Saturday

February 21,2026,Saturday morning 2:43am, pacific standard time, in Dana Point, California, USA. Yesterday I took the dog for a short afternoon walk. When we got to the top of the hill a coyote was lying on the pathway. At first I thought it was dead. But as we got closer the coyote raised its head. Clearly it was very weak and close to death. Feeling bad for the animal and given the fact it was blocking the pathway I took the time to call animal control. The dispatcher was nice but dismissive saying there are a lot of coyotes with mange right now, particularly in Aliso Viejo. She welcomed me to film out a wildlife observation form but gave the impression it didn’t matter. I am curious what became of the animal. Hopefully she/he can pass away quickly in peace. overall it was a good birthday. I did a load of laundry and washed my sheets in the morning. I got a free birthday drink from Starbucks before picking my daughter up for lunch. After that we celebrated my birthday at the San Clemente outlet malls by eating at Ruby’s diner and getting candied apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. When we were saying goodnight my daughter and her mom implored me to take the dog with me so I brought her back to Dana Point. We just finished walking the Blue Lantern route and now are sitting on the couch relaxing.