. These blocks are small, and so they go quickly. I might decide to stitch them more than one at a time when this one's turn comes around again.

For now, I'm getting on with the next three blocks for the project I'm calling "A Year of Hearts." I'll be stitching the hearts for July, August, and September this time.

Since I worked on this the last time, I've learned more about the designer, Nancy Huggins. She designed these little stitcheries some time ago, but then found it necessary to return to work as a special education teacher. Recently, she's made a decision to get back to designing and recently opened an Etsy shop where you can see her most recent designs. She's been keeping me up-to-date about this on social media, and there will be more added to the shop soon. Her business is called "The Basket Case - Needlework Therapy."

With those ready for stitching, I turned my attention to the Chicken Buffet quilt. Miss Sadie is happy about this.

Mmmmmmmmm...I love chicken!

As I mentioned yesterday, the cutting is all done for this quilt, and so now, it's just a matter of sewing things together. There are three wonky stars sewn into the sashings, and the first one starts with the first block. You can see it in the lower right-hand cornerstone. It won't make sense until the blocks around it are added.

After I added the second block, a little more was added to the star.

Ever since Sadie attended the Molly School of Quilt Design, she has strong notions about how a quilt should be sewn together. Yesterday, she worked in consultation with her friend, The Red Sparkle Ball.

With her help, I soon had the top row of blocks sewn together.

It was getting late in the day by that time, and I still had some things I wanted to do. But first, Smitty likes a good salad when he's roaming outside. Since he's been cut off from his farm, I went outside and cut off a hunk of grass and fresh catnip for his grazing pleasure.

This was utter bliss, and he purred loudly as he chewed.

While he's confined to the interior, I'll go out each day and bring him some freshly cut greenery. Not all cats eat grass, and most barf if they do. Cats lack an enzyme they need to digest grass. I'm not sure why Smitty is able to tolerate it, but he's always eaten grass with no apparent ill effects. When we're traveling and take him out for walks, his fondest desire is to find some grass for nibbling.

Aside from getting greens for the cat, my sewing took a back seat to these Apricot Cherry Upside Down Mini Cakes yesterday. I make them every year when cherries and apricots are in season at the same time. 

They're easy to make, and so yummy. And, they are a Cooking Light recipe, so they're easy on the diet as well.

Today I'll be doing a little bit of cooking for our family weekend getaway coming up. I'm making food for one dinner and one breakfast, but I won't be doing all of it today. Some of it will get done tomorrow, and then we'll be heading out. I'll say more about that in tomorrow's post.