Surrounded!
I find myself awake and realize it’s all of 3 a.m.
Just the slightest hint of moonlight blanketing the woods and the acre that our “yard” consists of.
Our other 4 and 1/2 acres belong to the wildlife.
Addicted as I now am to looking for visitors,
I approached “the window into the woods”. I nearly jumped backward..so close that I could have reached out and touched them, stood two does.
The yard was FULL of deer! No fussing, no fighting
Just a contented, peaceful herd gathering.
With all of the different personalities i’ve identified, I
Began to wonder…again, what thoughts go through their heads..do they gossip? Are there snarky remarks,
“Oh look, Ethel’s hooves are hideous, she gets that from her fathers side of the family.”
Do they have issues with manners and social
correctness? Is Bob the buck losing his sex appeal because he chews with his mouth open? Does he have
Corn breath?
“I’m going to smack that “Lucinda the lazy” if she cuts in line while we’re on the run one more time.”
These are the things that keep me up at night.
A retraction
Due to vigorous and extreme squirrel community reaction, I
would like to amend my previous statement that squirrels are crazy.
Only some of them are crazy.
With the leaves long gone from the tree branches and the frigid breeze/gale
force winds that whisper then howl, you’d think they’d stay in their nests
all day. As a peace offering I would like to say that squirrels are HEARTY
and FEARLESS. This can sometimes look like
RECKLESS and STUPID, but then that’s
not the complimentary tone I was going for. I have watched them the past
I know you're in there lady!
I only look sweet and harmless
week scampering along, flinging themselves from one pencil
thin branch to another with no concern for their own safety. It is a fabulous
display of gymnastic abilities and I am green with envy.
This is my humble attempt at an apology, and I would appreciate it if my four
footed friends would stop attacking my windows and using profanity…(They
may think they’re fooling me with that chattering nonsense, but I know profanity
when I hear it).
Could I be getting cabin fever?
I’ll just wait for spring
Still doing the rumba with mother nature.
Down with a cold last night, so no window observations although
I did have this little visitor come by of an afternoon.
Midnight and I can hear bells ringing…
The snow is pouring down and I’m anticipating a really active night tonight.
They’re going to be really hungry and I’m hoping against hope to
grab some good images.
I’d LOVE to get some of them covered in snow…I’ve got the video camera
charged and ready!
Heard an amazing story the other day about a woman who grew up with a “pet”
deer. It was orphaned and they lived on a farm..They allowed this deer to come into the
house and many times at night it would sleep in their barn with the cows. Her mother
knitted the deer a red collar with bells on it to protect it from hunters.
This image is what MIdnight thinks of my knitting him a red collar with bells on it.
Midnight
He’s back, better than ever. Every time he shows up
out of the shadows, I’m amazed. I search video and
photo’s of him, looking for some way to identify him
after he loses his rack. So far I’m not coming up
with much. No markings on the feet, which is actually unusual.
I can’t help but wonder, where he wanders as the night moves on
and the moon travels across the sky. I see him lift his nose to
the sky, taking in the scents of the night, ever aware of the
other creatures of the night moving in the shadows.
What must it be like to move through his world, through moonlight,
through howling wind and blowing snow. A mystical life in many ways.
Weather on the Way, the herd prepares.
This should be an interesting night….after receivng an unexpected
amount of snow and with the prospect of a significant amount in the
next day or snow, I put out extra corn.
The does arrived EARLY which confirms that we will have a weather
event. They always show up and eat for longer periods of time when
something is on it’s way. Looked like Dapple was out there and Silver
and her fawn. It’s possible that Dash was there, but so far I can’t get
a good look at her for identification.
This sounds terrible, but I need to somehow get outside and wash the
window..we have a flock of twenty plus Doves that come each day and
one smacked the window HARD. Left feathers and an outline of the body.
They’re tough little birds though, it flew away!
Not fun to take images and try to work around the feathers!
Off I go to peer out the window!
Snowy Day Visitors
Snapped these a few days ago.
FREEZING.
Hmmmm,,,images keep disappearing!
Out of the dark
Always a mystery happening it seems. Young Buck showed up with a friend.
This friend was another buck, even younger than Young Buck and his antlers were gone.
It almost looked like they had broken off! I’ve never seen one immediately after they’ve lost their
antlers, so I don’t know what to expect..but that didn’t look right.
Anyone out there have an idea?
They returned at least three times to feed, and it was video time again. It
is so interesting to watch the whole dominance thing play out.
I have to wonder how this crazy, weather is affecting their routines. Fifty
degrees one day, 16 degrees the next.
My little business is growing again. The book is on it’s way to
Chicago to see how it does, the DVD’s have gone over well, and
now I have an order for stationary cards. To think that one three
legged deer could have such an interesting impact on my life.
Boy meets Girl
Lots of excitement outside of the window!
It was cold, snowy, and an extremely active night
for the does and Midnight.
The does were fighting, as far as I could determine, due to the fact that several of them had their young with them. There was plenty of food, just a good sized
herd jostling for their “personal space”.
When they weren’t fussing with each other, they would all suddenly lift their heads and listen for sounds coming from the south. Suddenly out of the darkness, Midnight appeared. Now I know the “rut” is supposed to be over, but I’m wondering if the warmer winter, delayed it by a few weeks.
Midnight scattered the herd, but so fascinating, left the young does to eat in peace. After the initial panic, most of the does came back to be with their young. One doe in particular seemed to be the object of Midnight’s interest..She ran to the south and I watched Midnight dodge back and forth around our shed. He was obviously on “the hunt”.
After a few moments, back the doe would race out of the darkness, and in no time at all, Midnight would run
with deliberation, after her.
They went from south to north, south to north at least three times!
I was videotaping all of this, and at one point I had to laugh out loud because Midnight passed DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH ME! He was massive!
Amazing experience and today I went out and found prints that Midnight had left. His hoof measures six inches and between prints I measured 80 inches! That is HUGE! That was just measuring his stride walking.
In one segment of video, you can see him lunging after the doe. He moves like a bull, it made me gasp,
because it was so sudden and powerful.
I feel so lucky, again!, to witness this amazing interaction. They are totally unaware that I am there,
does anything get more real?
Mystery after midnight
Quite an interesting view from the window last night. About 12:30 a.m., I saw our little lone doe eating corn. She kept lifting her head and staring off toward the sycamore tree. Just previous to that I had seen “Prince Harry” passing through.
Soon Prince Harry strode into view..he kept just out of the brightest beam of the back light, so that video capture was out of the question.
He spent 45 minutes, striding from one side of the yard to the other,,standing and staring at the perimeter. Occasionally he would turn his head and watch the little doe eat. Standing under the sycamore staring into the woods, he suddenly lunged forward as if to intimidate something, or someone.
He continued this behaviour as I said for 45 minutes, never approaching to eat while the doe ate. The little doe eventually moved to the side and lay down. I watched her for perhaps ten minutes and then she left, I never saw Prince Harry after that. It really seemed as if he was guarding the doe. Interesting.
