Familiarity

It was a busy weekend - hauling mulch, hauling the kid to parties, weeding, trying to get caught up on the never-ending laundry. One thing I never did get to was a trip to Sam's Club.  Out of dryer sheets, among other things, I resolved to take advantage of a work from home day and go there right after work.

Moving through the kitchen to put away my Sam's Club booty, I saw the two deer were back. Once again, just on the other side of the brushline at the back of the yard.  Lucky for them that my haul included 3 bags of little Empire apples, so I grabbed one up and went out to the deck. The little buck was eating from the ceramic dish of sweet feed, so when I tossed the first apples, he saw where they went. Within moments of the apples hitting the ground, both deer started moving closer, finding the path out to the lawn, no hesitation in their steps.

With a half dozen apples on the ground, the doe moved in to eat. The buck took longer, browsing in the scrub, until he realized she had found something good. He moved in for his own, skittering like a kid goat as the rabbit pair raced behind, startling him. As the doe finished those apples farthest from me and moved closer, every bite was consumed with a pointed stare in my direction - the question was, did she want more or was she suspicious of me?  I rolled a couple more apples out, and it seemed at that point both deer registered the sounds of digging from out front. Himself and The Boy trenching to run a drainage pipe had gone unnoticed until then, but once noticed, became cause for concern.

Tonight, I got a good look at the doe. Where the buck is still winter-thin, her belly bulges. Is she carrying a single fawn? Twins? We'll know soon, I think.  Even so, her belly notwithstanding, both of them have thin, delicate faces and large eyes. Staring straight at them puts me in mind of a colleagues Italian greyhound. So fragile and thin.  

Once the noises from out front - and the rabbit races going on under foot - became too distracting, both deer moved back into the woods.  Rather than leave a scatter of apples to the skunks and woodchucks, I gathered them up and walked them out to the ceramic feed dish. Again, the whole time eyes were on me.  

I came back in to finish putting away the groceries and within minutes, they were back at the feed dish...and the rabbits are still racing in the yard.