Wild life Day

Yesterday was "Weird Wildlife Day" in My World. First thing out of bed Abby is a goofball but that is not part of the story just a side note. We get
downstairs (in the parking area) for Abby to do her morning biz. She likes to pee one place then go through the bushes to the open green space between the two buildings to finish up. Anyway, we are slowly walking to and through the bushes when I hear a quick rustling in the under brush. I figured a squirrel saw us coming and scrammed. As we come into the clearing the squirrel runs up the tree and stops about 7 feet up. He is making that "chee chee" noise they make when they are pissed and twitching his bushy tail. The weird thing is instead of bounding away he positions himself on the trunk of this tree with his front aimed at me like he might make a leap at me! Both Abby and I just stood there looking and thinking "wha?" That is just too much for me to process straight out of bed and before coffee! We had a stand off for a short bit then I made the bold move to walk by to our destination. Maybe not the smartest move but it was better than being bitched out and intimidated. I did fear that he would jump on me and start biting me like a crazed vampire squirrel.

The second part of Wildlife Day happened on my bike ride before work. I was biking on the "Stillwater Corridor" multi-use path where it runs along the Willamette River on the East side of town. The path runs from the Ross Island Cement Plant to just past and behind Oaks Park. Before you get to Oaks there is a wetlands area that has a path that branches off the multi-use path, winds through the wetland and ends in the neighborhood of Sellwood. For a good mile the multi-use path is on the old train track and truss so it is above the river and above the wetlands with ground sloping away on both sides. There is working train tracks that runs parallel to the path on the wetlands side but there is fences on both sides. Anyway, It was a sunny but not very warm day. I was enjoying the semi-quiet, the sun on my face, the birds chirping and the good feeling of being on my bike. I was nearing my turn around point behind Oaks when a full grown fawn (that is what you call a female deer, right?) Came up from the river and stopped on the path. She saw the fence impeding her way to the wetlands and stopped in her tracks. I was about 20 feet away from her. I stopped and was slowly reaching for my mobile to use the camera feature. She was bigger than the frame of my bike (17.5) more like a pony in size. I have seen deer before but not in the city like that! It was pretty cool. A bike coming the other way did not stop and spooked the deer. I guess we were all lucky that the deer turned and went back the way it came. They are very powerful especially when scared. One of us could have gotten hurt.