15 March 2006

Oh Deer

( << This is not a photo of the deer I saw)

I was about to jump into the shower the other morning when I was frozen like a deer in a neon shower cap. I was in our upstairs bathroom, which after living here a year still lacks window treatments. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed an animal walking along the brook that runs behind our house. I instantly experienced the requisite heart palpitations and fight-or-flight adrenaline that often accompany my unexpected confrontations with nature, or when I see a bee in the house.

(That is not Vito >>>)

At first I thought the animal was a coyote and prayed Vito was not sniffing around in the bushes out back. But I quickly realized it was a deer. It took a few moments to identify because I've always expected the first deer I'd see would be some majestically-antlered buck like Bambi's dad. Instead, I saw a little doe -- two of them, actually -- drinking from the brook, completely unaware of their shower-capped spectator. I yelled downstairs to James so he could show Caroline. It's a true milestone as it's the first time we've seen a non-domestic animal in our midst since moving here last April -- and the experience was nothing like the false alarm of last fall.

6 comments:

KJ said...

BG: First of all...that Ashburnham mini bike/deer-sighting scene is so vivid I can almost see your and Yonnet's mullets flapping in the wind.

Caroline DID see the deer and seemed mildly excited about it. Please note that it was an ungodly hour of the AM so she was pretty bleary-eyed. She's even crabbier than I am in the morning..not even frolicking deer could make her smile. Paulie couldn't have cared less as he was deeply involved in a bowl of brown sugar maple syrup oatmeal.

KJ said...

p.s. Vito would never have stood for our dressing him in that ensemble.

Anonymous said...

Good thing Jamie's dad wasn't around to see those doe-a-deers or you'd have some venizon burgers in the freezer right now.

In Raynham, we've spotted the following critters in our yard over the years: red fox, deer, racoon, possum and a nocturnal creature resembling a "vole" that shimmied down the chimney one night, setting off the motion detecters and causing three police cruisers to come to Peg's rescue. The officers captured the unclassified little beast using a minnow net and a Rubbermaid tub. It was like an episode of Cops.

Anonymous said...

When my Dad gets back from Florida he plans on bathing in Deer Urine and building a tree stand in the back yard. We'll have one hanging from a tree, tongue drooping from its mouth, by April 15th.

MMMMMMM Deer.

Anonymous said...

Nice work James. And if your area is too residential for gun laws, then he just needs a salt lick and and a hammer... just kidding (sort of, Venison sausage rocks!!!)

Phil said...

Cool Deer.
We get them too