I like all of God's little creatures, spider and wasp alike. I'm constantly fascinated by how each is designed to fit into their little earthly niche. Imagine if there were no wasps, those big spiders would be everyway. Nature's way of keeping that population in check.

Back to Coyotes, perfect example of what happens when we interfere with nature - by building too many houses, roads, etc. Chino Hills is an amazing place. Just be there sometime around sunset and the coyotes come out of the "woodwork" - they are everywhere, way too many for the ecological to support or handle so they spread out into the local neighborhood. Many a home owner has lost a "fluffy" to a coyote. Not their fault they have to eat as well. One evening a friend and I were riding in Chino Hills just as the sun set and the coyotes yodels began. I got alittle scared. It seemed like they were everywhere and I'm sure we were surrounded. You could see a whole pack standing on the ridgeline. Coyotes and cats all packed into a fairly small space - not good.

This weekend, if it doesn't rain, I'm leading a ride into Fremont Canyon which is where the last big SoCal wild fire hit. Will be interesting to see the destruction. Imagine all the displaced animals?

Enough sadness - funny animal encounter - was leading a ride through Limestone Canyon. This was a family ride. One young guy, about 10, was riding in front of me. All of a sudden a large gopher snake came out of the brush right across the trail and right into this young guy's wheel. It spun around once and out the other side. Freaked the kid out. I thought it was extremely funny and cool (especially since it looked like the snake was OK). Bet that young guy will never forget his snake encounter!!!!