Marty’s photo of the day #5096: My dog, Nellie, has amazing senses. She gets credit for this shot. It was well after sunset when we stepped out onto the front porch. Immediately she knew something was sleeping among the trees a hundred feet straight out from us. I couldn’t tell what it was, so I grabbed my camera, a long lens, and cranked the ISO up to 6400. Only when I looked at my camera’s screen could I tell that it was a deer—now awake—staring at us.

As some of you know, last week Nellie had TPLO surgery (to install a metal plate with six screws) on her right-rear leg. Because of that, she’s restricted to leash walks until the end of August. Normally she sleeps through the night, but because she doesn’t like the stitch-licking-prevention cone she has to wear when we go to bed, she gets me up in the middle of the night for walks. It’s her trick to get me to remove the cone. On those walks through the forest of the Essen Wildlife Refuge, all the eyes shining in the light from my headlamp are spooky. Do they belong to a bear, a mountain lion, or just a deer like the one in today’s photo? I have to trust Nellie’s reaction to let me know what is watching us in the dark.