“All the better to savor your lamb chops with, my dear.”

The coyote hunter showed up today. We are overrun with coyotes and though we don’t lose lambs in the winter, normally, because the sheep stay close eating hay and are locked up in the barn at night, we lose many the rest of the year and they even bring down full grown sheep in the daytime. The poor deer aren’t so lucky to have a warm barn and their babies don’t stand a chance to these packs.

So it is best for all to periodically keep the population down. He saw four and shot three, within an hour. Can you guess how many total shots it took to instantly kill the three? Three shots.

He said that two of them had mange, common in packs that have too many mouths to feed, and that one was perfect, near the top of the mountain.

So up I went in the direction of his pointing finger, following his footprints he left in the snow.

He said the hill had gotten steeper over the years since he came to hunt as a younger man.

“My, what soft fur you have.”

Though I admire his beauty, cunning and skill, and honor his life, I feel that it would be a pity to waste such loveliness.

Ajax, Helena and T’Shuva had to stay home, filling up the entire floor.

They were besides themselves with what I brought home, and are still nervous.