So it finally rained up in my corner of the state today....but.

[Cleita]

Prior to the rainfall, I had another experience with coyote. I had let my cat out, against my better judgement, at five in the morning because he wouldn't stop yowling for hours. Forty five minutes later, I woke up with a coyote howl, very loud and very close. I lept out of bed, grabbed a flashlight, and went outside calling kitty, making banging sounds on anything I could get to make a racket. Usually, kitty comes running. No kitty. The coyotes stopped and I hope left. It was pitch black and the only light was what my flashlight shone on. An hour later kitty arrived intact, ate his breakfast, and hasn't wandered out since then. It started raining a couple of hours later.

The reason I bring this up is every time I have a coyote encounter, something happens I don't like. Coyote is the trickster but he also brings warnings of events to come. Last time I got fired from my job when he showed up in my face. I'm so grateful for the rain and that kitty is still alive, but I'm wondering, what's next?

[Tumbulu]

1. Two years ago this extra large coyote

moved onto my farm and killed 51 of my sheep and injured another 6, one who lost her entire side ( I could see her heart beating behind her ribs no less!). This coyote encouraged so many changes. I rescued a Livestock Guardian Dog and got a second one after that. I learned how to keep a ewe alive and watched skin bearing the finest wool return. I bought a paintball rifle.... still have to learn how to use it. I learned so many things, and really not too many of them were pleasant.

I grew from thinking of wildlife as benevelant messengers to super clever survivors who can be terrifying.

Good luck, I am so glad your kitty is fine!

[Cleita]

2. Wow! That's a lot of sheep. Poor things.

Good that coyote brought positive change in spite of that. Kitty is scared and hasn't left home since this morning. Have you gotten any rain yet?

[Tumbulu]

3. Almost 0.25" which is way better than nothing!

and maybe more this month.... mostly it is the feeling that indeed it CAN rain that has my spirits up. Also a friend over closer to the coast reported over an inch if rain! Hoping that a good snow fell in the Sierra's. how much did you get?

[Cleita]

4. What you did at last report.

I'm concentrating on more. We have so much to make up for.

[japple]

5. Such a nightmare! I let my cats outside. All 3 were strays, either born outside or

used to being out long before they came to me. They are miserable when they can't go out. Even when I let them out on the screened-in porch, they want to be out where they can patrol and hunt. I always try to make sure they are in by dark because of the coyotes (even in Georgia), but sometimes one will hold out for extra time. A month or so ago, my neighbor (a hunter) said he thought the coyotes were gone, because the foxes were back in the woods behind our houses. Apparently they don't share the same space, so that was good news.

2013 gave Georgia record rainfall after several years of drought conditions. Hope the rain gods visit you and restore the balance, soon. Make a rain turtle in the dirt with a stick. It is supposed to bring rain. Also, turtles annoy coyotes!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_turtle

[Cleita]

6. We are getting rain and in the local news they predicted

six inches for the next couple of weeks, but I'll keep the turtle in mind if it starts drying up too much before summer again. Kitty had PTSDs from that incident. He's just getting over it and hasn't asked to go out in the dark since then. I hope his memory lasts. I didn't know that about foxes. Haven't they developed a taste for kitty like the coyotes? I've never seen a fox around here and don't even know if they are native to this area.

[NJCher]

7. bravo!

I am happy to hear about your rain. Do you think your experiment did it? I think it is quite interesting that yours and another one I knew about that was going on happened and then shortly thereafter, some rain.

Re foxes, I once researched that and I'm pretty sure they aren't a predator to cats.


Cher

[japple]

8. Foxes don't go after the cats. I think they mainly eat mice and bunnies.

Hope the rain continues in CA and as snow further north.

[Cleita]

9. Well, when I started the "experiment", rain had not been predicted until the middle of February and

then it was only supposed to be for a week. This rain started two weeks earlier. I hope it will became a real rainy season even if later than it should be. Whether our thought experiment is responsible, we probably can't measure it scientifically, but I'd like to think that it's another tool we can use to make things better.

[NJCher]

10. George Noory

Referred to yet another one on his show--Friday's show, I think.

I wish we could see massive numbers of people doing this. I do believe it would make a difference.


Cher

[Cleita]

11. There is evidence of a sort of group think that can turn events on

a dime. It seems there are periods in history where it seems everyone gets on the same page and turns around an entrenched way of doing things into something else. For instance the counter cultural movement of the sixties was one of those event where suddenly everyone made changes in the same direction and in a rapid and astonishing way.

[mntleo2]

12. Happens to me with Owls ...

If I see one, and in the city you can imagine how strange that would be, it means someone close will die. But I have seen owls twice and each time someone close to me died. MY grandmother told me once when I was a kid that the owl appears to her and I did not know what she meant until it began to happen to me. She was German Russian and she had "the gift" of being able to soothe ill people.

Also saw a hummingbird withint the hour after my dad died (was not at his bedside but was home with everyone on the phone). Strange thing about this is that it was the 13th of December, when hummingbirds are supposed to be long gone south!

I do think the Universe sends us messages, but sometimes we do not get what they mean if we are not aware.

Love, Cat

[Cleita]

13. When my husband died the owls came.

I didn't see them, but a neighbor did. He told me about it later. After the ambulance had taken my husband unconscience, and I believe now he had already passed, to the hospital and family and I followed them, the neighbor lingered and said that's when he noticed two of the biggest owls he had ever seen up in one of the trees around our house. I believe now they had come to escort his soul from this world.

About three days later two mourning doves came to our bird feeder. Doves are on his family coat of arms because his surname means peace in Irish. I had never seen doves around here before nor since because the hawks get them so they stay away. I think he was trying to tell me he was all right.

[cate94]

14. Some wonderful stories in this thread!

Happy to hear that you got some rain.
We have coyotes and they are getting bolder. I never let my dog out without going along. The coyotes don't run when I yell any more but they seem to be freaked out by the flashlight. That always makes them turn tail. I hope this time whatever change comes your way is for the better.

[Tsiyu]

15. Maybe this time Coyote will bring a good trick!

I was never scared of coyotes until a good friend's horse went down. Someone had gifted my friend with hay that was not properly cured. He brought some to me for my girls but I could smell that sickly sweet "off" odor of it and I wouldn't feed it to my mares. I tried to warn him, too, but his horses were mostly on pasture and he thought it would be okay.

Well, two days later the horse went down, bloated and rolling. Couldn't get her up despite many hands and many tries. My son and his son were staying up with her, but they were exhausted from two days of keeping watch due to lots of coyotes around here. So I offered to take a shift so they could get some sleep.

They refused at first but finally relented. One of their geldings was keeping watch with me and he was a tough guy so I felt safe ( the mare was in a round pen .) They left a .22 with me "just in case."

Around 3am a huge pack started their song maybe a half mile away. Then another pack on the other side started in with their eery yowling. Then another on another side. It seemed they were getting closer and closer. I have rarely been that frightened of any creature besides man. I admit I almost bailed and ran into the house.

I was never happier to see dawn and hear their front door open to let out another human!
( sadly the horse did not make it )

Here's hoping for abundant rain and a treat rather than a trick for you.