Coyotes, Couches and an Opossum

For Thanksgiving we visited the Brewer family who hospitably invited us to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. We had a fantastic time! In fact I was having such a great time I didn’t take very many photos for more photos from Thanksgiving go to the Brewer Farm Blog.

We saw some coyotes during breakfast and Benjamin took a shot at three of them.

He hit one of them because he saw it jump when he fired, but when we looked for the coyote we couldn’t find him.

It was a three and a half hour drive to our house the Brewer’s place.  It’s been 3 months since I have driven but I drove 80 miles of the way. The highway was so straight and flat it was very easy.  When we got home we saw that the supplies for the floor had already been delivered. Everything is ready for the installers arrival on Monday: tile, mortar, grout and sealant.

We have our work cut out for us this weekend. We have to get the living room, kitchen, hallway bathroom, laundry room/pantry and hallway completely empty. We also have to replace the sub floor in the bathroom.

Hallway Bathroom

 

The stove has been moved to the garage!

 

Moving the washer

 

We borrowed an appliance dolly which made it pretty easy to move the appliances

 

Noah filling in some holes in the wall with drywall mud

He wasn’t patching this hole!

Behind two of the showers

 

Moving the refrigerator was quite a task that required all 5 of us.

 

 

It wouldn’t fit through the front door without taking it off. It was a pretty tight fit and we had to be careful so that we didn’t scrape paint off of the refrigerator.

So after moving the stove, washer, dryer and the refrigerator all that we had left was the sleeper sofa.  Moving the couch was a breeze. Tomorrow we’ll have to move everything else that didn’t get moved last night which is mainly comprised of a lot of little things that we haven’t used in a long time and don’t know what to do with !  Some friends will be coming over to help us move the piano and the bookcases to our bedrooms.

Tonight Noah found an opossum in the barn and Benjamin shot it:

We’ve got a full day ahead of us tomorrow!

October 31-Deer Hunting, Coyote Killed

Benjamin hunted for the two days of the youth deer season here in Missouri. He hunted at Kate's grandparent's farm where many deer had been sighted. Benjamin hunted from a blind but didn't get any good shots of a deer. After a break he was walking around with the gun and saw a coyote behind two trees. He looked through the scope and thought he was aiming for the coyote's shoulders, but the dog had turned around and he shot it in the abdomen. It was a clean kill in the sense that the coyote died right away, but he was using a 30-o6 and there wasn't much left of the coyote.

The next day he went hunting after church and saw 7 deer. Ben also got a shot at a deer @ 150 yards, but he was free standing and missed the deer. However, it makes the time seem worth it if you at least see a few deer and take a shot at one.

Gideon's Conflict with Coyotes

On Monday night (November 3rd), our family finished playing some board games and started our family worship a little earlier than usual. It had been an unseasonably warm day so we had the windows up. My mom was reading from the book of Jeremiah when Kate and Noah heard what sounded like dogs fighting. Gideon, our Golden Retriever was outside on his runner located behind the barn. Noah was worried and wanted to go check on Gideon. So, Benjamin and Noah put on jackets, grabbed a flashlight and headed out the back door. Noah shined his flashlight behind the barn where he saw at least two coyotes attacking our dog. He began to run recklessly towards the wild dogs and yelling at them "to get." He later said, "It was like I was in a trance. All I could think about was saving my dog." Benjamin had been screaming for Noah to "come back." Finally, when Noah was about 15 feet from the conflict, Benjamin's cries took effect and Noah ran back into the house. Benjamin had also been yelling to those inside to get the shotguns which we hurriedly did. The barn has floodlights mounted on all sides, but the switch is located just inside the door. So "armed to the teeth," we advanced together down to flip on the lights and assess the situation. Noah had seen one coyote limp off into the woods and Kate had seen another run towards the orchard. After turning the lights on, we checked on Gideon and saw that he had obviously been involved in a tussle and appeared a bit traumatized. We quickly marched back up to the house with the dog and brought him inside. We then noticed that he was bleeding and found 4 puncture wounds. The poor boy was very quiet and it took a couple days for him to bounce back to his usual happy self. We believe that when the wild dogs first attacked him, that he fought his way to the inside of his dog house where he'd have his backside protected from attack. As a result, he found 4 punctures on his furry, disheveled head. We then gathered together and talked about what we should have done differently and what we should do with the dog in the future. We also gave thanks in prayer for the safety of us all. We couldn't believe that the coyotes would have had the audacity to charge into our yard. We had heard them getting closer for a few weeks, but we had never even seen one around. The next morning we called the vet and our local conservation agent. The veterinarian's main concern was infection in the punctures. Throughout this week Gideon hasn't been outside unsupervised. The wounds aren't infected and are beginning to heal. The agent said that the coyotes probably attacked for territory, not for food. We were somewhat glad of this, because they wouldn't be likely to attack any small children unless it was for food. We don't like for the coyotes to think that our yard is included in their territory, nor do we want our dog to constantly be in danger. The agent told us to feel free to shoot the aggressive varmints. We've gone outside every night, armed with a shot gun, to watch and listen for them. If we finally get one, we'll be sure to post it here.