Last night I heard lots of coyotes howling, and it sounded like it was just outside my bedroom window. Then the dogs started barking. First it was Chica, so I got up and called her in. I got back in bed, and then Hecate started barking. When I went back outside, it sounded like she was in the street close to them, and she really didn't want to come in. I finally succeeded, and was able to go back to sleep with the lovely coyote chorus in the background. I love that sound.
Several oil field guys have stopped by recently, asking Pat if she had lost a horse, because they keep seeing one on a nearby mesa. She hadn't, but, we decided to go look for it. We packed a picnic lunch and took off in her truck.
We drove all over on oil field roads and didn't spot him. So, we stopped at a cell tower (!) to have our lunch. Pat finished early, and went back to the truck to look for him with binoculars. As Stefan and I carried the cooler back to the truck, Pat said she had found him. Stefan thought she was kidding, just to get us to walk faster. But, sure enough, she found him! Looking for this horse was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Although he had been spotted on this mesa, it is still a very large area that he could have been in. The fact that she found this tiny brown spot in all these miles of mostly high desert is amazing. But, she did.
We drove down the hill and looked again to make sure the brown spot was indeed a horse, and it was. We drove a little down from where we saw him, and Pat dropped Stefan and I off. We walked along the cliff face and then started up toward the horse. We spotted him, and immediately turned around like Pat told us to. He spotted us, also. Since we were turned around, we couldn't see him, but later Pat told us that he cantered our way when he saw us.
He got to within about fifty feet of us, and we slowly walked toward him. That was a little too much for him, so he wandered off. Pat said we rushed him. Stefan kept trying to coax him closer, and I stayed back and video-ed the German boy and the wild horse. He wasn't wild, though. When we got back to the truck, we looked again through the binoculars, and could see a big bold brand on his hip - - FR. Pat's going to call someone to find out who owns him. As we drove away, we stopped opposite him, and he walked really close to the truck again.
It was a fun day!
Stepping into the political arena . . . if anyone reading this is in favor of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . . . you would not believe the toll oil companies take on the land. I have seen it first hand. Not only are there roads crisscrossing an otherwise virgin landscape . . . habitat destruction . . . but there are soda bottles and water bottles and all kinds of trash strewn all over the side of the roadway. It's really pretty disgusting, not even considering the "well pads" and all the oil company equipment . . . and the constant traffic of huge trucks going across these roads. It's awful.
Go solar.
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