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A memory, and a good one!


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Coyote is a prominent character in Native American folklore: known also as Trickster, the Coyote has been compared to the Norse Loki.

I am no expert on comparative religions, I am just a poor dumb hillbilly, but the snows of many winters have stained my beard white, and ancient memories stir at times.

Other times, the memories are not quite so antediluvian.

A Farcebook correspondent wrote of losing an old and dear friend, and I wrote back a reply, for he'd said if anyone wished to know more about his boon companion it would take face time, three fingers of good bourbon, and some salt water tears, and I thought of just such a soul I'd known.

I've mentioned Brother Beymer time and again: he was living proof that not all brothers are born of the same womb, and it would be perilously easy to side track onto any of a bloody ton of memories of the man.

Let me instead remain with the Cowboy Genre.

Coyote is native to this continent, and was a fixture in Cowboy lore and legend, and the song of the yodel dog was a familiar one to the period we know as "The American West."

The kickoff for this specific memory was another Farcebook post, where someone posted wolfsong on the High Church Coyote page (where they take their fun very seriously) ... and those two posts resulted in the following.  

I believe, in light of our common interest in the romance and history of the West, it's an entirely appropriate memory.

I've never been privileged to hear wolves in song.
Coyotes are populating Ohio, and have for years; two decades ago and more, my friend, a fire chief, accidentally stepped on the siren button as he stretched his long legs in his pickup truck: as the Federal 28 coffee grinder siren wound down, we could hear Yodel Dogs singing in reply, one to the north, clearly; we got out of his truck and heard answering song from the rise to the south of his farmhouse: a moment, and answering voices from both the East and the West joined the chorus.
Fire chief and assistant fire chief, two scarred veterans of the emergency services, standing in the darkness, silent for the several minutes it took this feral chorus to sing itself down ... two men, grinning like little boys at a new discovery, two musicians who delighted in hearing the wild song of these feral artists.

 

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In areas of suburban Denver, you can sometimes hear the coyotes at night.  Matter of fact, one night about 2 AM, our little chichi-terrier mix suddenly started barking her head off!  I grabbed my flashlight and Daddy's handiron, and search the entire house.  Nothing!  The only thing I can think of is she heard one of her wild relatives sounding off.  She will also go out in the back yard after dark, when I can't hear any other domestic dogs barking, and bark in a way that makes me think she is asking, "Is anybody out there?"

 

Coyotes are very adaptable to human habitat.  I once saw one, in broad daylight, sitting at a traffic light controlled intersection.  When the light changed to green facing "Wiley", he got up and trotted across the street! :rolleyes:

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They get to singing down in the  creekbed sometimes. The north canyon wall reflects their voices like a concert bank of speakers. The ones that go up to eleven. :lol:

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28 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

In areas of suburban Denver, you can sometimes hear the coyotes at night.  Matter of fact, one night about 2 AM, our little chichi-terrier mix suddenly started barking her head off!  I grabbed my flashlight and Daddy's handiron, and search the entire house.  Nothing!  The only thing I can think of is she heard one of her wild relatives sounding off.  She will also go out in the back yard after dark, when I can't hear any other domestic dogs barking, and bark in a way that makes me think she is asking, "Is anybody out there?"

 

Coyotes are very adaptable to human habitat.  I once saw one, in broad daylight, sitting at a traffic light controlled intersection.  When the light changed to green facing "Wiley", he got up and trotted across the street! :rolleyes:

One of em tried to steal my truck one night.Good thing they don't have thumbs.

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Coyotes are  a bane to home owners around here, people who moved into "the wilderness" and now bitch about the wilderness killing their pets and endangering their kids.

 

I hear the dogs singing every few nights, but they don't come into my neighborhood.  They stay up on the mountainside and feed at the new homes further north.

 

Used to hear a lot of wolves when I was at Yellowstone but that's been seven decades ago and I suppose they are getting scarce up there now.  I haven't been back there in many years.   Their song is different than coyotes, butI can't describe how.

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5 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Coyotes are  a bane to home owners around here, people who moved into "the wilderness" and now bitch about the wilderness killing their pets and endangering their kids.

 

I hear the dogs singing every few nights, but they don't come into my neighborhood.  They stay up on the mountainside and feed at the new homes further north.

 

Used to hear a lot of wolves when I was at Yellowstone but that's been seven decades ago and I suppose they are getting scarce up there now.  I haven't been back there in many years.   Their song is different than coyotes, butI can't describe how.

Different tempo. Wolves are sorta balladeers.

Coyotes are more punk rock. :D

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33 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Different tempo. Wolves are sorta balladeers.

Coyotes are more punk rock. :D

Pavarotti and Bob Jovi come to mind. 

 

I won’t insult coyotes with a Nirvana reference. They are way to beautiful and dignified. 

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33 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Different tempo. Wolves are sorta balladeers.

Coyotes are more punk rock. :D

Nicely put.

 

Coyotes are more staccato and "yappy" while wolves are more drawn out, and if my memory serves me, which it often doesn't any more, they are a higher pitch than a wolf.

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There is a man here in Salem that used to have a pet wolf.  He would leave it in the back of his pickup in the canopy while he went into the store. I have petted it when the man was there, I would not reach in when the wolf was alone.  When a siren on an ambulance or fire truck went by he would "sing". It was neat.

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Up in Calgary they have a New take-out service ,,, called Meal on a Lead ....

Yoto's grab and kill little dogs being walked in parks and if you don't drop the lead they threaten you with attack ....

This service is now available in 4 parks in the City ....

 

Jabez Cowboy

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