They're upgrading the county road we use to get to today's routes, and in the process are installing a right-of-way fence where there never was one.

Fortunately, it is a simple barbed-wire fence, rather than the killing woven-wire fence installed closer to town, so it should not be a great problem to antelope.

But they will still have to get used to it. And there will probably be some problems.

There were three does, a fawn and a buck standing on the highest point of a knoll overlooking the road shortly after sunrise this morning.

Watching the workers put the new fence in.

Do they know their world is changing? Or just curious?

Our route this morning took us alongside a meadow in some dunes.

There was a coyote sitting in the middle of the meadow, watching us, not more than 100m away.

And it stayed there, in full view of the truck. Gotta be this year's pup to be that stupid.

I let the heeler sisters out to drag race down the road, but their yipping only got a cock of the ears from the wild canid. It couldn't see them down in the ruts of the road.

The race over, I watched the coyote as the sisters snooped around the truck. It got interested, but you could tell it still didn't know what they were.

The masked heeler got bored and came into the truck with me. The unmasked heeler headed up the dune behind us.

In full view now.

The coyote immediately took off running.

Towards the red heeler, and therefore the truck.

When it dropped out of sight in some bulrushes, I jumped out and stood beside the door.

I was there, if needed.

The little maskless heeler was in the middle of her business. In that position where she couldn't move if Godzilla himself came out of those bulrushes.

Coyote took forever to get through the marshy area, so the little heeler was almost back to the truck by the time it came in sight.

Only 50 meters away.

You could tell it wanted to come on in, but was unsure of the truck.

So I sent the sisters racing down the road again, just to see what it would do with two strange canids in its territory.

It immediately gave chase, in full hot pursuit. Ignoring me and the truck.

Oooooops.

So I darted out into the sage, yelling. The coyote veered off, without breaking stride, and headed back into the meadow.

The heelers sisters came back, got loaded up, and off we went.