Oh, Deer!
Jackson spotted them first, or maybe, he smelled them. Anyway, he alerted me to the deer's presence, just a few feet away, on the other side of the ditch. I had driven about a mile from home, past the landfill, to the small parking area next to the bike path that skirts the east side of the National Park land. We had left the house a little later than I planned, so the sun had disappeared behind the Monument before we started walking on the path. It was a beautiful, still evening, right at dusk. I was hoping the light would hold out until we made it back to the car. I was hoping, too, to spot some wildlife of the four-legged kind--I can do without rattlesnakes, thank you very much! The lingering sunset, on the north edge of Scotts Bluff. We met a couple of other walkers on the path, with their black lab, but otherwise, Jackson and I had the path to ourselves. I snapped way too many sunset pictures. On the way back, we crossed over to the alley that borders the bike path, to get jus