Another lovely evening...

Another lovely evening...  Last night Debbie and I had a “friends night out” with friends and neighbors Jimmy and Michelle B, and with another old friend whom I haven't seen for several years: Soon K.  We first went up to the Stonewall Mine Road in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park (which is still open, despite being on leased National Forest land) to watch wildlife.  We saw a kite hunting, including one stoop (but it came up empty), lots of deer and turkeys, two peregrine falcons, several other hawks, and acorn woodpeckers.

Then, just before we exited that road, we came across a doe with twin fawns, right near the road.  After watching them for a while, we saw the doe looking northward anxiously – so we looked, and there was a mature coyote, weaving around the meadow.  The coyote looked like it spent part of its time hunting for mice (their major prey), and part scoping out any opportunities to go after those fawns.  The doe was very, very carefully watching both us (in our car) and that coyote, but was clearly more worried about the coyote.  Eventually she and her fawns crossed the road in front of us, and took off up Stonewall Peak.

The coyote, meanwhile, wandered right into the road in front of us.  We thought he was going after the deer, but no – he just wanted to make a statement.  Which he did, by depositing a large pile of foul-smelling dog crap right in the middle of the road, just a few yards in front of us.  Then he took off down the road, and we followed.  For the next 5 or 10 minutes, he stayed very close to the road, on our right, and hunted while we watched.  So far as we could tell he just completely ignored our presence – kind of unusual for a coyote; they tend to be quite shy of people...

A fine dinner was next on our schedule – we dropped into Descanso Junction Restaurant and had ourselves a feast.  The place was hopping, both because it was Saturday night and because this was the last night they were open before they close for remodeling.  Their “Grand Reopening” is on Thursday (10/10), and at that point their plan is to be fully remodeled.  They're doing this by having everyone who works there, plus some more folks, come in and work non-stop, Sunday through Wednesday.  Ambitious!  We are eager to see the results...