the cat next door and--oh, deer

Although I keep myself busy trying to get settled into our new home, I have to admit that the days can get a little lonely here. Todd has been swamped at work, so I rarely see him Monday through Friday. And it's always a challenge to start over again in a new city, but in my past moves I have has always been starting a new school or a new job--some new social situation to force interactions with the local crowd. Let's just say that I haven't reached out to my local community yet. I have, however, seem to have bonded with my neighbor's cat.

I call her (or him) Kitty. When I open my windows in the afternoons, I often see Kitty playing around. She always stops and stares at me. First, she would run away. Now she sticks around for a while. One day, I even sang to her. Cats usually find music soothing. And she curled up in a ball on the sidewalk, almost ready for a nap. But then she ran away again.

I thought marriage would save me a future as the crazy cat woman. I guess I was wrong.

At least Kitty keeps me company. My Mom helps, too. I call her every day, which helps me feel like I still exist in the real world of people instead of my world with Kitty. As I was chatting with Mom about the day's events, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Something moving outside my glass front door. It vaguely resembled . . . a horse's butt.

I ran to the window but didn't see anything. I really am going CRAZY. Mom kind of thought so too, and I can't blame her for that. I decided I needed to get out of the house for a bit before I went completely insane.

I walked over to the original Peet's Coffee & Tea, which is only a few blocks from my apartment. Treated myself to a fabulous decaf soy latte. Coffee is often the best medicine. I picked up a few supplies at CVS. A new hairbrush, so I can finally toss out my brush with a handle I reattached with packing tape. I swung by the grocery store too. My hands were pretty full.

I got back to the apartment and this was waiting outside my door. Oh, deer.

That ain't no horse. Whew. Maybe I'm not going crazy. Maybe. But I was so nervous I could barely get through my front door. Thankfully, I was able to make it in without too much commotion. I have never seen a deer that close before, much less a buck. Would a buck ever charge a person? Those antlers seemed so big. And way too close to my glass front door. I don't think the security system would help here.

I guess a deer is pretty harmless. I think, like me, he was a little lonely too because as I was typing this the deer nearly knocked on my front door. Unfortunately, the new place isn't quite ready for guests so I had to send him home.

But thanks for stopping by, Bucko.