Owen and I decided to celebrate his birthday in style; we faced down a coyote. We went for a walk along a new path that leads up to the solar panels at the ranch. It was a long, uphill walk and about halfway into it, I look up to see a coyote 15 feet away from us. He was walking perpendicular to the road we were on, and heading to a point of convergence. The coyote was eying us, big time. This wasn't like the little fox-sized creature I had been picturing when we hear them howling at night, this was like the wolf straight out of Ladyhawk. I kicked into high gear and considered my survival options. Think Anna, think. Make myself look big? Loud noises? Wave my white shirt in the air? Hit him with the pepper spray? After debating between not turning my back toward him and sprinting back down the hill, I decided to go back the way we came, while facing him at the same time. Owen decided to drop his hat, and I almost left it, but made a quick dash for it. We were able to reach the main road, but the coyote watched us the whole way down, no doubt waiting for me to turn away that he might sprint toward us and bite my precious son's jugular. We win this time, Coyote.
In other news, Owen had a great day complete with his first haircut and brownies (for Zach and me). Though my heart told me to wait until his first birthday to cut his hair, the poor kid was literally blowing his bangs out of his eyes to see and Daddy kept complaining about the rat tail. Owen and I watched videos of him as a newborn, and he found them hilarious. He successfully walked with a walker toy (that can't be the name), cruised along the French doors, and pulled himself up on the stairs. It was a busy birthday.
Smooch! Baby + Brownies. I would have liked to see that.
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