We slept in this morning to an unheard-of 9:30. And awoke only then because Jackie and Jillie were nudging us awake. Small they may be and delicate-featured, but when you're in repose and they inadvertently happen to step on you, there's more than enough physical pressure to influence your lazy eyes to open as you groggily acknowledge their presence.

Which meant that we were late setting off with them this morning on our usual early morning ravine hike. They were pretty cheerful about it, in contrast to our slight ill humour. Truth is, Jackie awoke us at 4:30 a.m. once again, having to be let out to the backyard. Second night in a row. Disturbed sleep doesn't make for the best of bedfellows.

But if we  hadn't set out so late we'd never have come across our old friends Rod and Nova. Nova takes Rod out to the ravine three times a day. He's a bundle of energy, a white German Shepherd who loves people and evidently coyotes, as well. Jackie and Jillie have known Nova since they were all three puppies. Rod was out for his second turn in the ravine this morning. He's taking shorter circuits this past year, finding the ascents and descents a little demanding. Nova, on the other hand, looks for distractions and is off and about here and there in the forest interior.

She plays with the coyotes, they indulge in little chase-abouts, it would seem, and  have for quite a while. Rod told us that because he sets out just after six every morning he frequently sees coyotes. Last week on two occasions he saw and  heard a coyote close to where he stood, yipping. He finally deduced that it was alerting another coyote to the presence of people (him). They were protecting coyote pups in a nearby den.

Hard to say how many coyotes the forest accommodates now, whether there's a full pack, a family group whose territory it has become. But we're agreed that the coyotes pose no threat unless they're challenged by dogs chasing after them. And Nova doesn't chase after them, he chases with them for a frolic. Rod told us he watched recently while they ran after one another, Nova and a coyote, up and down one of the hills, five times in quick succession before Nova rejoined him.

Jackie and Jillie are not socially inclined in that manner. They tend to behave aggressively when confronted by a dog they're not familiar with. And we know their reaction on coming across a coyote would be to challenge it, first by barking furiously, then by harassing it, leaping about and growling. Two very small dogs threatening a species quite close to them on the evolutionary scale. The coyotes, to protect themselves would respond and we'd stand the chance of losing one or both of our rash little companions. Therefore, the leashes.

For part of our circuit there appeared quite a few other ravine hikers we've known over the years, but as we ventured further within the forest, their number declined to the point where the last half of our circuit was serene and quiet, none others around -- man nor beast -- but for ourselves. The forest was drying out nicely from the past several weeks of ongoing rain events; no more puddles on the trails, no more glittering drops on the vegetation.

We ambled on past our last ascent to street level, bypassing it to extend our hike just a little further, wanting to see how the wildflowers that grow in some abundance in a forest clearing had coped with the rain. And were rewarded with the sight of large colourful clumps of goldenrod, a few lagging groups of fleabane, clover in flower, plenty of pilotweed still flowering, a few purple loosestrife, Himalayan orchids, and the creme de la creme, black-eyed Susans.