An Odd Otter Event

Otter Track

One doesn’t know what one will experience next, as often exclaimed. 

Dinner was great after a long day of unscheduled tasks. The head-spinning from those kinds of days can be steadied by calm and serene evenings. Or, more typically, the TV is on for background noise and mind distraction, while phone scrolling is providing second-level attention. 

Night is full-on, and it’s gently snowing outside. The glow from the room extends out onto the deck. 

Out of the media din, Brent exclaims, “What is that!” “What was that out there!”

My drowse has been interrupted.  What could be that interesting on TV at this moment, I assumed.

Brent was on his feet and swiftly moving over to the patio doors. I moved from my beached whale position on the couch into a scuffling movement toward the glass doors. I see the trail marks in the snow that Brent was pointing at. 

“It was an otter!” he exclaims. 

Like whaaaat? I see the movement marks in the layer of soft snow on the deck. It was evident that something for sure had shown up on our deck. 

And then it was gone. As fast as it came, it was gone. Googling “otter” identified our visitor, whose movement alerted Brent, as our outside guest. 

What a fun thing to happen. Its traveling adventure was truly remarkable, considering it would have been quite a climb to make it up the steep hill to our house. We were going to tell everyone about the crazy experience.

Sure enough, our neighbour dropped in the next morning and proclaimed he had just seen something he had not seen before on this island. Before he finished his story, I knew the ending. 

We have a rogue otter in the neighbourhood. How odd.