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Last night I dreamed-- what? You aren't all that interested in my dreams? Well, too bad! ;o) As I was saying, I dreamed that I had a dog that suddenly starting singing. In English. She only knew a line or two from each song, but I still considered this to be rather impressive. For a dog. ;o) She was even able to answer simple questions, so she understood English and wasn't just mimicking it. As I said, I was impressed by this hidden ability, but looking back, I wasn't quite as impressed as I ought to have been. (g) It's strange how we easily accept almost any bizarre thing in our dreams, isn't it?
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Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk (to soak up the drama of overcast skies and rising winds). I was preoccupied with taking photos and watching for snakes. (I'd seen one while driving, earlier in the day, so I figured the warmer weather might have them "on the move" again. The frogs were also singing beautifully-- more evidence that cold-blooded things were enjoying the warm snap.)
As I neared a turn in my path, there was a sudden hissing sound. I looked up, expecting to see a cat-- and a large one, by the sound of it-- but instead saw a deer bounding away. Another-- a buck-- broke out of the brush on one side of the clearing and went crashing into the tall grasses on the other side. There were several more crashes, each growing more and more distant, as they continued to flee. (I must look scarier than I thought.)
It's so startling when deer do that. (Deer, and also doves. They both make the most awful racket when you surprise them!) I just hope they always make the decision to run in the right direction-- away from me! I don't like to imagine how much it could hurt to have a deer run full speed into a person.
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I was a little bit more cautious than usual on that walk, and not just because of snakes. This was the first solo walk I'd taken (not counting trips to the mailbox and back) since hearing about a vicious dog attack. Evidently a woman I met briefly on a polymer clay forum was killed by three or four bulldogs. The dogs attacked her while she was taking her daily walk. (Later that day, the same dogs also killed an elderly man.) This happened just a day after she responded to something I'd written on a forum thread. That certainly brings home the reality of animal attacks.
Obviously something like that makes you consider your own mortality. Remember those two large dogs that were running on our property not too long ago? The ones I thought I heard growling? What would have happened if I'd come across them while out walking? Probably nothing serious, but you never know.
I'd really like to have a can of pepper spray to take with me-- on walks, on hikes (when on vacation), in my purse for when I'm shopping alone. Where do they sell that these days? I used to see little cans for sale here and there (usually near the check-out, I think), but I haven't noticed any for years.
Be careful, everyone. There are too many people who don't understand the necessity of keeping their potentially lethal pets in an adequately fenced yard.
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