Bones

My wife and I went for a walk this evening, taking advantage of the near perfect weather here in the Atlanta area. Our neighborhood is great for strolling. We have enough elevation to get a workout, and the neighbors always wave, and speak when the opportunity is there.

We look our 1+ year old playful puppy, and after a conspicuous start with him barking at the squirrels and one neighbor, he tired out and decided to walk. He weights ten pounds or so, but he can pull us along, going up a hill. I would love to have his energy.

At the end of the subdivision we reached the heavily traveled road, which normally means we turn around and head back to the house. We live at the far end of the subdivision, so it's a nice walk to this point and back. This time we decided to walk across the main road and take in a little more of the pleasant weather, so we crossed the road and walked down the sidewalk a short ways, and entered the cemetery.

The afternoon light was dwindling, and it had that nice soft touch that puts everything on an even keel. Nice portrait lighting, despite the background. As we strolled toward the back of the cemetery my wife pointed to something to our left. She thought it was some kind of animal, and she saw it move, but wondered why it was staying in one place. From a distance I figured it was a rabbit.

We turned left toward the animal and just past the last of the gravestones we entered a field, and I walked over for a closer look. I think we found further evidence of the coyotes I have heard across the street from our house. The object was a ribcage, with most of the spine still intact. It was picked clean, and the ribs were still brown. They weren't bleached out yet. As I looked to my left I saw two more clumps. One was picked clean, and it contained a leg bone with a hoof and the section was covered on fur. The third section was another leg. Must have been a pack of coyotes that caught a young fawn out in the filed grazing. The sections were spread out over forty yards.

As we left the remains and walked on through the field to a dirt road that is not well traveled, my wife started having sharp pains on her leg. We soon discovered we had gone through a patch of cockleburs, and the dog had not escaped either. Poor thing. We picked them out of his fur, and I got them off my wife's socks and shoes.

Not sure why my wife thought she saw the ribcage move, but it seemed a fitting place to find it, right at the edge of a graveyard. And just before Halloween no less.