Fawn Rescue, Dog Days, Missing Hiker & Gettysburg

Today is the first of the "Dog Days" of summer, with the star Sirius being seen with the sunrise each day.  Today is also the 150th anniversary of the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg; in those three days, there were a combined 57,225 men declared dead, wounded, or missing in action.  General Lee lost fully one-third of his officers during the battle in this tiny town.  On July 4, 150 years ago, there was a heavy rain in Pennsylvania, and both armies finally began to retreat.
   The search for the 61-year-old brother of Senator Mark Udall is intensifying in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming.  Randy Udall, who has hiked in the area for over 30 years, was due back a week ago; but has not been heard from.  Search teams are looking for him from the air, on foot, and on horse-back.
   The wildfires are still burning here and throughout the southwest.  Seeing a hazy sky is beginning to seem normal, due to all of the smoke and particulates in the air.
   I got off the bus at Riverside Avenue this morning, and neither saw nor heard anything amiss.  I walked past the construction site at Tara High School, walked on down to Redwood, and went inside a house to care for Tugger and Sasquatch.  After spending an hour feeding, medicating, grooming, and playing with the boys, I walked back to Riverside to grab Rosie for our daily walk.  As I was preparing to cross 19th Street, a doe with a pair of fawns nearly knocked me down, trying to evade traffic.  I crossed, and as I was approaching the corner (where Tara HS sits), I kept hearing a repeated high-pitched cry.  It sounded as if something were in pain, or was terribly scared, or both.  I walked quietly on, and saw a doe on the outside of the 7-foot-tall chain link construction site fence, and a fawn inside the fence.  The fawn kept running into the fence to get back with its' mother.  Both gates to the fence were wired shut - I have absolutely no idea how the fawn got inside the fence, but I knew it hadn't been there when I had arrived earlier.  I used my hands and untwisted the wires holding both gates closed; then I opened both gates to their fullest extent.  I walked around the building and approached the fawn - it started to run away, toward the open gates.  Then my brother-in-law ran by, with Boo the Samoyed; mother deer was not happy and charged at them, and as that happened, the fawn ran into the fence again, rebounded against me, and went back around the building.  I waved Jim on, then went across the street and asked a woman who had just parked her car to help me - she, in turn, recruited a runner in a red, white and blue shorts and tank top outfit.  Between us, we finally got the fawn out of the fence, and back with the doe.  I want to thank Melina, a teacher at the Waldorf PreSchool, and the runner, for their help.  I closed the gates back, walked Rosie and did the rest of my usual morning work routine.  - Even though it all occurred a little later than normal.