cougar cardio

Saw this through the window at my left elbow, yesterday, 7 p.m.

At this point I put the camera down, not wishing to watch my chickens get killed,
and grabbed the nearest big stick--a bright yellow swiffer.

Went outside in my socks, shouted profanity and waved the swiffer.
Mountain lion stopped and stared at me, but didn't seem very impressed.

Returning to my house, I ran upstairs to grab our shotgun.
Which is not loaded. Not even sure it works. But, it looks better.

Ran back downstairs, out onto our back porch again,
this time with shotgun and slip-on shoes, I felt a little more confident.

A nonsensical stream of profanity emitted from my mouth,
loudly, with a suitably low pitch,
and I jabbed the air with my shotgun.

This time the lion backed off. Then it stopped.
Then I increased my shouting and waving, advancing bit by bit,
and the lion slunk back into the wildlands at the back of our yard.

I continued forward, and banged the shotgun against the t-posts framing our chicken run
(like a good primate, smacking a tree with a stick)
still shouting.

It's possible it was just offended by my potty mouth.

Chickens were STILL not in the coop, standing in their yard.
Talk about naive*. Jeepers.

Back in my house, ignoring my freaked out cats,
I noted my rapid breathing and pounding heart,
and that the exhausted sleepiness I was suffering from all afternoon was gone.
I was MEGA alert.

Then called husband and asked for permission to NOT go out and actually
lock the chickens up, 'cause I didn't want to have to back up my empty threat.
By poking a lion with a stick.

=)

"Bear" gave me the thumbs up (after saying he was impressed at my bravery--yay!)
and I stayed in my little coop, nice and safe.

And uploaded my photos.

And called my mom. =)

Our first sighting of a mountain lion on our property,
though they've been sighted in our neighborhood numerous times.

I'm psyched they're here,
I'm surprised I ran after one,
and I'm pleased with the outcome.

And, by the way, there are only six recorded human fatalities
from mountain lions in California between 1890 and 2011,
20 in all of North America (most in Canada).

And now, the next morning,
my chickens are begging to be let into their yards, again.
So, maybe I'll let them.

After all, life must go on, yes?

xobb


p.s. I was never so glad to be tall as I was yesterday. =)
I think all the adrenaline made me 2 inches taller,
or maybe it was just my hair standing up.

p.p.s. if you want the behind-the-scenes chaos, it's here.

*naive in the wildlife behavior sense, most like definition #2 in dictionary.com:
"having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information."
Never been exposed to this particular stimulus (be it ever so panty and hungry).