Good thing Wile E. Coyote doesn't live here

High on my list of things to be thankful for today is that the coyote that hung out for a while in front of our trailcam in the wee hours of the morning did not come down the hill to raid the smoker where our Thanksgiving turkey was lingering all night long, and neither did the coyote make its presence known to my husband on any of the times when he went out to check on the smoking turkey through the cold, rainy night. Wile E. Coyote would probably have formed a dastardly plan to capture the turkey, but our resident coyotes don't seem to have an account with the Acme Corporation so our turkey just kept smoking.

I am thankful for a husband who loves to smoke meats even if it means going out in the rain at 2 a.m., unaware that he is in the presence of coyotes. I'm thankful for the turkey itself, tender and juicy and full of flavor, the centerpiece of a feast that required group effort and cooperation. I'm thankful for my son's willingness to reach down items from tall cabinets, set a lovely table, and apply his upper-body strength to the rolling pin when my shoulders are sore from cleaning and coughing. And I'm thankful that the coughing is over and I'm healthy enough to do all this cleaning and cooking and even go out for a walk after the rain stopped.

I'm thankful for South African guests who brought custard pie and said my tangy cranberry chutney reminds them of home. I'm sad that the grandkids couldn't be here, but we'll see them at Christmas and I'm thankful that they're enjoying some time with their cousins. I'm thankful for the sound of the dishwasher clearing away a big portion of the mess, and now that everyone else is napping or heading home, I'm thankful for a chance to look through the latest round of trailcam photos and marvel over the coyotes and other wild things that share our land without disrupting our lives. I hope we can do the same for them.

This big buck was caught on the trailcam five or six times over a few weeks.

Several foxes have been moving through by night.

Coyote, hanging out just uphill from the smoker early this morning.