I live in a fairly urban area. Granted there are yards with lots of trees and gardens and it is about 3 blocks to a large park along a busy bus route, but it is in the City of Philadelphia and the usual wild life we get are stray cats and a possum or two. Today about 10:00 in the morning a full grown deer ran between my house and my neighbors—maybe 20 ft apart—into their back yard. It stood near a large bush and by the time we could get a camera it was gone. Don’t think my garden has seen a deer in a very long time, but you never know.

My street used to belong to a house on Germantown Ave. which was built in the 1600’s. Properties facing the avenue were long and narrow. Narrow on the street side but long enough to accommodate gardens, orchards and stables. During the Battle of Germantown, revolutionary soldiers had to hop fences as they chased each other through these narrow yards.

Land was subdivided after the Civil War and it is now a neighborhood of Victorian homes where stables or carriage houses have been turned into coveted homes. There has not been any livestock kept here for many years, (although Luke does keep chickens, but that’s another story). So a misplaced deer is a big deal.