09/06/2026
On the side of town where we live, being a couple minutes from Harris Teeter or Food Lion in either direction, there aren’t many families left who stay up at night wondering if their livestock are okay…
There are a few parcels of land still dispersed around the neighborhoods and developments, and they’re the remaining places where wildlife is able to find a home.
I’ve been up every night this week, obviously because we have a newborn 👶🏼!!, but also because of the freakishly loud yapping across the hill.
A group of coyotes has been howling nearby on and off all year, and this week, they got pretty close.
Thankfully our trusty guardian dog barks all night to protect our flocks, whether from the domestic dogs people dump in the adjacent woods or foxes or raccoons or hawks.
The nighttime wake-ups are something I forget other people don’t experience. I forget there’s a life before this one where we slept soundly and didn’t rush out in the middle of the night to see what Maverick is barking at or stop predators or break open frozen waters or check on baby animals or repair electric fencing in a rainstorm or water down a forest fire ??!!! 🤯
A lot goes into the food you eat, and lack of sleep can sometimes be one of those things😅
