All too natural.

We are surrounded by animals. We have the dog, of course, and this fall we acquired two cats. The dog and cats are good friends; it is almost unnatural. When Lucy goes out in the morning to do her business, Piper- who has been out all night- runs up to her, wraps himself around Lucy's legs, and won't leave the dog in peace. I have to get the cat so that the dog can go out and, well, go.

So we have the three pets, but it doesn't end there. There are the deer and turkeys that are always around. They don't seem to have any fear of the dog; and judging by the state of some of our flowers I am glad we didn't bother with a vegetable garden. There are also coyote. And then the smaller animals are abundant: mice, moles, chipmunks, squirrels (the plain brown and the black variety), snakes, and all kinds of gross insects. We got the cats as predators for these small vermin, and they seem to be quite good at it. Last year the chimpmunks were everywhere; this year, we only see them when one of the cats lays them at our feet. Sometimes they leave the carcasses for me; sometimes I see remains (the bird wings) and sometimes I just never know what happens. We are getting daily gifts from the cats: plenty of moles, mice, snakes, frogs and birds. The other day Tasha came strolling in the house with a chipmunk half her size hanging from her mouth. The chipmunk was alive: it blinked at me a few times as it swung, resigned and helpless. I was afraid Tasha would let it go and it would be loose in my house, so I managed to chase her back outside. Yesterday she came in with a mouse, and when Greg chased her she ran upstairs. She disappeared somewhere, and so far I haven't seen the mouse, so I'm hoping she had a nice dinner and cleaned up after herself.

We have gotten in the habit of putting the cats out at night- so they can hunt. Also, because they wake us up at 3 am wanting to play. Also, because Piper takes a nightly constitutional, and if he is in the house he more likely to do it in a sink or bathtub then in the litter box. If he is outside then I don't have a mess to clean up. So at bedtime we bring the dog in and kick the cats out.

The problem is that we have a pack of coyotes around, and they have been attacking small dogs. We figured that our cats were smart and would climb a tree, and so haven't been too worried. Well, there was that one time when Tasha was first learning to navigate Outside and disappeared for almost two days, but that turned out OK.

So, last night I was up very late reading a really good book. The cats were out and the dog was in, the girls were asleep. Greg had watched The Daily Show and the Colbert Report and then turned the tv off and was quietly snoring beside me. It was a nice night- the cool breeze coming in through the open windows was enough to make me put a blanket on. I could hear the peaceful night sounds- the low humming of all the insects and an occasionally cooing of an owl. I was engrossed in my reading, when all of a sudden I heard a horrible howling noise from close by in the woods somewhere. It sounded like several excited animals, and one deathly afraid one. The noise- or my startled cry "What is that!"- woke Greg. He sprang out of bed bleary eyed and looked at me. We listened as the sounds continued. "Where are the cats?" I panicked. He ran downstairs and opened the doors, and Piper came running into the house in a streak of white fur. He didn't want to be outside with whatever was making that noise. Tasha, however, was nowhere to be found. The cries of distress could have been a cat... but maybe not. It was all so disturbing. Greg was standing outside on the patio while the horrible howling and yipping continued, and I yelled to him to "Get inside NOW please!" I went around the house closing windows- Greg thought I was being paranoid, but it was freaking me out and I didn't want to hear it. And then as if someone turned a switch, everything went silent. Eerily, disturbingly, silent.

Neither one of us could sleep for a while after that.

At 5 am Piper woke the girls when he pushed his way into their room and started licking them and meowing. Then he left a nice steamy pile of poop in the laundry room sink. I put him out. It was almost dawn; I figured he'd be safe. Besides, the coyotes had eaten for the night.

When we got up at 7:30, Piper and Tasha were waiting to be let in. Greg went to the woods to investigate. Lucy wouldn't come with him. He didn't find anything.

Then my dad tells me that not only are there coyotes around, but also fisher cats. Fisher cats are not cats, but kind of sound like them. They compete with the coyotes for prey, and fisher cats can climb trees- no refuge for the domesticated cat. I definitely heard coyotes last night, but this isn't the first time this has happened and I'm pretty sure there was at least one occasion when I did hear a fisher cat.

We are going camping in a few weeks and were thinking of having a trial run in our back yard- setting up the tent, making a fire in our fire pit, sleeping outside. But after last night, I don't think so.

Just to give you an idea of how disturbing it was: today, Greg bought a machete. He sharpened it, and put it within easy reach (for him!) by the door.

Here is an audio of a fisher cat (try about 35 seconds in):