I should have gotten a goods night sleep then gone to church like I had planned but the dog next door had other plans for my night.

To add insult to injury I experienced true fright when I managed to pull myself out of bed to go out to smoke a cigarette in the backyard (yes I smoke, a nasty habit) – only to find whatever the dog had been barking at was apparently now in the tree- but- I couldn’t see it. My border collie Karma barked furiously while she trampled my peace rose bush straining to see what was up there… and that’s when fright came upon me.

My sister in law had just been telling me a few days ago to watch out for mountain lions in our area. I just about croaked over when she said that. What do you mean mountain lions? I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and mountain lions are not supposed to be in the neighboring yards! Regardless of what I think or where I think they should habitate, apparently they have been sighted lately. Probably climate change driving them into the city or some other ecoclogical problem.

So as I looked into the tree it occured to me that I was probably about to face the largest mountain lion I’d ever seen, and that was probably why the dog had barked all night. Stupid me, I knew I should have checked earlier before I out myself in mortal danger.

Well, just as my heart started revving up a few thousand beats in anticipation of running for my life, the mountain lion jumped out of the tree and it turned out to be a big squirrel that had been probably holed up in the tree all night, terrified to come down and face the barking dog…

So much for my imagination. I went back to bed and decided it was just way to early to start this day.