Coyotes, Tractors, And Friends

After reading yesterday’s blog, several readers e-mailed me to ask about the fate of the injured coyote I wrote about. I don’t know because when I went out back to look yesterday, I could not find it. I hope it has succumbed to its injuries and is not lying out there in the woods suffering.

Two different readers said something to the effect of they couldn’t believe I wanted to kill the poor animal. Let me make something clear, I did not want to kill it, I wanted to put it out of its misery. Letting it starve to death in agony would have been the cruel thing to do.

I also had a blog comment from someone telling me that it must have been a neighbor’s dog because coyotes do not live east of the Mississippi River. I sent him a message telling him that a quick Google search would show him that there are coyotes in every state. They have even been spotted in New York City. We saw them where we lived in Florida, and my son has seen and heard them at his place, 15 minutes from here. The man quickly wrote back to tell me I was wrong, so I did not bother to reply to him again. There’s no use trying to confuse somebody with facts when their mind is already made up.

Terry spent most of yesterday doing the same thing she’s been doing for a while now, emptying boxes and putting things away. I wonder if she is beginning to think she might never be done with the project.

Between getting sick right after we got here, making the last trip back to Florida, and all the bad weather we have had, I had not had a chance to get familiar with my Kubota BX2680 tractor that was delivered almost a month ago. So yesterday I decided to spend some time playing with it. Though I’ve read the owner’s manual and watched a lot of YouTube videos, there’s nothing like hands-on experience with a new piece of equipment.

Since the road out to our barn is nice and dry now, I used the back blade on the tractor to smooth out some of the ruts out there as well as the ruts from where I got stuck the day we were getting ready to leave for our last trip to Florida. With that done, I drove up the driveway toward the house to try to smooth out some of the ruts that were made there from the equipment that delivered the tiles for the new roof. That area is still very wet, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that all I was doing was making more of a mess. I will have to come back to that when things dry out more.

It’s obvious to me that though I understand what the different controls on the tractor do, it is going be a long time before I can get even close to competent with them. It’s kind of like learning to drive a car with a standard transmission. You’re going to have a lot of hopping starts and stall the engine out many times before you learn how to smoothly operate the gear shift and clutch.

A little after 3:00 we drove into Tuscaloosa to have dinner with our friends George and Valerie Mayleben, owners of the RV Driving School, which was founded by another friend, Dick Reed, before Terry and I even became fulltime RVers back in 1999.

George and Valerie were instructors and vendors at many of the RV shows and rallies we attended, including our own Gypsy journal rallies, and were regular advertisers in the Gypsy Journal when we were publishing it. But back in those days we were always so busy that we never had time to sit and visit for very long. So it was nice to get to spend some relaxing time with them, enjoying talking about RVing, our mutual friends from the road, our families, and life in general. Thanks for making time for us while you were passing through the area, George and Valerie. Safe travels until we meet again!

We have a busy week ahead of us. The roofers are supposed to be here this morning to start replacing the roof on the house and garage, I am supposed to have a side-by-side UTV delivered, as well as 20 tons of gravel for the driveway and some of the low areas that keep flooding out. And somewhere along the line, I need to get some more writing done. As for Terry, she’ll still be unpacking boxes. I think she’s just doing that so she doesn’t have to stop and make me any cookies. 😊

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – One day you will thank yourself for never giving up.