There is no logical reason why Deets is alive today

Don't panic – this story has a happy ending.

It was about 6:20 Monday evening. I was outside with my camera, thinking about a post for Tuesday and trying to capture the blooming chamisa in the twilight. After taking this picture of Smooch and Deets listening to the cows and enjoying their separate peace, I went in the house and sat down at the computer to download the pictures.



Not a minute had gone by when I heard Smooch sounding one of her "get out here this very second, mom, something very bad is about to go down" barks. I swiveled around in my chair and looked out the office window. There was a coyote in the corral, not 10 feet on the other side of the fence from Smooch.

I instinctively grabbed my camera. "When, oh when, will I learn to instinctively grab my gun?" she later thought, slapping her palm against her forehead. Ouch, that's gonna leave a bruise.

I jumped up out of my chair, threw open the office door, leaped onto the front porch, slid open the Wynonna-proof double latches on the gate, then ran to the corral fence. Smooch's frantic barking got louder and louder.

But the coyote didn't move – he just stared back at me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a black blob in the corral, not 5 feet away from the coyote.

"DEETS!" I screamed. He was curled up in a tight little ball, his face planted in the dirt, just where I had seen him last, in the photograph at the top of this post. GASP! Please don't be dead!

Deets didn't look up when I called him, he didn't move an inch. And the coyote walked right on by him and out of the corral.

Why did the coyote not attack and eat Deets? He was 5 freakin' feet away! Did he not see Deets? Or smell Deets? Or care about Deets? Was Smooch's barking so distracting? So threatening? Was the black thing dangling from my hand so intimidating?

Smooch ran up and down the fence line, barking, howling, screaming, racing, chasing the coyote.



I was frantic...where's Deets? I twirled to my right. There he was, now in the barn and on top of one of the pipes that divides the stalls, heading for the rafters.



I twirled back to my left. Smooch was still barking, racing, chasing up and down the fence line.



The coyote was fixated on something in the dirt. Smooch stopped in her tracks to watch.



The coyote had the audacity to stop what he was doing and look around. Please, God, don't tell me he's looking for reinforcements.



The coyote took one last look at me and calmly sauntered off.



Smooch watched him leave and stood in this same spot, with this same expression, until the sun set and she could no longer see.



I came in the house, waited for my heart to stop trying to pound out of my chest, pondered what I had just witnessed, and concluded the following:

1. Someone saved someone else's life tonight, but we're still not sure who's responsible for what.
2. Deets used up one several of his nine lives.
3. There's never a dull moment at the 7MSN.
4. I seriously need to think about keeping a bottle of wine case of tequila in the pantry for medicinal purposes.
4. She who helps get a donkey out of a bad situation earns a little good karma.