On his way home from work Alex pulled up a coworker's crap trap between Keats Island and the Gibsons pier and got these two beasts for dinner. When I got home I found them half alive wrapped in a garbage bag in the fridge, then watched him tackle them, boil them and shell them. The kitchen was a salty, facintating place for a while. The plan was to make crab cakes but we got derailed and ended up eating Annie's pasta for dinner instead... Oh well. Tomorrow we will take advantage of the fruits de mer.
There have been coyotes around Granthams for the last couple weeks. I don't think this is unusual, but I'm surprised at how long they've been lurking. We've even seen them in the morning along Marine Dr eating trash on garbage day and we see them outside our livingroom window at dusk in the same place, overlooking the ocean. Growing up in more or less the boonies wild animals weren't really a huge concern. We were always aware of black bears, and often heard the eeriness of a pack of coyotes howling in the forest. Once Lee was stalked by a cougar in the middle of the day. But there was no point in really worrying about it beyong taking the usual precautions. But here, with town so close and development now surrounding almost the entire area, I think the threat of unpredicable wildlife is a little more serious. Food is obviously lacking in the animal world right now if the coyotes are here night after night. I've been keeping an extra sharp eye out for plump and juicy little Sebi in the garden.
Last night I was washing dishes and outside the window was a scraggly old raccoon. He looked so sage and kept reappearing as though he was standing there to listen to our conversation. So I went outside to see him. Usually I want nothing to do with raccoons but there was something about this old guy. We stood outside together for a long time, just looking at each other. He played with a stick for a while. Then later as Alex and I were drinking a bottle of wine on the deck the raccoon climbed the cherry tree and sat in the branch almost overhanging the deck, like he was just hanging out with us. Then we saw the coyote. As it got dark we lost track of the raccoon and suddenly heard it being shredded in the driveway by the wild dog. It was over quickly, no fighting, just that fierce snorting sound raccoons make when they're going down and the viscious snarls of a creature about to have a meal. I guess like the crabs, the raccoon didn't stand a chance.