The faint of heart might not want to read this, because it’s about hearts and you might faint.

I gave Charlie his first heart two days ago. MC brought me a deer heart and two elk hearts from his guiding (the hearts are usually left at the scene with the entrails), and I finally toughed up and fed one to Charlie. I started with the deer heart – it was smaller. I had vivid images of blood spurting everywhere when I sliced into it, but no. It is a dense, solid muscle. No blood at all.

I have never seen Charlie in such a state of heaven as when he was eating the heart. Oh, how he loved it. So, last night I gave him one of the elk hearts. They are huge, about the size of the body of a teapot. I gave some to him and some to the cat and saved some for today. Pure ecstasy. (I just dictionary.com’ed “ecstasy” to get the spelling and the first definition is “rapturous delight.” That is exactly what Charlie was projecting.)

I told MC that next year, I’m putting up a sign that says “Hunters, I Want Your Hearts.” MC said, “You’d better clarify, or they’ll be lining up at the gate!”

Any of you pet owners – if you want to provide “rapturous delight” for the animals in your life, find and feed them a heart.

Not at all. He defers to Eli when eating, though if a cheese treat is involved he will try to sneak Eli’s out from under him. Charlie takes meat from my fingers and doesn’t react when I reach in to move his food dish or take his toys away. He can, at times, get a bit over-protective of his elf legs, but we all know how hard elf legs are to come by.

Last night Charlie began eating again. If things keep going as they are, we’ll need no more shots, no more IVs. There are still a few side effects of the disease to watch out for, but as a coyote, Charlie’s better built to withstand these than a domestic dog. So, we are nearing the breathe-easy-all-the-time zone and I am so glad! He’s still more rest than romp, but the three of us (the cat, the coyote and I) walked down to the cabin from MC’s this morning, and now Charlie is sitting in the grass, watching the birds and the lightening of the land as the sun rises higher above the hills.