This morning Dirk wrote, “It must be a surprise every time you open the door,” which reminded me of the night I opened the front door to put some cat food in the bowl on the top step and found myself face to face with a very chubby raccoon who was cleaning up the last of my previous fill-up. We were inches apart, and my instinct was to immediately (and quickly) close the door! Brain clicked again saying, “Hey – cool!” and I reopened it as rapidly as I had shut it, but in that nano-second, the raccoon was gone. It was as though I had imagined him.

One summer evening my husband also had a surprise upon opening the door. I was staying in the Ronald McDonald house in Buffalo at the time and had left him in charge of the horses. It was 11PM and he was just settling down for the night when he heard something large splashing across the pond behind the house. Knowing that was not a place the horses should be, he jumped into his jeans, grabbed a flashlight, and headed out the door in the direction of the racket, but once in the open air, he realized that things had gone quiet. He stood still, listening, and then heard the munching of leaves about fifteen feet from where he was standing. He focused the flashlight beam on the sound as he moved closer, and then, slowly, a large snoot emerged from the tree cover... More of it appeared, followed seconds later by a huge rack of antlers: he was face to face with a bull moose! Each of them had the same thought: Yikes! Husband beat a retreat to the house while Moose whirled and thundered off into the woods.

Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Deer and Moose.

Deer and Moose who?

Deer me, I Moose be going.