Wednesday - COVID333

I was up on time this morning though I could have slept longer.  

I worked the morning only because PG&E had notified us of a planned power shut-off so they could replace some overhead equipment in the area.  This was the third notice - the previous two times I took time off work and shut off the computer to protect it from the sudden power loss and restart and they never turned it off.  This time they actually did.

I spent much of that time reorganizing my closet.  Part of that was discovering an old purse and wallet that I had not fully emptied and discovering my "lost" favorite lipstick that Bex had given me and nearly $100 in balances on various gift cards.  I transferred $5 of a Starbucks card to my app and set the others aside to be sure to use at Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, Applebee's, and Joann's.

I went through the pen cup in the kitchen and removed all of the small screwdrivers and put them with the tools, then checked every pen to be sure it worked, and discovered an old pen from one of my bosses at my first fulltime job.  He had died while I was working there.  Just seeing his name brought back a flood of memories.  That was a good job.

I got a call that Loretta's tire was done and went down to pick it up.  They didn't charge me for it because the last fix hadn't worked.  It was a break in the beading on the rim, so they redid it, made sure it was holding air, and I picked it up.  If it goes flat again, it's likely because the tire is damaged because it was flat on the ground for too long before I discovered and took care of it.  I'm hopeful that's not the case.

When I got home, there was coyote scat on the spot where I'd removed yesterday's scat and applied wolf urine.  I'm stumped about this.  I put the goats in just before 5pm.  I was working at the computer when I heard chickens clucking loudly like they had just laid, which was a little odd because they typically lay in the morning.  So as I was getting up to see if there were any eggs, suddenly all of the chickens were making a ton of noise, and as I opened the slider I saw a coyote come running up the hill straight at the coop.  I shook the door and started yelling.  It looked at me and went down the hill.  I grabbed my walking stick and walked over, yelling at it the whole time.  It was down the hill behind the tree branches where Bex had seen it go previously.  I continued to yell, grabbed a thick short fallen tree branch and chucked it down the hill.  It was still there.  So I grabbed the hose which has a good nozzle on it, turned the water on, and then sprayed back and forth in the coyote's direction and it disappeared.  I continued to yell at it.  The coyote came up to the chicken run even though I had moved the radio there after putting the goats in the barn, so clearly that's not a deterrent.  The chickens went inside their coop and I shut them in for the night, keeping a watchful eye and ear out and making sure Oliver was in the house.

I sent a message to the company I purchased the wolf urine from to see if they have any suggestions.  The fact that the coyote dumped on the spot where I'd applied the urine makes me suspect they don't care about wolves because there are no wolves around here.

I got to talk with Tam tonight.  It felt good to catch up a little.

We are safe and well.  I hope you are too.