Dances with coyotes

I haven’t really blogged about geocaching before.  Today seems like a good opportunity to begin.

Geocaching is a bit like a high-tech treasure hunt.  One person hides something (called the ‘cache’) and uses a handheld GPS receiver to record the coordinates (the latitude and longitude for the location).  Often, the location is in a forest, park, or other natural area.  At a minimum, the cache contains a logbook, but it may also contain small toys, trinkets, or other items suitable for trading

The person then publishes the coordinates for the cache on a geocaching website (such as Geocaching.com).  Other people are then free to go searching for the cache.  When they find it, they sign the log, perhaps trade some items (always trading even or up!), and then relate their story on the website.

I learned about caching through my father-in-law and his brother-in-law (Ordinary Spouse’s uncle).  The combination of technology and nature fascinated me.  When my birthday rolled around three years ago, my ordinary family bought me a GPSr.

So what does this have to do with coyotes?  Well, today I was out in a local forest preserve looking for some geocaches, when I realized that there was a coyote about 100 feet in front of me on the path.  It was keeping a safe distance from me, but not making any real effort to get away.  I didn’t have any real safety concerns, since I’ve encounter coyotes before.  However, because the forest preserve was rather empty (of humans), I decided to find a walking stick for some extra safety.

I backtracked a bit, keeping my eye on the coyote, and realized that it was now following me.  Hmm – that concerned me a little bit more.  So I found my walking stick and took a few paces toward the coyote once again.  And again, it kept its distance.

We happened to be near a junction of three trails, and the coyote chose the trail which it hadn’t originally been on.  Since I wanted to use the other trail, I kept going.  When I turned around and looked back, I saw the coyote go past, walking in the direction toward where I’d started.  It was then that I realized that we had both simply wanted to go around each other.  The whole back-and-forth looked a bit like a vehicle doing a three-point turn.  And it was just a bit exhilarating to be in such close proximity.

So, if you ever find yourself wondering if you’d like to take up geocaching as a hobby, maybe my little dance with a coyote will convince you.

(One way or another!)

Small joys… birds

In the spirit of today’s earlier post,  it’s been a good week for bird watching.

I’m not what you would call an “avid” bird watcher.  I do have a “life list”, but it’s not up to date.  I don’t even know where it is right now.  And I don’t go out of my way to add to it, or rush around to try to spot some rare or exotic thing that has shown up in the Chicago area.  There are only a few birds that I can identify by song or call.

I just happen to know the birds I like.  And this week, I’ve been blessed to see a bunch of them.  Most of them were near my work: first a rose-breasted grosbeak, then four indigo buntings (possibly the same one on multiple occasions), and finally an eastern bluebird.  And around our home, we’ve had a house wren eyeing a bird house that my oldest daughter made four years ago, which was mounted on our fence but unused until now.  That in itself has been a good lesson in patience.

Small joys.

(Eastern Bluebird by Ken Thomas, published on wikipedia)