Friday, February 27, 2009

Back from the Wilderness









Yesterday we went to my Mom's for an early dinner. I always enjoy visiting with Mom. It's nice to spend time with her and she has the most incredible backyard. My Mom sold her house in '98 and bought a really nice condo that is nestled in amongst a wildlife preserve. The woods edge is a mere 25 feet from her sliding glass door. Our visit is usually comprised of sitting at her kitchen table while looking at all the animals that visit her backyard, conversing and eating. The usual suspects that visit are... tons of squirrels, an occasional groundhog, pheasants, lots of songbirds, turkeys, and lots of stray cats that her next door neighbor gets fixed and deer, lots of them!
Yesterday did not disappoint. My Mom told us that a fairly large herd of deer usually show up around 5pm to eat. As we ate our dinner we eagerly awaited the arrival of her dinner guest. Slowly, and one by one.....came the deer. Beautiful camouflaged by the vegetation, one minute you would see them and the next they were gone. My Mom has a small opening by the woods edge where she puts bread, carrots, bird food and whatever leftovers she has. At one point yesterday we counted 11 deer. Many were yearlings who would feed under their Moms chest. I guess they still needed the comfort of knowing that Mom was still close by. What amazed me was how all the animals peacefully co-existed with each other. Cats and squirrels play with each other, the cats are very intrigued by the deer and were always a few feet away from them. Nothing like being refreshed by a day of nature :)

5 comments:

gypsy moon designs said...

Great pics! I live in an area of Missoula called Urban Wilderness and experience many deer like your mom does. We get racoons, squirrels, and the occasional bear.
I was shocked last year while playing in my flower garden I looked up a female Long Horn Sheep was in my yard!

Patrice said...

That is so cool! We live near a huge field that leads to Utah Lake and one day saw a mother duck and her ducklings waddling across our back lawn! SOOOO cute. And not so cute was the SKUNK that ventured into our backyard one night. Were we grateful our dogs (who were yapping like crazy at it) didn't get sprayed!

pnkgeeni said...

wow. i think i'd have to live there!

Unknown said...

The deer are lovely, Jackie. So glad you got to see them close up.

Michele P. said...

what beautiful pics! My dad used to feed the deer when he was alive last year and boy, wasn't it great to see the deer, chipmunks, cats, squirrels etc... all eating from the same area.