The coyote hustled across the road, then paused, turned and stared straight at me before darting into the brush. I’ve seen this one or its pals several times over the last few years. Last time it was mile or so away, along Raccoon Creek while taking the kids to school. That time it crossed the road, ran 30 yards into the pasture, then turned and watched us. We slowed the car and started back for a few moments. Whether it’s bears, elk, groundhogs, raccoons, bobcats, or coyotes, there’s something both unnerving and adrenaline-rushing about encounters with wild animals, especially predators. Most of us live such sheltered lives these days that the occurrences are all-too-rare. One co-worker has lately been obsessed with a bunch of wild turkeys roaming his neighborhood, while another just returned from a camping trip with a great story of an encounter with a wild boar. Don’t we love living in these mountains?

Nurturing a love of reading

I’m bribing my son to stay in his own bed all night, mainly because his nightly move to our room has been the catalyst for my recent fits of insomnia. A week straight in his room earned a prize. What did he choose to get? An abridged version of Moby Dick, complete with pencil drawings. He’s been fascinated with the story since we watched the 1956 film version with Gregory Peck as Capt. Ahab. His book choice comes as his 7-year-old brain has become obsessed with reading. Perhaps it’s inspired in part by his two older sisters, but mostly this new love of the written word comes from his mother. She spends treasured moments almost every night reading lengthy books to him as he listens and gradually dozes off. She’s reprising some of the books her father read to her. Watching a young boy become enamored of books and great characters is a great story of its own.

DVR

After putting in a plug for reading to kids, it may seem strange to pitch a product aimed at television, but here goes. DVR lets you record any program from your satellite dish or from the cable. You can set the recorder and turn off the TV. Later, when the kids are asleep or it’s raining outside and you don’t feel guilty about watching the boob tube, you can enjoy the game or the show that originally aired at an inconvenient hour. I’ve had it one weekend and I’m hooked. Recorded the games, watched’em at night while I enjoyed the great outdoors during these beautiful late-fall days.

WCU Fine and Performing Arts Center

If you haven’t been to an event in this new performance hall on the Cullowhee campus, find a show you like and go. It is gorgeous, every seat is good and it promises to become a catalyst that will attract top-caliber performers to our area. I was lucky enough to get tickets to Jay Leno and then watched the Alfred Hitchcock-Bernard Hermann tribute last week. Great shows in a great atmosphere.

— Scott McLeod