Wild Kingdom, Texas version

We left the foxes of London's suburbs only to discover coyotes living in close proximity to us here in a major Texas city. By close, I mean yipping-yapping-snapping on the other side of our privacy fence. Behind us is a large commercial gravel pit that occupies a huge chunk of acreage and it seems that's where they reside. Our Cairn Terrier Ollie is quite disturbed by their nightly vocalizations. 

In addition, there is a large owl that goes to town a'hootin on a nightly basis. One evening I took Ollie out for his final potty stroll around the yard. I heard the hoot-hoot and shined my flashlight into the trees. I'd swear that owl was the size of a VW Beetle. Like something out of a Stephen King inspired nightmare. I've never seen one that large before, except in a zoo. I'm glad Ollie is a healthy 20ish pounds and not some little purse-sized dog that would make a tasty meal for the winged carnivore.

Lastly, our other city dwelling critters are these two incredibly unattractive vultures that like to land on our chimney top and enjoy the view. Ollie goes nuts barking at them. He's pretty good at that, alerting us to the local fauna.