Wary Walking

One of the many things I'm loving about our new house is our new neighborhood--specifically, all of the places there are to walk around here! Back at our old house, because we were one of just a couple of small developments north of the Interstate on the very north edge of the city limits, there were very few options for walking. In order to go more than a couple of miles, we had to cross over I-70. While this was safe because of the nice pedestrian walkway, it wasn't exactly a pretty or pleasant walk. Rather that do it regularly, we generally just took the same 1-2 mile loop every single night.

At our new house, we've taken a different 1+ mile loop every night we've walked, which has been so fun. We've explored new streets and new hills and new areas and new developments and we have a few more loops still left to do. Once I have time to take some longer walks, I'm looking forward to tackling all of the rolling hills up and down Bob Billings Parkway (15th Street, for you old school Lawrencians). However, with all this excitement about walking, there is one slight problem I hadn't imagined until Sunday night: coyotes.

When I met one of our new neighbors on the day we moved in, she mentioned us being so close to the country that it was common to hear coyotes. I didn't think much of her comment, since we'd heard coyotes a couple of times at our old house, but within the first couple of nights we heard the shrill and creepy calls of those mangy creatures closely behind our property. Then on Sunday night, we went out for a walk very late in the evening--apparently too late. We could hear coyotes on our way back towards home, but they sounded like they were coming not from the rural area, but from around the church across the street from our house. Sure enough, as we rounded the corner to our house we heard the yips and saw two little shadowy creatures sprinting around in the church yard. Needless to say, we were a little freaked out. Hearing them and seeing them just across the street--not even 200 yards away--made us incredibly uneasy. We watched one of the coyotes carefully as it came around the side of the building and sprinted off in the opposite direction, but we never saw the second one again. We were crossing our fingers that he didn't head in our direction! With all five of us together, we doubted those coyotes would start any trouble, but we just aren't sure how big of a pack they're running in! Especially since I've now heard a couple of stories from friends and family members about coyote attacks on dogs, I have no plans to walk the dogs at night by myself any time soon!