These aren't professional photographs and it's only Ohio. But we wanted to share with you all that we have already found quite a few beautiful and peaceful places here in southwestern Ohio. These are from different parks that we have been to in the last two weeks.
One of the parks is a nearby forest preserve - the bottom two pictures. It is beautiful and has great trails. Apparently, it also has at least one coyote. It barked and howled at me this morning while I was running alone in the middle of the woods. Now normally I fancy myself a burly woodsman and an outdoor enthusiast. And, to be honest, coyotes aren't that big, are easily scared, and almost never attack grown adults (you're literally millions of times more likely to be bitten by the neighbor's dog). But something in me snapped.
I froze, grabbed a sturdy stick, and climbed a tree. I yelled to startle the beast and banged sticks together. I climbed down and when I moved forward, it howled/barked in response. That was disconcerting since I could not see or smell this ferocious behemoth, but it clearly knew exactly where I was. But it didn't seem to be moving, so I eventually ran like a frightened deer along - you guessed it - a deer path (the rabid Cerberus was very close to a U-turn in the "human" path; this was simply not an option). I ran and could hear the noise fading in the background. Phew! I then came out near the parking lot and ranger's station and assessed the score. Coyote: 1 Dan: 0. Then I felt my arm burning. I scraped it on the tree. Hmm...I hope those vines weren't poison ivy. Coyote: 2 Dan: 0 ?
No comments:
Post a Comment