Coyote Yips and Mountain Lion Screams

Have you ever woken up to the sound of a woman dying? I have.

Ok well not really. But that is what a mountain lion sounds like when it screams out in the night. Being torn out of my sweet slumber to the sound sent my heart racing, my blood pounding and a yelp out of my mouth as the dogs started going crazy.

It’s funny to say but I’ve actually grown accustomed to the frequent coyote yips.  Listening to them surrounding the house. Letting us and any other stranger know their presence. But nothing compares to the eerie, blood curdling sound of a mountain lion scream.

To try to describe it, imagine what cats sound like when they are fighting. You know that weird kind of alien sound? Now imagine those cats are the size of baby tigers and I think you’ll have it just about right.

It’s such a startling break from the tranquil crickets and breeze blowing through the trees. Or the occasional rain that showers so slightly on the barn’s tin roof. Falling asleep is as easy as breathing in a place so relaxing.

Pretty much since the day we moved in we’ve left our two sliding glass doors open with just the screen separating us from the wild blue yonder. Until that fateful night I had vowed to always have our room as open to the outside as possible. Yes until all I could imagine was creature crawling up the deck posts and tearing through our screen door while its comrades blocked the stairs going out the back leaving us trapped to be eaten alive by predators of the mountain.

There’s a lot to say for mountain living. I really wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, except of course for an Italian flat within walking distance to a magazzino formaggio, but it’s most certainly not for the faint of heart if your humble abode puts you smack dab in the middle of forest (or butted up next to it in our case) making all it’s creatures your neighbors.