Our gremlins turn out to be larger than anticipated

Yesterday evening, fixing supper, I heard a noise. I couldn't really identify it: voices but not voices, owl hoots but not owl hoots, with an underlay of clacking, none of it loud, and none of it clearly identifiable as anything I knew. I turned to my husband and asked, "What was that?"

He didn't know either, and was equally unable to describe it to his satisfaction. We agreed that it seemed to be one of those noises you think you've heard, but aren't sure you've heard. We tiptoed to the bathroom window, which seemed to be closest to the noise-that-maybe-we-heard-and-maybe-we-didn't, and looked out. (Yes, I know. When two people are not sure whether they've heard something at the same time, it's a good clue that there was a noise. But this noise was so odd, it was hard to believe I'd heard it, even with the evidence.)

Off and on all evening, we kept thinking we heard noises, sometimes like the first batch of noises, sometimes different. My husband, working in his home office after dinner, kept thinking he heard something walking around in the laundry room, and kept getting up to check. He couldn't find anything, and neither could I.

Finally, after four this morning, we had another set of odd noises, louder, that seemed to be concentrated on the back porch. My husband went to look out the window that overlooks the porch. He found himself face to face with two mule deer, who proceeded to whistle and snort and coo at him through the window. I had no idea mule deer had such a vocabulary, or that they can sound like they're holding actual conversations. It was definitely the noises we'd been hearing. On top of that, the back porch bumps up against the laundry room, and both have floors made of old lumber. When the deer walked around on the back porch, it sounded like something was walking in the laundry room. Mysteries solved, all of them.

We knew we had mule deer around here. We have seen herds of them in both the front yard and the back, sometimes seven or so of them, sometimes twice that. We would have known, without seeing them, because of all the droppings they've left behind this winter. I can only hope that the 'conversations' we heard yesterday were serious discussions about whether it was about time to leave town and go back into the hills for the summer. They are beautiful animals, but I do want my yard back.