Last night I blogged about the panther and black bear sightings in our neighborhood. Well, guess what Ryan and I saw on our way home from the gym this morning?
A coyote.
All I could think about when I saw the coyote is how thankful I am that nothing happened to Sadie on the morning that she briefly went missing and I nearly had a heart attack.
I’ve always known that we live relatively close to the Ocala National Forest, but I’m beginning to realize just how close we really do live to some legitimately scary wildlife.
I may have to strap some bear pepper spray to Sadie’s collar so she’s as protected as Ryan and I are when we hike.
I always hike with pepper spray and a bear bell which cracks Ryan up.
(I have the blue one!)
I whip out my bear bell and jingle it whenever I hear any rustling in the forest that might indicate a large animal. Ryan looks at me like I’m a looney, but if my little sleigh bell keeps us safe, I’ll jingle it all the live long day.
Workout
Before the coyote sighting, Ryan and I hit the gym for a quality workout.
My gym time began with 20 minutes on the elliptical before I completed three rounds of a circuit workout from the Best Body Boot Camp program. I switched up the order of the boot camp workouts this week a bit since I’ll be on vacation Thursday through Sunday. I figure I’m more likely to get some cardio exercise in the form of snorkeling and beach walks on the cruise than any strength training, so the beginning of this week was dedicated to strength and circuit style workouts.
Breakfast
Breakfast this morning was a toasted honey wheat bagel topped with muenster cheese, two fried eggs and strawberry jelly.
The best part is always the melted cheese!
This morning I’m blasting Pandora and getting in the work zone before taking time to pack, eat lunch and hit the road for St. Pete with Ryan this afternoon!
‘Til lunchtime…
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I don’t want to be an alarmist but those coyotes are no joke. In Connecticut, there have been reports of medium to large dogs (great danes) injured and killed by coyotes. The bell is a great idea, it kept our pointer/hound mix safe from skunks, but please also keep Sadie on a leash when you hike with her. Those coyotes will mess with her before they mess with you.
Haha, I worked in Yellowstone for a summer, and no one I knew ever wore bear bells! The wildlife biologists I talked to all said they’re the same (or less) effective in alerting bears than if you just talked while you hiked. bear spray though, is something we always had!