Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Hunted and The Hunter

I woke early Saturday morning in anticipation of some good garage sale hunting. Because of my two recent coyote encounters, I am much more cautions when walking my dog when it is still dark outside. This morning we were about 20 yards from my front door and I just happened to glance behind us. A coyote was coming towards us at a fast trot. I made myself look big, I yelled and I had pepper spray ready. The coyote paused about 10 yards away then started to advance again. My dog started to lunge which only caused her leash to wrap around my legs. Finally a car came down the street and the coyote casually walked away.

We went back inside and called the police. They informed me that an earlier report in the area described a pack of three coyotes. Later that day I bought pepper spray that will stop a bear. I live in a gigantic urban city and am not accustomed to being hunted by predatory wildlife but I am becoming more prepared.

Things I've learned about urban coyotes: they will approach large dogs as prey, they are not scared of humans, they will approach downwind so be aware of your surroundings and a single coyote will try to lure an animal into a trap situation where the pack can attack.

Well so much for being the Hunted.

We did have some good treasure hunting later. My favorite find was this engraved silver tray. On the back it reads: "To Lyn, From your friends at Mattel, 11/21/75". I love that this is a bit of Mattel history. 1975 was the same year that the original founders, Elliot and Ruth Handler had to resign from Mattel.

My other favorite find was sheer serendipity. We were at a garage sale when the seller asked if I was interested in any Japanese American memorabilia from the World War II Japanese Internment Camps. I have done some genealogy research on my family so I knew where they were interred. It turned out that the seller had a large batch of propaganda photos showing how "happy" the Americans of Japanese descent were while being interred in these Camps. The photos all have captions neatly typed on the back so I have a lot of reading to study up on. I feel like I've bought a bit of my family's history today.
Manzanar Relocation Center - Manzanar, CA, 5/30/1942


Colorado River Relocation Center - Poston, AZ, 12/31/1942


 Jerome Relocation Center - Denson, AR, 11/18/1942


On a lighter note, we found this vintage cake stand and cloche that I will use to decorate for the holidays. I found the vintage bottlebrush trees and mercury glass beads from previous sales here and here.

We also picked up a sweet Christmas hankie just in time to use for a bit of holiday decorating.

I think we did very well on our treasure hunt. I just hope we don't continue to be the hunted.

This is linked to:
A Very Cherry World, Brambleberry CottageCoastal CharmCreating a House of GraceHer Library Adventures, Hey What's for Dinner Mom?Mod Vintage Life, Savvy Southern Style, The Colorado Lady and Very Merry Vintage Style

11 comments:

  1. That sounds terrifying! Glad you are ok. Love the silver handled tray, and those photos are a great find.

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  2. Re: The pictures. I love when something like that happens. It's always a wonderful surprise.
    Stay safe. I didn't realize coyotes were going after larger dogs as well. It's scary but sad. After all, we are taking away all the land. Peace.

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  3. wow- be careful -is scary to walk with dog at night..
    silver tray rocks!

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  4. Oh that is amazing you found those photos. It will be very interesting to see what you learn from them. Yes, those camps were like being at club med! *eye roll*

    The silver platter was a great find!

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  5. Wanted to add re: coyotes luring dogs into packs-- this happened to a friend! Her dog was severely wounded but she was able to get her back out and her husband came to the rescue with rocks! It blows my mind that they are so predatory to send one out as a scout to bring back the dog to the pack!

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  6. Thank you for sharing the Manzanar photos. I visited the site two years ago and was moved to tears. What a sad commentary on our fears of "other" people.

    SING A SONG OF SCARLET

    Sing a song of scarlet—
    Red on Christmas morn!
    Sing a song of scarlet—
    Blue is so forlorn!
    Sing a song of scarlet—
    Red for girls and boys!
    Sing a song of scarlet—
    Look at all those toys!


    © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher

    Red Leaf and Red Mary

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  7. That is plain scary!! Luckily you were paying attention, I might now have been! I think with more and more of land being developed the wildlife has no other place to go but the city and try to adapt the best way they can. But....stay out of my space while adapting!!

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  8. Had to start following! We live in Denver area and we have coyotes all the time. I have an aussie and a bernese mountain dog. Where can i find pepper spray? would love a follow back, http://imnotatrophywife.com laura

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  9. Even with your bad experience, you still came home with some very intereating things.

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  10. I just read When the Emperor Was Divine and your photos really came to life for me.

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  11. I'm so glad you got those photos! Yes, definitely an important piece of history. I still can't believe our own government did that. Your cloche is so pretty with the bead strands in there! Cute hankie, too!

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