Do Not Throw Peanuts at the Humans

Okay, here’s a list of animals I’ve seen in this canyon:

• Prairie Dog
• Coyote
• Lizard
• Deer
• Nighthawk
• Big Fuzzy Ant
• Stink Bug
• Barn Owl
• Mountain Lion
• Ginormous Caterpillar
• Fox
• Englishman
• Potato Bug
• Some Random Snake
• Golden Eagle
• Border Collie
• Mormon
• Hummingbird
• Warty Toad
• Cows… lots and lots of cows

The Brits and I get very excited whenever we get a chance to see something new. Aaron spotted a snake one day, then spent a good bit of time pulling logs apart to try to find another one (he put in a lot more effort moving those logs than he did digging the ditch we were working on—just saying). Josh and Danny told me they spotted a black widow crawling out of a hole under the house’s front porch and I stood by it with my camera until the sun set, but no luck. The coyote was a treat, but not too uncommon. Aaron and I were the only ones to see the mountain lion and that made everyone else jealous. It ran across the canyon road right in front of us as we drove back from town late one night. Black bear sightings have been frequent in this area lately, so we’re all keeping our eyes out. For what it's worth, we did find some bear droppings

Cows never seemed very special to me until the neighbors down the canyon moved their herd of cattle. It was a relatively small herd, only about 300, but the Brits and I found ourselves glued to the action all morning. We could hear the braying an hour before they arrived… and about two days after. I learned that cows can only be moved about 10 minutes at a time before they become disoriented and freak out when they can’t find their calves. There’s only one narrow road in and out of this canyon, and driving down it that weekend became something of an obstacle course.


Because of their cow-herding skills, blue heelers are very common around here. We have one on the vineyard named Hank. I call him Hank the Wonder Dog because no matter how steep of a wall I climb, I always find him waiting for me at the top. I haven’t caught him doing it yet, but I have a secret suspicion he can fly. Anyway, Hank was all alone until a neighbor dropped off two brand-spanking-new blue heeler puppies for some of Danny’s family friends. We get to dog sit until they’re picked up in a couple weeks. I couldn’t stand calling them Runt 1 and Runt 2, so I temporarily named the grey one Frank and the black one Beans. Seemed fitting.


They really took a liking to my hat. And my gloves. And my sandals. And anything else their little incisors could rip apart. If they weren’t so damn adorable I’m sure I’d have strangled them by now. Instead, I just melt at their big round eyes and laugh and look for more of my belongings to feed them. Stupid super cute mongrels.


As barren as the dessert looks here, it’s a lot like a zoo, except we’re the ones in the cage. No lie—the entire vineyard is surrounded by a 10-foot fence. It’s intended to keep deer out because they wiped out the first grape field built here in two days. Really, it keeps us in as specimens for the other animals to look at and laugh from the canyon’s walls. I’m sure the mountain lions have a riot every time they see the auger get stuck in the ground then spin around and hit me.

Oh yeah, and although I didn’t see it, I seemed to have run over a skunk the last time I drove down the canyon. Everyone else here has verified that for me.