Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Thursday, July 18, 2024

Deer Ones

Mama and her babies came for a snack on the unmown lawn yesterday morning. My zucchini plant has already been devoured but she must not like tomato or eggplants. They are doing fine. I took the photo through my office window. She saw me but didn't run. She is beautiful.





I spent most of yesterday outside on the mower. I got it all done in one day, which hasn't happened for quite awhile. It takes hours, more so now because I go slower for the sake of my back. Today I plan to start cleaning up the flower beds Mark didn't get to. I also need to get the new weed whacker assembled. Our push mower is with Bill for some work, so the weed whacker is needed. The daylilies and phlox are blooming. It is colorful out there.

Today is my son and DIL's ninth anniversary. Time does fly by. We were clipped by the outer edge of a tornado the evening before. A huge maple tree came down across the driveway, leaving us no way out. Mark, Bill, Bill's neighbor and Bill's son worked valiantly with chainsaws to get us out. If that hadn't happened we would have missed the wedding. As it was, we got there just before the ceremony. I did not recognize my first husband, Matthew's bio-dad. That was embarrassing. In my defense, he was beardless and I had never seen him that way. I also never see him, so I only remember his young self. I didn't recognize the photos of David, my was-going-to-be second husband, either. My memory kept him a twenty-something and couldn't see anything else. I wonder if this is so with others?

Today I will make the weeds in the flowers a memory.

28 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

Nice, your Doe had twins! Nice of you to feed her:)

Boud said...

That's funny about not recognizing your first husband! I wonder if he was dismayed -- how soon they forget!
Lovely deer family there.

Rita said...

Yes, when you have a memory of what someone looked like 30 or 40 years ago and you haven't seen them...I would probably walk right past them and not recognize them--lol!

Love seeing the beautiful, watchful mom-deer and her twins. Congrats on getting the yard mowed! :)

Sandra said...

Far Side, she did. One is larger than the other but both look healthy so she's able to keep up. Rocky Raccoon has two healthy looking babies, too.

A zucchini plant must be delicious, it was totally devoured.

Sandra said...

He probably was, Boud. I left him, so not recognizing him was probably one more arrow into the heart. It's been 48 years and only have seen him a couple of times in the interim, so that is my excuse, along with the lack of beard.

Sandra said...

Rita, it is startling to not recognize someone you knew so well. Memory is a strange thing.

I think mama and babies live in the woodland on the northeast end of the property. They would be well protected there. Mama and Papa turkey had their brood out for dinner on the front lawn late yesterday afternoon.

Miss Merry said...

Our guests last night were Japanese Beetles. I came home at 3 and walked by my Rose O Sharon and checked for them on flowers -nothing. Luckily my husband stepped out at 7, saw them on the flowers and we hit anything with a flower with some Sevin. Those pesky bugs.

CheerfulMonk said...

Great pictures of the deer!

Ami said...

I don't like tomato or eggplant either. LOL

My mom got some deer spray to protect her flowers, she always has deer in her yard. She has a deer fence. It's 8 feet high. They just jump over it. Turns out there's a fawn-sized gap between the gate and the support post, too.

I love the photos. It looks like a peaceful place.

nick said...

Lucky you managed to get to the wedding in the end.
I quite often don't recognise men who've shaved off their beards, they look so different.
My problem is lots of grass in the flowerbeds. I don't know any way of getting rid of it except diluted vinegar or boiling water and I'd need an awful lot of either.
The wee fawn is sweet.

Anvilcloud said...

It is worth losing a few zucchini to have visitations like that.

I would probably only recognize a long-ago gf because I have seen some pictures of her. Along that vein, I can say that I wouldn't recognize my present self if I hadn't seen me everyday.

Sandra said...

Miss Merry, I had those here for maybe 3 years and then they disappeared. Not that I'm complaining, mind you!
The first time I heard of Sevin is when I lived in Georgia. It was popular there.

Sandra said...

CheerfulMonk, they are fun to watch.

Sandra said...

Ami, heavens, neither one! I wouldn't survive. The deer aren't interested in anything else I have, perhaps because there is so much vegetation they don't care. I weeded a hosta bed today and saw that a lot of the purple uds and their stems had been chomped of. I guess they find that to be like candy.

The deer are relatively safe if they stay close to to the house ih the small woodland we have.

Sandra said...

nick, I sure didn't recognize that man without his beard! I've had to let several flower beds go because the grass got so bad in them. There's grass in all of them, but not like the lawn, which is what happened to a few. I don't what to do, either, other than dig out the plants and turn the soil again and put the plantings back in. That is work!
Those fawns are adorable. It's fun to watch them play.

Sandra said...

AC, I can always buy zucchina at a farmers market!
I don't recognize my younger self in the photos I have so I know people who haven't seen me in decades wouldn't have a clue. Some people age yet maintain what makes the look like them. Not me. You have a good point, I wouldn't know me either if I wasn't living within this me now!

Anonymous said...

It is very gracious of you to respond to your readers comments.

Men who shave their beards look like they do not have chin, until you use to seeing them.

Your yard will look beautiful with all the work you are putting in. It must be very gratifying to be out there working.

I am glad the deer are welcome in your yard.

Take Care,
Kaye

peppylady (Dora) said...

I have had deer eat my tomatoes. Not the plant.

Val Ewing said...

Nice work! I've been out doing the yard stuff too! Very nice weather for that and if you keep moving the T Rex bugs may not get you!

The deer come down into the pasture for the salt lick to the south of us most mornings. Too many deer. My good neighbor just had a car-deer incident and now he is out a vehicle for a while. :(

It will feel awesome to have your flower beds cleaned up. I like working on mine as it is cathartic work.
:)

Sandra said...

Kaye, I do this for human interaction and responding to others is part of that for me. I appreciate that people take the time to not only read my pratterings on, but they comment on those pratterings. So, thank you!

I got one hosta bed weeded and gave up, I was mosquito bait, even with my mosquito repeller at my side. These three deer haven't done any real damage and they are lovely to watch.

Sandra said...

Dora, I don't have tomotaes yet, I hope they don't eat them!

Sandra said...

Val, those T Rex bugs got me!! I did get one bed completed, yippee😄
It will be a relief to have the clean up done. Mark got about half of it done, so that really helped. I'm about 50% capacity to work, which does help. Hopefully as I go along that percentage will rise.

This is the first time I've had a doe and her fawns hanging out here. Plenty of deer have come through but these seem to be living somewhere on the property.

Pixie said...

You should see my son's bio dad. OMG. He weighs 350lbs, he's in a wheelchair and uses oxygen and he's younger than me. Now you know what happens to old alcoholic sociopaths.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Enjoyed the visiting family photos, Sandra, and agree with the previous comments that it was nice of you to share some of your produce. As for failure to recognize someone, I have found that only happens if I haven;t seen someone in many, many years, then there is the apt "excuse." You have certainly been ambitious and productive with all the yard work, exhausting but a good feeling in the end. That said, I do NOT miss doing any myself.

Sandra said...

Yikes, Pixie! I guess he got his in the end. My boy's bio-dad is an alcoholic, but not a sociopath. He's tall and thin.

Sandra said...

Dorothy, I'm sure mama deer enjoyed the zucchini plant! It is a strange feeling to not recognize someone you feel you should have. I like doing some yard work, I don't like the humidity nor the swarms of mosquitoes!

e said...

My but you have great wildlife. I would love that!

Sandra said...

e, I have had many occasions to enjoy the wild animals. One of the most enjoyable was a couple of years of a fox and her kits. They would play rambunctiously in the back paddock where I could easily watch. They were so much fun.