It all started eight months ago.
It was five-thirty AM or maybe six, the sun was cresting the tall Tupelo tree in the yard. The cat, nominally my neighbor’s, but it lives in my house, had decided that this was a good time for me to get up and let him out. So I went to the dining room with my laptop to get some writing done. It’s a nice place to be at that hour, the sunlight comes streaming in through the big bay windows and I get to see the yard light up as the sun starts hitting it. I had been writing for something like ten or twenty minutes when movement caught my eye. A young buck, a year or a year and half old, came sauntering into the garden out of the southeast corner which connect with the woods.
I was gobsmacked. I had seen foxes and raccoons aplenty since I had moved in last year but I had never seen deer! I quickly groped on the table for my camera which I always keep with me. But swore gently to myself, I had forgotten it on my bedside table! Luckily my lover’s little point and shooter was on the table so I grabbed it and starting snapping pictures through the windows.
The whitetail buck nosed around in my vegetable patch for a while and then sauntered out towards the south west, which my neighbors have fenced in. It walked into trees’ shadow over the underbrush and scrub with its long legged gait, and abruptly disappeared! I was sure I must have imagined it, I must just have lost sight of it in the shadows, and vegetation, and that it would be coming back out of the impasse soon enough. But fifteen minutes later, it had yet to appear. I went out to investigate, found tracks soon enough, but they just stopped a few paces away from the fence!
Pictures all from my RI trip
I love it when I catch wildlife with a camera. So unexpectedly delightful. Love the idea of a magic backyard.
ReplyDeleteGobsmacked! What a term. And what a view....glorious creature. Would allow it anywhere but in my vegetables :)
ReplyDeleteI'd be gobsmacked too! You got some great pictures.
ReplyDeleteI've never lived in a place that attracted deers. Squirrels and rates, yes. Deers, no. But I visited Fire Island once and you could practically pet them. And this past summer, we went to Assateague Island in Maryland and pet wild horses. I guess they're not so wild.
You must live in an extraordinary place, Alesa to have such visits to your garden. The best we have are the ibis that eat our fish, the possums who eat our fruit and the bats who squawk all night long and this in the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteTerrific photos.
@Kass: It was fun, the best I can hope for where I live are crows, pigeons, rats, and mice. there are mice in the subway, I see them darting around under the tracks. We'll see what the magic backyard has in store for us tonight. Not entirely sure myself. : j
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@Annie: Agreed. Normally they travel in herds, I suspect his fellow was getting some alone time. He really looked as if he were casually moseying around. "What's in in the salad bar today? Pff... Unripe tomatoes, and chives? I'll never come to this restaurant again." And then he casually walked off. He was very nonchalant about his visit.
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@Theresa: Thanks, I got lucky, the timing and positioning just happened to be great!
I've never lived in place that attracted deer either. My inlaws' house, where this all took place, doesn't usually see much deer. Though I saw more deer canoeing which was just 30 minutes away, down the coast. So I guess they are around.
Assateague? (googling) Ooh, that sounds like a nice trip!
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@Elisabeth: I live in a big city... These pictures are from my recent trip to Rhode Island USA. : j From the sound of it you have a lot more fauna around than I, not only that, but it all seems bent on feeding off of your land! : j
I love the descriptions here, they're lovely and so beautifully fleshed out without dragging on endlessly as descriptions can so easily end up becoming.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued about the story and background and character here, and I think this might work even better if you maybe added a bit more character detail early on?
What an incredible encounter. It is indeed very rare to get this close to a deer. You took some excellent pictures, particularly the last one is stunning.;)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful narrative as well, but that is always the case here.;)
xoxo
Ohhhh - you even captured the fuzzy down on the antlers. Love moments like that. Down here in the sticks of Georgia, we have deer everywhere; there's always someone munching our backyard grass. The coolest thing, though, was spotting a huge owl gliding absolutely NOISELESSLY into a thicket late one night. Most times, I'm ready to trade this pine straw for concrete, but sometimes this city girl sorta enjoys living in Mutual of Omaha's WILD AMERICA :D
ReplyDeleteHeya Sangu! Hmm... I think you're right. I'm not all that pleased with this piece. I think it needed another day of fiddling. I was hoping to get away with not presenting the character more because he/she doesn't really matter, yet. This part is all about the buck.
ReplyDeleteAt least my hope that I could get away with a piece that was entirely descriptive panned out, that's the advantage of writing in such a short form. Thanks for reading, as always. : j
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Good morning, Zuzana. Yes, it really felt surreal. The first morning after getting there, Paris was just a flight and a night's sleep away, and the buck simply sauntered right up, as if it had just gotten of the subway.
I hadn't seen any for quite some time, so it was doubly sweet.
Thanks for encouragement! :D
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Oh HELLO Zoe! Nice to see you!
Deer here, deer there, deer EVERYWHERE!
Oooh! Owls are neat! They gotta be noiseless like Priuses though, (Caution strong language: the rejected prius commercial).
Read you LATER city girl, I dig how you always up the volume in the comments. : D