As some of you know I live off the beaten path meaning out in the country with no close neighbors. My husband has to travel infrequently and he has been out of town for the last couple of nights. It was actually the first time that I stayed two nights in the country alone without a volunteer to come and stay.

We have been seeing coyotes on the dam of the lake which is down the hill, cross a bottom, up the hill, behind our house, Once you walk up the hill, your are probably ten steps from being at the lake. This time of year you can see all the way across the small hollow.

Night before last while he was gone, the outside dogs starting barking and would not stop. Our jack russell is in a pen and the blue heeler is on a chain not far from her pen. They continued barking until my little house dog while is a part chihuahua/jack russell, thinks she is a german shepard started yapping and would not hush. So, hubby being gone, it scared the hell out of me. Then when our yard lit up like it was daylight, I knew something had tripped the motion sensor on the outside lights. Getting up and grabbing a pair of sweats, I made my little yapper shut up and opened the door into the mudroom and then walked to the backdoor. There was no need for me to turn on lights since my yard was lit up. I glanced out one of the windows on the backdoor and two coyotes were digging around the sides of our firepit in the backyard which is only about five yards from the center of the deck. Thankfully, the deck is about five foot off the ground. It's three a.m. in the morning, but not thinking I immediately called my husband who answered the phone in a panicked,"What's wrong?"

"Two coyotes are by the firepit and the dogs won't stop barking."

"Jo Ann, you scared the hell out of me. Get the pistol from under my pillow and walk out on the deck and shoot, but don't shoot at them because you might hit "Go Go." (the jack russell in the pen about ten yards behind the fire pit)

"What if they run toward me?"

"Don't get off the damn deck. Just walk a couple of steps out and shoot kind of up in the trees. They will probably run when you open the door anyway."

I go into the bedroom to get his pistol from under his pillow. It is a 44 Ruger that I have not shot in years. I have a 9mm. Making sure my little dog is shut up in the bedroom, I head outside. The minute I step onto the deck, my dogs quit barking like they feel safe now.(yeah right. my knees are shaking) The smaller of the coyotes runs when I walk out and the other just turns and looks at me. I raise the pistol and fire, forgetting what a re-coil the pistol has. Needless to say, it took a small chunk out of the edge of the roof over our deck. But coyote ran for his life from this crazy woman with a pistol. Dogs go back in their houses, I go in, lock the door and call hubby back.

He answers on the first ring. "Did you have to shoot to make them run?"

"One ran when I walked out on the deck and the other one just looked at me."

"Well did you shoot?"

"Yes, I shot and he ran like hell then."

"Do you think you hit it?"

"Depends on what 'it' is."

"Jo Ann! What did you hit? You did not hit one of the dogs did you?"

"No, it hit the edge of the overhanging part of the roof on the deck."

"How in the hell did you do that?"

"I forgot how bad the re-coil was on your pistol. You should have told me to get my pistol." (not my fault)

"Just go to bed and call me when you start to work in the morning if you haven't burned the house down or something by then."

He calls me at work yesterday to tell me that he will not be in until today. So, another night alone with me, the dogs,and the coyotes.

When I got home yesterday, I fed the dogs, took my little house dog for a walk and then fixed a drink and went out on the deck to relax for awhile. My little dog is out with me and she and the other dogs start barking. They are all looking toward the lake and I see what looks like an even bigger coyote on the damn walking toward the lake, but it looks like a big bird is trying to run him away. I immediately call my hubby. "I think there is a coyote on the damn, but it looks like a bird keeps flying at it."

"Jo Ann, that is that pair of Canadian Geese that have had their nest there for the last few years. They probably have babies. Don't try to shoot in case it is a dog and not a coyote. I don't think they would be that close to the house in daylight."

"I think it is a dog. It is a reddish brown and is headed across the little bridge behind the damn."

"Well don't shoot someone's dog, and for that matter if the coyotes come up in the yard tonight, don't shoot again!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't sleep with the dogs barking all night."

"Just get a pan and a spoon, step out on the deck and beat on the pan. They will leave."

"That is stupid. That sounds like something out of a friggin movie."

"Jo Ann, living with you is like a watching a movie. You never know what you are going to say or do next. Why do you think I have stayed thirty years.?"

He laughed and hung up. I thought about it for a minute, glanced up at the jagged edge of the roof above me and decided if the coyotes came back I better just beat on a pan.

See, life is not so dull when you get older