Animal filled dreams last night. In a new house that isn’t mine but was in my dream and looked suspiciously like the house I grew up in but not quite. I was shooing a wild cat out of the family room and looked outside to see birds and strange animals claiming the backyard. There was a terrier with the body of a chicken. That was too weird so I woke up.

This part is not a dream: I went for a jog around 7am. Down Windsor St around 20th or so there is road construction going on. Two men in bright orange vests were walking my way and then…and then! One of them laughed at my double take.

Waaaahh! A deer! There was a young deer walking down the road. They were following it. I never thought it would look so out of place but it did. It no longer had white spots but it was still young and fresh looking…and somewhat confused. What a darling animal. It kept walking West.

The construction workers had called a wildlife control group and while waiting, were trying to make sure the deer stayed off the road and particularly away from Kingsway, a busier street. The deer seemed to be getting used to them and by the time I continued on my jog, it had stopped in someone’s yard to chew on a tree.

I wonder where it came from. East? North? How far had it walked and what did it think of the city? Can it be brought back to its proper home? Maybe not.

Imagine if the consequence of walking in one direction would be to end up somewhere where you are totally out of place to be taken back to a place like your old home but not. I could be found in Walla Walla, WA and the next day be living in Seattle.

What a surprise.