Some excitement

 Sunday afternoon I walked Brio over to the conservation area, and there were about fifteen kids playing hockey on the lake. There are now four rinks cleared. Felt like something out of the 1950s, watching them play, while Moms and Dads sat in folding chairs on the edge of the rink to watch. Lovely. I don't typically like winter, but it's exhilarating and energizing here.

Tonight I got an email from Paul and Mary letting me know they had put some interesting historical stuff on a memory stick for me and left it in their mailbox for me to pick up. So I bundled up and walked briskly to get it, but the sun was setting, and by the time I got there, it was pretty dark. Felt a bit eerie on the dark road with only a few scattered glowing windows of farm houses to light my way. There aren't many street lights around here. As I was hurrying back, I saw in the distance several dark figures slink across the road, cross a snowy field, and disappear down toward the creek. They were big, bigger than dogs, and moving in a pack, and my first thought was wolves or coyotes. My second thought was "I'm stupid to be out here in the dark on my own. This isn't the city." My third thought was "I'm glad I didn't bring Brio. He'd try to chase them." And my fourth thought was, "How fast can I run to that house over there and will they let me in?"

But I kept striding along, trying to look bigger and more confident than I was, and when I reached the point where I'd seen the animals cross the road, I saw in the light of a lone street lamp...hoof prints. It had been a small herd of deer. Whew! Hurried on home, feeling silly. But it's true I shouldn't go out after dark by myself. There isn't much traffic, but there also isn't a sidewalk to walk on, and there are also farm dogs running loose here and there. Lesson learned.