Mountain Lions

My goodness, has it been a long time since I blogged! I'm not exactly sure why that is; maybe a combination of lack of creativity, too much going on, not enough going on, sometimes I get tired of hearing myself talk, summer is chaotic, and I've had a string of not so fun or interesting things happen lately. With that note, I've got a lot to write about now. Or maybe I have all along but now I actually feel like writing about it. For whatever the reason, I am inspired at midnight on a Thursday night to tell you what happened just last week.

About midnight (does anything good happen at midnight?) I heard the mountain lion right outside our window pacing up and down the road screaming its head off. I woke hubby up, too. I'm not sure why, maybe because I was so freaked out or maybe it was because I wanted to see if he thought it was a mountain lion, too. We were told when we moved in a couple years ago that if we ever heard what sounded like a woman screaming outside our house NOT to go outside and investigate because it would be a mountain lion. Evidently, that is their mating call. I am SOOO glad J.D. gave us the heads up because that was the absolute most eerie thing I've ever heard. I recorded it but haven't figured out how to upload it. It went on for about 20 minutes and echoed up and down our canyon. I opened the front door and stood with just the screen door between me and possible death and shook until I had thoroughly erased all chances of sleep that night, but I got it on audio, by George! MacGyver rolled over and went right back to sleep. Nerves of steel, I tell you, but not before telling me he was glad I woke him up because he wouldn't have believed me, otherwise. What? Thanks for the confidence, bubba! The kiddos were upset I didn't wake them but there was a good reason, which I will divulge another time. But I did promise to wake them if I ever heard it again. I'll have to warm up some milk and bake some cookies if I do, because there aint no way those puppies are ever going back to sleep after that, either! I know! Bad grammar! But this girl is NOT joking. That is the spookiest sound I have EVER heard.

It reminds me of the time we were camping in our camper up in Pike National Forest. MacGyver was at work and my mom had come up to camp with us for my birthday. We made dinner and played some cards and when it got late we snuggled down to get ready for bed. About that time Maggie started growling at the door and we heard what sounded like a mountain lion outside our camper. Boy I have never been more excited to have four solid walls in my life! Anyway, the more Maggie growled, the more freaked out the kiddos got. I think we all got the willies pretty bad. I finally decided to take Maggie and our gun outside and shoot it off. The idea was to make the kids feel better because the gun shot would scare away the mountain lion. I have to admit it actually worked. It made me feel better, too. That was just one time when I had to put my "Big Girl Panties" on, as I like to call it, and muster up the courage to do what it took to make those kiddos feel safer, if not truly safer. There were more "Big Girl Panty" moments still to come, but this was one of the more memorable ones.

Animals, Animals Everywhere!

My chocolate lab, Molli, broke into their kennel/coop area and attacked our nicest chicken, Melanie. When we got to her she was still alive but her wings were broken and she couldn't stand up or move. I'm guessing her back was broken, too. The other chickens and the kids were beside themselves! I sent the kiddos inside, and grabbed my leather gloves. I had to put my big girl panties on and do the dirty deed since Mac wasn’t around to do it. The kiddos were so traumatized, as was I! I kept thinking, “These are the hands of a murderer!” We buried her under some trees and they cried and cried. It was pretty sad. They were ready to shoot Molli. Ian helped me fix their coop back up and now all is well at the Cooper Cabin again. Now we’re down to 3 chickens. They aren’t laying as many eggs as they used to. Unfortunately, Melanie was one of our best layers. I’m trying a few new things to see if we can remedy that.

We had a bear break into our pump house. That’s where we keep the horses’ feed and our garbage, too. When I went out that morning to feed the horses there were 6 bags of garbage strewn up and down our road and even up the side of the mountain! That was fun! I don’t think any of us ate much after that! I had hoped our webcams picked him up but the computer went down and didn’t pick up anything that night. So far all we’ve picked up is birds, birds, more birds, and some elk. Our neighbor picked up a mountain lion on his webcam. He walked up on his front porch! Can you believe it?


The DOW officer stopped by last week to let me know we have a mountain lion hanging out in the trees at the top of our pasture! He’s collared and they stop by all the places he hangs out if he spends more than a few hours there. Evidently, he’s been bedding down less than 100 yards from our cabin. YIKES! I’ve been walking a mile or two every morning and most evenings (when it isn’t storming). I have philosophical debates with myself every morning. It goes something like this… ”Is it better to know where your enemy is and be scared of that specific area, or not know specifically where he is but know he is probably somewhere around you?” I still don’t know the answer to that, but l’ll let you know if I come to some conclusion. Often my thoughts are influenced by tracks I see, or Maggie’s countenance, or when she alerts on something up the side of the mountain. Shudder. Regardless, I carry Mac’s awkwardly huge and heavy pistol when I’m out walking. As you can imagine, it goes a long way in making me feel safer. 

Mac and I went looking for me a new pistol once. The salesman asked what I was looking for. I told him a mountain lion gun and possibly one I could carry concealed. He said, “Ma’am, you’re talking about two different guns!” I had to laugh. He thinks I need a .40 for the mountain lion and a .9 or for concealed carry. We never did replace my old one that broke but I think I finally figured out what I want. I really don’t like how awkward I feel carrying a gun around, though. But I don’t think I’d like how awkward I’d feel if I didn’t carry it around and needed it. We both took the concealed carry class but I don’t think I’d ever conceal carry. So much responsibility! I’d just rather open carry! Mac had some guy we didn’t know coming up to the cabin to look at a ladder rack for his truck we were selling. I told him, I didn’t mind as long as he didn’t mind me having a big ‘ole .9 mm sticking out of my jeans! Regardless, when Mac is home I make him walk with me and carry his unusually bulky and heavy gun himself. Things just seem more right with the world that way!

An Episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive"

Yesterday was a terribly, tragic, torrent of troubles. Say that ten times fast. I felt like I was on an episode of Animal Rescue (you can read about yesterday's episode here). But today felt like an episode of Discovery Channel's show "I Shouldn't Be Alive". Seriously. I crashed last night at about 11:00 after a rice bowl, a hot shower and starting a fire. I woke up two hours later to a horrible acrid smell. I lay there wondering what it could be. When it dawned on me what it was my heart leapt and I jumped out of bed and ran to the fireplace. It registered a dangerous 750 degrees. We try to keep it below 400. Above 600 you run the risk of fire. What I was smelling were the walls melting. Again. This smell I knew. I closed the dampers and turned the fan directly on it on the high setting and waited to see if it would work. I checked the walls and they were too hot to touch. The temperature gauge slowly began dipping below 700, then 650, then 600 and finally got below 500. I opened one of the dampers back up to see if it would stay low. It did. I returned to bed with my heart still thumping hard. I woke up around 3:00 and 5:00 to check it again. Luckily, it slowly began to cool and by 5:00 was completely out. So scary.

Although exhausted, my alarm woke me up to go do morning chores by 6:30. I felt fear and dread (and cold) this morning. I didn't know what my future would hold but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be good. Before my feet hit the floor I read my Bible and cried out to the Lord. I had nowhere else to go. I begged for forgiveness for my arrogance, pride, anger, haughty words and unkind thoughts towards GA; especially for the previous days since we had words over the horses and fences. I asked Him for his guidance, mercy, grace, energy and strength for what had to be done today, help for the trouble, provision and protection. I'm glad I did. I needed every bit of it. I climbed out of bed and got dressed, pulled my coveralls and mucking boots on. I found my hat and gloves and jumped into the Jeep. I knew MacGyver hadn't finished clearing the road between our houses so I went out to the main road and up the front way to GA's house. I set the four-wheel drive. I got about 300 feet up and found a patch of ice. I lost all my momentum and my tires began to spin. I slightly backed up and then tried it again. I did this several times until I realized I couldn't even rock it out. There was just too much ice. I started to back down the mountain when my tires locked up on the ice and I started sliding backwards. I knew I was either going to slide right off the side of the mountain or bank it hard to the right and slide into the two foot wall of snow and stick my tires. I chose the latter. I was a little freaked out over the sudden stop on the opposite side of the road. At least I was out of the way if someone came down the road. I walked the half mile up to GA's. I was happy to see that all was well. Sharif had a small tear on his shoulder but didn't need stitches. I was going to have to figure out how to get everybody water since the pump seemed to be frozen. It seemed the day was going to be even more challenging than the previous. It all seemed to be too much. I fed all the horses and started back down toward the cabin. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was following me. I kept stopping suddenly and looking back over my shoulder, not really wanting to look, but not daring to not look. Don't you just hate that? I made it home without being eaten by anything. The kiddos were up by that point and we got breakfast. The vet called to update me on Amar. It seemed he was fine and could go home anytime. Oh! The relief. God had heard my prayers and Amar was completely fine. The kiddos and I gave thanks for that! MacGyver arrived home after his shift after stopping first to get some more diesel for the Bobcat. Good man. It seems we needed the Bobcat more and more as the hours ticked by. I told him more about my night, suddenly more aware of  the dangerous possiblities of what could have happened with the fireplace. I told him about my morning. I found myself in tears and he wrapped his arms around me. He didn't have to say anything. I was just so relieved he was home and would share the burden. I shared with him my four acute problems that needed to be addressed:

1. The Jeep was hopelessly stuck but I was alive.
2. We needed to dig the horse trailer out so we could go get Amar.
3. The horses needed water and the pump was frozen.
4. The fence needed to be repaired so Amar and Sharif could be returned safely and without any more incidences.

He decided to work on clearing the road, digging out the trailer from its three feet of snow, and then rescue the Jeep. I decided the kiddos and I were going to work on the fence. After breakfast, we all donned our
Carharts, grabbed the chainsaw and got busy. Ike and I felled our first tree(s) today. We dropped about a dozen 20'-30' trees between us. I was so proud of him, and he of himself. Izzy helped us move and lift the trees into place and then haul off the limbs. We all four worked most of the morning and into the afternoon on our individual tasks and made some good headway. By 2:00 the pumps were thawed and I was able to water the horses while Mac chained up the truck. We were able to haul the trailer down the crazy snow-packed road beautifully since MacGyver had cleared the bulk of it out of the way. The truck pulled the trailer nicely and I called the ER Clinic to let them know we were on our way. Our day was uber-productive and the only thing ahead of us would be getting the trailer back up the mountain, Amar unloaded and he and Sharif back into their pasture. However, once we got to the clinic, the front office ladies informed us that GA had, in fact, contacted them just before we got there. It seems God answers prayers, people. GA had decided to leave Amar at the clinic until he returned next week and have him gelded. GELDED! Wonders never cease. This is the very argument we have been having. I argued that no fence can truly contain a stallion trying to get to a mare in heat. He argued that the fence is weak and it is our fault he keeps getting out. I argued that a standing fence doesn't need to be fixed and the snow is so thick he just steps over it in places. He argued that he hasn't had that kind of problem in the past. I'll refrain from going on. Suffice it to say, we've been going around and around on this issue for over a week now; him blaming me, me pointing to the problem of a stallion and his insane levels of testerone. Even the vet agreed with me. It seemed it took something of this measure to get his attention and agree that something needed to change before something worse happened. I haven't talked to him and probably won't until he gets back next week. I have a feeling he is pretty hot, though. I choose to trust God in this, as well. I've done everything to the best of my ability with the limited resources GA has provided. The rest is in God's hands. MacGyver and I had a laugh (more out of relief) that this is truly an answer to prayer. I was so thankful that God heard me, that Amar is safe and sound, that we were all still alive, and that I am never alone. He is my ever help in times of trouble. And for that, who could ask for more? MacGyver still has some acute stress and strife he is having to deal with at work. We're not sure how that will all turn out, but we know God has heard our prayers and has a plan and purpose for our lives. What we do in the meantime is seek Him daily, constantly and desperately. He hears our cries and turns His ear to us. He gave us a beautiful, sunny day to work and we have a whole day of fence building tomorrow. I believe tomorrow will be even prettier than today. God is GOOD!

Disclaimer: This is not my photo. This was found on google images.

Now that I got that out of the way...

Mac and I were on our way home from Christmas shopping the other night. It was about 5:30 and getting dark. As we headed up our driveway, we rounded a corner and saw two little mountain lion cubs in the middle of our driveway. I think they were about 2-3 months old and cute as a button. They even still had their spots. I wanted so bad to jump out of the truck and get a better look. As I put my hand on the door handle, Mac reminded me that mama was probably sitting on the rock outcropping just above my head watching and waiting. Was this a trap? Surely no! They were so cute and I wished that the kiddos were with us to see them. As soon as we got home, we told them all about it. They were excited until Ike remarked, "Great. Now we have to watch out for THREE mountain lions right by our house." They wanted me to show them what they looked like and I found the picture above which was the closest to size and look. I'm guessing it was the mama I saw right by our house a few months ago. You can read about that here in Exhilirating and Terrifying. I don't know how common it is to see mountain lions, much less a baby, or a set of twins. I have to tell you, though, seeing twins, the mama, the bear, the mountain goats and then the moose all add up to a very memorable year!

Still loving the adventures,

Shotgun Brooke



Wild Wild West

I woke up this morning to let the pups out and realized something. I look out the window, scan the horizon, open the door, and scan the horizon before letting them out now. I expect to find the mountain lion. And I don't want the puppies to fall prey to the mountain lion or be an easy scooby snack! It struck me in an odd way today. We live in the wild, wild, west. A very different approach to life than we had in our neighborhood (come to think of it similar in some ways)! There are many things we have to spend time and energy on in a very conscious way. The water consumption has to be managed, as well as the propane. We are constantly in a state of gathering wood, both green and dead, for the wood stove. The road is in a constant state of flux depending on the weather and how much it is being used. And don't get me started on the dust and dirt! It is a daily battle keeping the outside...outside. And then there are the wild animals. I have an awareness that they are always there. Sometimes it is very obvious. Just last night Maggie was growling to the side of the house when I let her out. And this next morning I went out to feed the horses and they would have no part of it. Usually they are all over me and very impatient to eat. But this particular morning they were spooked and would not come down to eat for a good hour. You could just feel it in the air.

I've been learning a lot about the enemy lately. This is how we are supposed to be...having an awareness that our enemy is always there. Lying in wait for us. "With this in mind, be alert" and then use the resources God has given us to fight...the armor of God as found in Ephesians 5:10-18 "so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" with the Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, Feet Fitted with Readiness, Shield of Faith, Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. We never know where the enemy is or how he will try and launch an attack. Sometimes he even uses the people in our lives at a weak moment. (Like snapping when you are having a bad day or your expectations are not being met...guilty as charged). Sometimes it is the circumstances in our life, or the pride or fear we do battle with daily. We are called to live lives of righteousness and be strong in the Lord. Sometimes we take shots because we are walking with the Lord. Sometimes we take shots because we are not. I just want to heed the words in Ephesians 5:13-14 "and put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to STAND your ground, and after you have done everything, to STAND. " And then in verse 14..."STAND FIRM".

Exhilirating and Terrifying

We had a family stop by after church today. They are trying to decide which puppy they want. They spent an hour or two hanging out, talking, and of course snuggling with all the cute pups. When the family left, we decided to put in an hour or so clearing scrub oak from our over-grown ATV trail. That stuff grows fast, tall and thick right before your eyes. Izzy and I grabbed some loppers, Ike grabbed a hand saw and MacGyver grabbed his trusty chainsaw. I jumped on the ATV and the kids jumped into the back of the truck and we headed into the woods. We cleared about 1/2 mile in about an hour and a half. Not bad. Along the way we spotted several piles of bear scat, some elk scat and some assorted pieces of skeleton. A leg bone here, several back bones there and we even found a piece of the jaw bone with about 12 teeth in it. We think it may be a bear after looking at the teeth! And the kiddos contemplated. What kills a bear? Other bears. What else? Moutain lions. I noticed the kids stayed a little closer after that. A little less adventurous. A little less wandering. We cleared brush, rocks, and even bones out of the way and made it up to the third meadow. Then we decided we were all hot, thirsty and getting hungry. We headed back down the mountain and back out to the road. Izzy jumped on the back of the four-wheeler with me and Ike jumped into the truck with his dad. They went up the road a bit to turn around and decided to take some pictures along the way. Izzy and I didn't wait around; we just headed home. I knew there were hungry pups that needed to be fed before we headed into town for dinner. As we were heading down the hill, I got about 100 feet from the cabin and thought I saw Tank sniffing around by the camper. I slowed down trying to make sense of how Tank had gotten out. Did the kids forget to put him up? About that time I realized it wasn't Tank. This thing was twice Tank's size. It was the mountain lion. And Maggie was headed straight for it! I called Maggie back but it decided we were too close for his comfort (or maybe Mr. Elusive just didn't like being seen) and started mosying right past our cabin into the pasture right in front of our house. Now by this time, my adrenaline was in full swing. I had stopped the ATV but was just sitting there sort of shocked. Izzy was holding on for dear life and hiding her head between my shoulder blades and my strong, protector of a husband was nowhere to be found. Remember? He was taking pictures? Eventually he made it down the hill and pulled up to me sitting in the middle of the road waving my arms like a madman. He had no idea what in the world I was doing, much less saying. I was trying to show him the mountain lion hanging out in the pasture, just standing there. As if. He hops out of the truck, looks and realizes it is still there. He reaches back into his truck to get his gun, right? Nope. The camera. What? Are you going to throw it at him? Who reaches for a camera? And then he takes off after it trying to get a shot, ooh, wrong choice of words...a picture. OH MY GOODNESS! And guess who follows? Maggie, me and both kids. Yes. Insane we are. Insane. All of us. I whispered to the kiddos to grab some rocks and instructed them if we saw him again to stand your ground, yell and scream and throw rocks at him. I think I saw Izzy's lip quiver. Wow! Supermom, I am. It eventually disappeared behind the barn and into the woods, but not before shaking up our nervous systems! Wow! Equal parts terrifying and exhilirating! We called the DOW guys that have been out here researching, tracking, studying their behavior. I couldn't tell if he was "their guy" or even if he had a radio collar on. My senses were on overdrive and I was definitely not taking notes for questioning later. He suggested we might have a fresh kill site, or that he was stalking for the next kill site. He said they will hang around for a day or so if they get a deer or up to four days if they get an elk or llama. Woah. It took us several hours to talk out the "I can't believe it...Ooh, that was scary...Do you think he'll be back...We saw the mountain lion...Do you think we should move the cat food...maybe we shouldn't leave cat food out for the little or big cats" and finally realized that was pretty scary. In broad daylight! And moved onto...I think he is stalking our dogs. They were all out just an hour and a half prior, running around, playing, doing pretty much what dogs do. And I'm sure he was just licking his chops watching and waiting for us to turn our backs. Shiver. Plus, when the puppies get going, they sound just like an injured animal with their high-pitched squeals. We set up outdoor kennels with lids just because of this very reason. It makes me feel justified. It's not out of the realm of possibilities. In fact, I think the stakes just got a little higher. I'll be double checking the gates as we close them up. I'll be more careful before I open the door and walk outside. Or let the dogs out. Or worse, send my kiddos outside on an errand or chore. Shivers. A friend of ours saw one sitting on his barn where he was heading to feed his horses. Another came home to find one asleep in his driveway sunning himself. The ranch behind ours raises cashmere goats. She's seen a mountain lion haul one of her goats over a ten foot fence. No kidding. And after tonight, I realize they are much bigger in person than I ever realized. Our new motto...Noone left behind. Catchy, huh? We stole it. It just isn't worth the risk to leave anyone out there alone or let the kids go and do whatever it is kids go and do in the woods...Freaks me out. And cool, all at the same time.

I want to see if any of the pictures turned out. Unfortunately, we left the camera in the truck and I am NOT about to run outside to get it. Not tonight.

My, My! Exciting Week!

My, My! It's been an exciting week around the Cooper Cabin!

This afternoon MacGyver's department was called out to a possible meth lab in a house. They arrived to find a bomb making house, not a meth lab. There were bombs and bomb making supplies everywhere. Then the bomb squad and bomb robot got involved. I'm glad he's "just" a firefighter and not on the bomb squad. I'm not sure I could handle him having that high risk of a job.

This morning, the Forest Ranger called to inform us they were tracking a collared mountain lion that has become a problem. He is getting aggressive and brave and a little too close to people. They wanted to let us know they tracked him to about 20 yards from our house. They asked us to be cautious and not let the kiddos or dogs get too far from us. We are hosting/taking a concealed permit class in a few weeks. It's perfect timing! And the kiddos are not allowed outside without taking Maggie, my overly protective Bernese Mountain Dog.

Yesterday, the dogs were barking. The kiddos went outside to investigate and realized the bear was getting into the trash can. Maggie, the guard dog, took off after it and chased it off. As much as a diva as she is, she makes me feel safer knowing she's around.

Earlier this week, my girl, Izzy, took first place with her 4-H quilt at our county fair. She will be sending it down to the state fair next week. We'll just have to see how that goes! I'm so proud of her! Thank you, Sandra, for all your help! I learned a lot about myself working alongside my girl.

A few days ago I tried to take off the tip of my pinky finger. I managed to keep it mostly intact but cracked my nail in the middle of the nail and bruised it very badly. I think I am going to lose it. I just wish the pain and throbbing would stop! And then the next day I slipped and fell down the mountain and cut my other hand and both of my forearms all up.

Both our laptops were down but we got one of them back with a brand new motherboard installed. Just like new! Now we need to get the other one up and running!

My chocolate lab is 5 weeks pregnant, starting to show and will be delivering in just 3 short weeks. We've been working on setting up a kennel with a top so the mountain lions don't get any of our pups. That would be terrible!

Cool pix

Kids hanging out by cross at St. Francis house up the hill

Cool shot of frozen tree with the kids' tree fort ladder

Mountain lion track about 5 feet from front door
at the St. Francis house and about 4-5" in diameter

Mountain Lion Tracks

MacGyver took the Bobcat (see him hard at work play?) out to clean up our road last night. While he was out, he found mountain lion tracks and followed them all around the Clare House (at the Catholic retreat) all the way down the hill towards us and then it turned and went across the road. It was only about 10-15 feet from their front door. I guess he/she has been out hunting! Freaky! We're talking about setting up a webcam so we can monitor what is going on outside! Wouldn't that be cool?