Boomer and I decided to go up to the cow pasture, without Mom.  Well, Mom was around — she was over on the sagebrush hill looking for something that nature framed for the Sunday Stills assignment.

The snow is gone and the mud is thick, we headed up early so the mud wouldn’t be a problem, you can’t go late because late would be would be way early morning and none of us would like to travel up there in the dark.

Boom and I saw lots of stuff…the bees were out.  It warmed up enough they wanted to see if there was anything to eat and to do some house cleaning.  We didn’t hang with them too long.

We checked out lots of smells…

raccoon, skunk, and a couple of badger dens.  I think the badgers must still be sleeping.  Boom left his mark everywhere.  I tried to match him, but I just couldn’t keep up with that young bladder.

“Hey, Boom!” I yelled.  “There are skunk smells over here!”

“Wow! Really!  Wait just minute I’ll be there!

We sniffed around quite a bit, then decided that maybe we had better NOT follow the skunk smell.  It was pretty fresh so we knew we could find it and where it is holed up for the winter.

“Er Fuzz?”

“Yeah?’

Maybe we better not go any further…the last time I found a skunk Mom made me  get three baths and to sleep outside for several days.  And that was spring.  It’s still pretty cold to sleep outside and I don’t think either one of us really wants a bath, let alone three baths.”

“Good idea, Boomer!  Let’s head on over to the Fox den and see if Freddy the Fox is still sleeping in there.  He might be gone because Evan has been hauling some of the wood over to his house for his fireplace.”

“Cool, Sure! “

“Come on let’s go!”

So off we went. The pile was a little slimmer, but not much. We sniffed around for some time.  Mom was way over on the cactus hill (that’s what Boomer and I call it, because it has lots of cactus and you have to be careful where you run).  We could see her so we knew she was alright.

Suddenly I got a strange sensation, sort of like a creepy feeling…the hairs on the back of my neck picked up …. I cut my eyes both ways and then put my nose to the wind.

Boomer was busy sniffing in the hole and all around the wood…

“Yep, Evan’s been here.  Oh, yes, and so have Mom and Dad….humm, I think they took about a cord of wood…

“Boomer!”  I whispered.

“Boomer!”  I said a little louder “something strange is happening!”

“Yeah,” he whispered back…”there are two coyotes standing right over there looking at us.”

“HUH?!?!”  (This getting old is not good; I used to have really sharp eyesight and keen hearing).

“They are?”  I asked.  “What are they doing?”

“Well, hum, they look sort of hungry and they are heading our way”

(to be continued………)

Fuzzy