Upper Grant Creek Saga I
Thursday, October 26th, 2006Fall, 2006 in and around the UPPER GRANT CREEK, Missoula, Montana area was one of the most beautiful, colorful and appealing places on earth. Along with several interesting wildlife escapades (at least in the eyes of this beholder), we feel extremely blessed that God has allowed us to reside here. It makes poor health issues easier to deal with.
The fall colors, red, orange, golden yellow interspaced into all the various shades of green made the environment we live in an artist’s dream of a life time. Too bad I don’t paint scenery (or anything else, for that matter). Also, I’m told that some of the sunsets just a mile or so south of where we live were absolutely breath taking. At least one was so inspiring it stopped Nana in her tracks when she was going to town right at dusk. It was so beautiful she stopped along side of the road to drink it all in. (and probably shed at least one or two joyful tears.)
It seems this time of year brings with it some changes in the area wild animal night life. Nana and I usually have our bedroom screened windows wide open at night. It allows the brisk cool night air to flow in and makes us coddle a bit (just to keep warm). 
And, even though the water level in Grant Creek is low this time of year, if you listen closely, you can still hear the melodic splashing of the fresh mountain H2o cascading over the creek bed rocks as it heads ultimately to an ocean somewhere, if the flowing water doesn’t evaporate and turn into rain in the area and start it’s journey all over again.) That is the other thing with havin’ the bedroom window open, the rain comes pitter patting onto our house’s metal roof, and then in a heavy rain storm, goes swishing down the rain gutters and drain pipes causing an almost hypnotic sensation, lulling you to sleep.
About two AM one night the first week of October, 2006, about 20 feet from our open bedroom window , we heard the goose bump raising howl of a female coyote, “Yip, Yip, yahooooo. Yip, Yip, yahooooo.” Translated into humanistic American language that means, “Honey, Honey, did you find us some foooood. Honey, Honey, did you find us some foooood?”
Then farther away, from across the road in our neighbor’s yard, came a reply from a male coyote, “Yep, yep, youhoooooo. Yep, yep, youhoooooo!” Amplified translation, “Yeah, I seen about two dozen different colored rabbits, but them little critters is pretty dang fast an’ I ain’t been able to catch one. Cain’t we jest settle fer turkey again tonight?” Now, you may be wonderin’, “How in the world does he know the difference between the male and female coyote howls?” If you are, well….that’s another story for another time. Remind me to tell you ’bout it sometime.
Over the last week or two I’ve already found one flock of inner body grey feather in the north end of our lot, another one in the yard between our little stockade and the Watson homestead, and scatterings of bits and pieces of feathers throughout the area. These feathers appeared to me to be turkey feathers. Also, one day I witnessed a coyote stalking the turkeys in our yard. In the middle of the day! And she was only from here to there away from me. That’s about water melon seed spittin’ distance times two away.
Well sir, I do believe these coyotes settled for turkey again on this particular night. “Cause, I haven’t seen a turkey around our house since then. Soooo, either the coyotes ate all of them or they (the turkeys) finally got wise and skee daddeled outa’ this part of the county. And I also think ,for the time being at least, the coyotes gave up on our neighbor’s rabbits, ’cause they seem to be multiplyin’ like, like, like bunny rabbits or something. HOWEVER, Nabbit, Will Watson’s black floppy eared bunny, who had been living free outdoors most of the summer, is no where to be found. Now, either he ended up in them thar coyote’s belly or he, Nabbit, took off and is livin’ in Florida or the Bahamas or some place where there ain’t no coyotes. Ya know, now that I think about it, that’s what that little critter probably did. As I recall, there was a semi truck with a Florida license plate that came up this way by mistake and had to turn around at the fork in the road just north of us. And come to think about it, I don’t remember seein’ that little black floppy eared rabbit around here any more after that semi left. 
Papa