Thursday, June 30, 2011

The deer abides

I had seen the doe in the wooded lot several times since Memorial Day weekend, but had not seen the fawn. I worried that the fawn might have died or been abandoned. Then, yesterday morning, I sat on my patio watching my herd of three kitties when the lady whose lot backs up on the wooded lot jumped up the retaining wall. She advanced toward me holding her camera and smiling. She came to show me pictures she had taken the previous evening of the doe and her healthy fawn browsing in her garden.

This pretty young neighbor is an Hispanic immigrant but speaks pretty good English. She's an avid gardener and has lots of flower beds, a strawberry patch and various vegetables planted all over.  She laughed as she told me that she had counted 14 roses ready to bloom on her bushes only to find them all eaten the following morning. A tomato plant was denuded and other plants were picked over. Yet, the joy of having these animals so close was so much fun that she didn't mind. She was posting the pictures on her Facebook page for all her friends and relatives. (However, she did talk about buying some fox urine concentrate to spray around the veggies.)

This sweet gal throws stale bread into the woods for the birds and squirrels (as I do) and laughs off the garbage pail raids of racoons, squirrels and crows. She was amazed at the big hole gnawed in the lid of the garbage pail, but didn't complain.

She is my kind of neighbor and I treasure her dearly.

9 comments:

Sparrow chic said...

Oh happy day !! Was worried that something or some how a tragedy had occured. It is wonderful having neighbors who embrace the world around them, I too have them. And, my children are that way too !

Buttercup said...

Great neighbor. The deer are charming, but around here in the suburbs they literally eat everything in sight.

Linda Myers said...

There's nothing better than a good neighbor! I have one of those myself.

Teresa Evangeline said...

She sounds like the perfect neighbor, and I'm sure she feels the same!

Barbara Blundell said...

Glad the faun is O.K.

Anonymous said...

They eat things they find because their habitat was taken over by people.

I don't blame the deer but I find fault with those people who think the deer should not eat their flowers.

I hate it when deer are killed on the Interstate 70 highway that runs close to where we live. Our engineers did not have enough foresight to make underground tunnels for animals to get from one side of the road to the other.

Linda Starr said...

What a good neighbor to you have an great the fawn is ok. Happy fourth to you.

To honest Abe, we used to live in the mountains I had occasion to travel to work on a long mountain road for years, we got those plastic things called deer protectors for our car, they are mounted on the bumper, the two of them, and they emit a high pitched sound and at first I wondered if deer really heard them, then one day I saw a herd in a meadow headed righ for the road as I was approaching and then they all stopped and flicked their ears in alert and waited till I passed and then crossed the road. Deer do follow the same paths almost every day, it is a shame that roads can't be built to accommodate their travels under or over.

Anonymous said...

The damage could also be attributed to raccoons who will eat just about everything when they are hungry.

Jenny said...

She sounds wonderful! It sounds like you two are kindred spirits!