Another Fox Video and a Dog Dream

Well, it will surprise none of you to know we made it home just fine. We called a Whitstable taxi which picked us up at 9 a.m., and fortunately they were happy to transport the dog. The train to London was smooth and speedy. Even Dave admitted that it was actually easier than the Uber, and much cheaper.

Above, you'll see Olga in the Whitstable train station at the beginning of our journey. She looks deceptively placid in the picture. She was actually a bit on edge, as she often is when we travel. Any time we moved she would jump up as if to say, "Don't forget me!"

Once on the train she spent most of the time by our feet, near the heating vents.

We got home to find the house just as we left it, and I set about unpacking, organizing and doing laundry. It takes a while to breathe life and warmth into a house that's been closed up for a week, but by the time we got dinner last night (Chinese take-away) we felt pretty much normal. Sleeping in our own bed felt fabulous. Remember, Olga and I were on the couch the whole time we were in Whitstable, because we couldn't all fit on the tiny bed. Last night I slept eight and a half hours, pretty much uninterrupted.

Our white hellebore is blooming like crazy. The red one has buds but it's still lagging behind.

I also downloaded all the footage from our garden cam, and here's the condensed, four-minute version of wildlife activity in our garden over the past few weeks:

Critical moments, in case you want to skip ahead:
1. At the very beginning, the fox is carrying a large dog treat of the type we occasionally find in our garden. Someone's giving treats to the foxes.
2. For the next few minutes, a fox lounges in front of the camera, grooming its tail and scratching as if it owns the place.
3. At the 2:11 mark, there's incontrovertible proof that we've got two foxes. One runs up behind the other, who isn't too happy about it.
4. At 3:08, there's a daytime shot in color.
5. At 3:38 there's one of several neighborhood cats that prowl our yard, this one with a highly reflective collar.
6: The last clip shows a European jay, pecking at something and then bouncing away.

Last night I had a long, involved dream in which I lived back in Sarasota, in Florida, but I worked for my current boss. I went to a retirement home to visit someone, an older woman who was very upset by the condition of the lamb she was served for lunch. When I walked out, I found an exhausted staffy puppy, similar to Olga but male, and with blue eyes. It was bloody from a fight and almost hairless from mange. I gave it a treat and picked it up, intending to adopt it. I remember thinking Dave was going to kill me. Then I woke up.