Moose, Coyotes, Bears....Oh My!

When I moved to New Hampshire in 2008, I knew I was heading to an area that was off the beaten track - afterall mapquest didn't even have our street on the map and still doesn't have it on GPS.  Yes, I live far from civilization - we are surrounded by a wooded area.  The first Dunkin Donuts is a five minute drive (unheard of by Boston standards) and Starbucks is...GASP.....a 15 minute drive!  Hey, at least Starbucks has a drive thru, right?  And by the way, I have no problem relying on coffee places to determine what constitutes civilization - I am half-Colombian afterall!

Last year, I had my first jolt of reality about where I live and how close we are to the woods.  Yes, Bella (aka Toto),  we are not in Boston (Kansas) anymore.  There was a black bear sighting in Brookline, NH - in fact the bear was seen on my very street.  Was I sorry I missed the sighting - absolutely, was I didn't come into direct contact?  Hell, yeah!

Flashforward to this past week, where we have ample snow on the ground which shows all kinds of tracks in our yard.  My stepmother came in one Saturday and said, "Um, I think there are moosetracks in the backyard."  No, not Ben & Jerry (we broke up weeks ago, remember?) but REAL moosetracks.  My father was incredulous, , "Absolutely no, they are Bella's tracks."  Of course, we all had to go out to investigate - my stepmom, sister and me.  I mean, there is a significant difference in the hoofs of a moose and the paws of our beloved 65 pound puppy.  Although apparently my father didn't think so, ha!  We found the tracks and it was like fitting our foot within a foot of a dinosaur - so, not Bella's paw print.  So we have MOOSE!  No sightings yet, but definitely we have moose neighbors.  Again, yes I want to see them - but definitely from afar - I have heard that they are not exactly friendly and I would rather them not charge me or my car for that matter.

Then, two nights ago, I was in a deep sleep to be woken up by my sister's "hoofs" running up and down the hallway shouting, "Mom, there are coyotes outside!"  I was like, "Whoa, what did she just say?" And sure enough I could hear them serenading our beautiful Bella.  The howling was not exactly like listening to Handel's Messiah but they were definitely coyotes, judging by the tracks outside.

We now have convinced my father that we do have moose - we dragged him outside to see yesterday.  And he does believe that we have coyotes as well but believes that Bella can take them down either with her beauty and charm or by force.  She is a force to be reckon with when it comes to protecting us - however, I fear that her bark is worse than her bite.

If I get any sightings of our new winter neighbors, will definitely post.  But for now, I will drink my homemade Colombian coffee (too lazy to drive this morning) and hope that they stay at bay.