Yet another Close Encounter!!

The dogs, Kizzy and Toby (yeah, I had just watched ROOTS when I got them!), were barking off and on throughout the night and I was just about ready to sell them to one of the local ethnic restaurants. Little did I know, they were, once again, trying to get their owners attention that something wasn't quite right. There was another visitor, Canis Latrans - or, the coyote.
As I walked out to go to work and rounded the corner of the Jeep to get in, I was face to face with this coyote! He was as startled as I as he leaped away, into the street causing two of the early morning cyclists known to frequent our street 24/7 to veer off in opposite directions with the coyote strolling between them.
As I watched him climb the hill across the street and approach the Governor's Mansion, I wondered, "What if a Governor really lived in the mansion? How long would this coyote last? Would our backwoodsy-good-old-boy Governor pull out the rifle by the front door and make short of this visitor?"
Then I marveled at my dogs - they have a habit of trying to alert me to things that are going on especially in the middle of the night .... last week, they were trying to alert me to the kids on the hill taking target practice on the houses and cars with bright yellow golf balls stolen from Crane Creek Country Club. It looked like an Easter egg hunt in my yard following their escapades.
Another canine alert more significant and memorable is the night I awoke, grumpy, until I got out of bed to yell at the dogs - only to find them barking because the refrigerator was on fire! They literally saved our lives! Now, I suppose, as I get older and my partheimers progresses, the dogs will bark and I will be found, walking the yard in my PJs (I hope!) looking for what the alert of the day is all about.
Thanks Kizzy, thanks Toby!