Where are my deer?

I am sad to see my deer are gone. I call them my deer, the three adults and three young ones less than a year old. Over the years the size of the herd varies, but the trail they walk past my window stays the same.

I wrote about Flag recently, the one youngster that dawdled along the way until he saw his mom had gone far up the mountain side. Then he took off like a scared rabbit. He reminded me of The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. 

For the past couple of weeks, I have only seen one deer – one of the young ones. Where are the others? It is hunting season. I know because I saw two photographs of big burly men in our local newspapers holding the dead heads of bucks they had proudly killed. 

I haven't seen any bucks in my deer herd, but I wonder if the does and young ones were shot. I know many of the people in this area eat the meat of the deer and it is no crueler than killing a cow for the beef. Still, I enjoyed the little herd passing by my window each day. Unlike people with gardens, I did not find them to be nuisances. 

On one snowy winter day, I caught them feeding in the snow. I made a shaky, amateur video and posted it on You Tube. You can see it by clicking on the link below.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAROJp7iWkU

I love a rainy day, I love a rainy day.

All day  the rain fell slowly, the leaves showered down, red and gold, and my world could not have been prettier.

I hear the rain now at 9:00 p.m. as it hits the metal top of the carport in back, and I can hardly keep my eyes open.

What is about a slow rain that soothes our nerves and whispers calming thoughts? For me, the rain means welcome isolation. Alone is not so bad anymore. Both Tiger and Rocky are soundly sleeping inside.

I'm glad I'm not camping in the woods. I'm glad I'm not driving as I did on Tuesday of this week - all day in the rain. I'm thankful I'm not homeless and sleeping in a cardboard box to escape the rain.

I sit in what will become my office when I finally get everything moved out of this room and get it painted. Right now it is one big jumble of boxes, papers, and furniture in odd places. I try to imagine what it will look like - sepia tan paint, woven blinds the same color. I can't see it, but it will surely be better than it is now.  

view from my office window

When I work here, I will sit at this window that looks out on my woods. Before long the leaves will be gone, but the winter view, with or without snow, will draw my eyes out to see what nature holds.

one of the deer outside my window last winter

 Deer feed on the slope almost in my yard. Various birds fill my woods throughout the year. Wild turkeys move in clumps silent as snow flakes falling.

I look forward to winter when all is quiet here in the mountains. I will write and work on the business of writing in my new office.
What are your plans for winter? Will you finish that manuscript? Will you finally submit a poem or short story?

DEER FEEDING IN THE SNOW

Cold Snowy days can give us cabin fever when we think the weather will just never change so we can get out of our house and down our driveway, so we can go to the grocery store, have lunch with friends, and shop.

I tend to enjoy the enforced isolation for a while.

One of the reasons I do enjoy being shut off from the world is what I can see in my woods without leaving my house.

See below the video I made early one morning. My camera work is amateurish, but the scene is lovely.

Click on the link below, my video on You Tube, and see what I saw from my living room when five of these beauties buried their heads in the white stuff to get to acorns under the six or seven inches of snow.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAROJp7iWkU



I hope you like it and if you do, please leave me a comment or send an email. Thanks.