Deer Before Dawn

After a hazy night when the half moon made the sky glow with an eerie blue like a mercury vapor streetlight, I went out into the dim grey twilight and saw a deer browsing in the yard next door. Standing very still, I watched as more deer appeared from up the street. They walked slowly south past my house, glancing warily in my direction, their hooves clopping softly on the pavement. There were six of them, altogether. I saw two does, one young buck and one older buck, and two fawns, one of them much smaller than the other. They were difficult to distinguish in the dim light, but I think they may have been the same deer I saw browsing in the field near my house a couple of weeks ago. Just a few hours ago, I uploaded the one good picture I got of them that day to my image host, so I can post it now. It shows the two fawns and either the younger buck or one of the does. It's hard to tell, as I was still a couple of hundred feet from them when I had to take the picture. The other three had already moved up the road to the right and were concealed by the trees and the new house which was being built on the corner. I'm putting the picture behind a cut, since it is 800 pixels wide.

( Deer Browsing )

Just Like Sunday

Rats! This will be entry #1239. I was waiting for entry #1234, and made it without even noticing. Now I have to wait for entry #2345 before I get another sequence like that. Bummer.

I just had to go out and break up a cat fight. For a small cat who is over ten years old, Sugar is awfully feisty. I didn't get a look at her opponent, who vanished into the darkness at my approach, but I suspect that grey tom cat who has been hanging around for a couple of weeks. She doesn't like him at all. Right now, she is sitting on the front porch, guarding her territory, looking quite pleased with herself. I'm hoping she doesn't get any bite or scratch related abscesses. Stupid cats.

Anyway, what was I going to say next? Oh, right. Weather. It's warming up again, and I'm afraid that the cherry tree will begin to bloom any time now, a month early. In fact, I'm surprised it has held out as long as it has. Although quite a few plants are blooming, I don't recall seeing a single bee out and about yet. Some of these plants may be pollinated by other creatures, but the cherry tree needs bees. Also, once it blooms, rain becomes a hazard to it, and is even more harmful once the cherries have formed. Cherries split open when they get wet on the tree.

Of course, I've just about given up hope that there will be much more rain this year. It looks as though we are heading into a period of dry years. True, we sometimes have wet springs following dry winters, but those are rare. Today, there were only weak, filmy clouds in the sky-- lovely to look at, but empty of moisture. There is no change in sight.

Now that I'm thoroughly depressed about the dryness, I will post a cheerful picture of the first camellia of the year, which bloomed a few weeks ago. I'm not putting this one behind a cut, since it is only 600 pixels wide. If that's still a problem for anyone with a tiny monitor, let me know and I'll hide pictures of this size in the future.



Oh, yeah-- carrot juice is very tasty stuff! I'm thinking it would make a nice flavor for frozen yogurt, and being naturally sweet, it wouldn't need any sugar added. Maybe I'll get a yogurt freezer someday.