A day at the park

The other day, I took Baby Boy and our little dog, Cooper, for a walk. It's a lovely walk - .5 miles each way to a nice, big park near our house. There's a walking path lining the grassy area of the park, and across the street is an elementary school. School had just let out that day, and tons of kids were walking home from school, through the park. I couldn't help but overhear their conversations as they passed by, and I was thinking about how funny their conversations were. There were three separate groups of little boys walking home, and each group I passed was talking about video games! I was deep in thought, reminiscing about my days as an elementary school student. We got home from school every day and couldn't wait to gather our neighborhood friends (and there were like, 20 of us!) together for a game of whoofle ball (no clue how to spell that, or if it's even called "whoofle" - maybe it was "whiffle"...hmmm...not sure). Anyway, other days, we would climb trees, use our entire block as fair game for hiding spots during hide-and-seek, ride our bikes, play truth or dare or make up our own games (like Red Man...that's a whole other blog). My point is that I was deep in thought. I never imagined what I was about to see.

I stopped to give Cooper was water, and as I stood up from my hunched position, tearing through the park, heading straight for us, was a wild coyote! I'm not kidding! My first thought: "that's not a dog...that's a frickin coyote!"

I heard parents screaming their child's name, grabbing their arms to pull them closeby. I yanked Cooper's leash back so hard I'm surprised he could still breathe. I jumped in front of the stroller to protect Baby Boy, and the coyote was literally five feet from us. With a crazed look in his eyes, he just kept running. He looked like a silver bullet shooting through the park...I never realized just how fast those things are. The closest I've ever gotten to one was from behind cage bars at a zoo. I've heard packs of them howling in our neighborhood like a group of screaming little girls, but I've never been that up close and personal to one. And it wasn't fun! I shot my head around as he ran by us and watched as he tore through the park, across the street, down the sidewalk lining the school, and down the street where all the children were walking. I heard screams and saw kids scattering all over the place while cars slowed as the coyote darted in and out of traffic. It looked like Godzilla just came to town.

Needless to say, I followed the coyote with my eyes until he was out of sight, and I booked it home. I even jogged a little when I got on our street. I just wanted to be in the safety of our home. It didn't turn out to be quite the walk in the park I had imagined it would be. Lesson learned??? Wiley Coyote is not so cute in person.