Close Encounter of the Deer Kind

Usually the deer around here don't linger too close to our house, so imagine my surprise when I entered our bedroom and found this one outside the bedroom's sliding glass doors

It seemed to want to avoid acknowledging me . . . .

. . . until I made a bit of noise . . .

  

. . . then it decided to mosey off.

The deer are a major source of poop which I scoop up with a shovel and put in our compost. It seems to decompose quicker than the horse or goat shit we have used. I don't know if that is merely anecdotal, or a scientific fact.

Don't fawn over them . . . .

I spotted some new additions to our backyard preserve.

Mother . . . .

 . . . . with child.

They were actually pretty tolerent of me and my nosiness, but they finally departed. The fawns looked very small, and at first I thought they were dogs. Now, if we can just keep them out of the garden.

Scenes from September

We had some substantial rain this week (finally!) and I went out afterwards to catch some of late September's scenes in our backyard:

The jays will take any opportunity for a wee bit of seed . . . .

 

Mother and child reunion . . . .

 

Past its prime, but still pretty . . . .

"You lookin' at me?"

Gated Community

We have been needing a gate on our backyard garden area for some time, and this weekend we finally got it up and functioning! I had set the two posts over the last month or so, so it was now a matter of assembling the gate itself and hanging it.

These are the posts, set in the ground about 20" down with QuikCrete, looking out from inside the garden.

This is a view of the posts from outside the garden.

I made a cross post from some salvaged beam wood to keep the posts somewhat more stable. 

I attached the top post with "L" brackets.

My wife chose the wood for the fence part of the gate.

Placement is the key . . . .

We hung the gate and used rope and a bungee cord to keep it closed

In this shot you can see the red of the redwood cross beam where I cut it to size.

From the inside, with the latch at last installed

From the outside, as the deer we are keeping out of our garden will see it.

My wife tells me that after this project, I can no longer refer to myself as "not handy".

Captive rose

One of our rose blossoms got stuck between the two layers of fencing I put up to keep out our persistent deer population. Since the deer favor roses, I guess this one is protected, though restrained. The bug in the picture seems quite happy with the arrangement.

Change of seasons

After a bout of much needed rain, we are getting an early preview of Spring here in Northern California. There is change and growth all around us, and a sunny day like today yields an opportunity to see what's going on in nature's theater.

There is something so poetic about a rose growing through the deer fence around our garden---is it escape, or merely the symbol of a blossom doomed to become deer food?

The transition between the Winter and Spring is time for a burn pile to dispose of debris from previous years.

The wood stack is showing the diminishment of a Winter's need for wood stove warmth.

A neighbor's offer of free wood in return for removing the results of a felled tree awaits the wood splitter.

What the buck?

There haven't been many deer around lately, so when I went down to my lower cabin to exercise early this morning I was surprised by this sight:

A large and very calm buck, who was nonplussed by my presence. It looks like he has some kind of scar on his side, as you can see in this picture.

He watched me carefully as he ambled off. 

As I say, there is little evidence in the way of scat that there are many deer around in the last month or so. Whether it is our under-reported drought, or predators of some sort, they are being scarce.

It's my nature . . . .

I guess some people get tired of pictures of our natural surroundings, but I'm not one of them. Over the years I've put up many photos I've gotten of our backyard, so I have some pretty comprehensive documentation of the passage of time here in our Northern California neighborhood. I see no reason to stop now.

Mama and baby keeping an eye on me.

This fawn looks ready for a show!

Coming in for a landing . . . .

. . . . and taking a quick break.

After some redoing of our backyard earlier this year, this rose is doing great!

In fact, all the roses are.

Our California poppies are thriving this year as well. They grow unbidden, but are much appreciated.