Adventures of local wildlife

I do not know how many of you live in rural or suburban America, but I live 9 miles out of a town of 400 people. As I sit here, I can listen to coyotes behind my house howling. After telling my neighbor about it, he stated that there is a pack of about 15 in the valley behind our house. That is just great. My dogs are going crazy and I am worried about my chickens. I am really surprised that my supposed hunting dog has not gone to investigate. He was bred for coyote hunting and probably knows better. It’s a good thing that I have plenty of guns. Last year when I was driving my 4 wheeler to work (9 miles), a mountain lion ran in front of me only one mile from our house. Our neighbor hunts coyotes for the state of Wyoming and he has asked me several times if I heard them behind our house. I never did until now. I take for granted that I can walk freely any time in my yard, but that is not the case. My mother from Indiana even said that I shouldn’t walk out to my garden without a gun. After hearing this tonight, I agree. When my mother visited last year, she was nervous about us leaving our doors open at night. Our neighbors and us keep a close eye on each other, even the UPS guy. He knows are dogs and even when it is raining, he will put our packages inside our house. That would never work in the suburbs. I think that is so cool that we know each other well enough to do this sort of thing. I wish that everyone could live the open life that we do.