an early morning fright

Now that the sun is shining, I’m quite grateful to be alive.  I was nearly scared to death this morning in the dark.  It was 5:40; Jim had already left for work and everyone else was upstairs sleeping.  I was sitting at the table looking over the newspaper when outside I heard a noise.  A loud noise.  The sound of something dropping.  On the back porch.  Like right on the other side of the wall from the kitchen table!  Yikes.  I got up from the chair, walked to the sliding glass door, and came face to face with..

 

…a DEER!  Standing on my back patio, contentedly munching on the apples in the buckets that Jim had picked the other day.  I was tied up Wednesday and gone yesterday, so dealing with them was on my calendar for today.  Never in a million years did it occur to either of us that we needed to put them in the garage…we’ve lived here 18 years, always done this at the end of September, and never had a problem. 

The deer looked me in the eye and took a step away from the bucket, quite clearly waiting for me to go back to the table so she could get back to her feast.  I turned on the porch light and waved my hands; she moved a few steps further away.  I took a deep breath and slid the door open (all the while thinking “You are a first class IDIOT!!”) and she started for the back fence.  Gathering all my courage, I stepped out on to the back porch, and in a flash she jumped our 6’ fence.  Good riddance!  Go eat the neighbor’s crops for a bit, sweetheart.  :\

Clearly, now, we’re going to have to make some changes.  It’s been a long frustrating summer with our newest yard guest.  My roses have been destroyed.   Our tomatoes never had a chance.  My only peach was enjoyed by a deer, not by any of us.  The cherry tree has been decimated.  The raspberries are, apparently, quite delectable.  As are the strawberries.  This.  Will.  NOT. work.  I’m sorry, dear deer, but you are NOT welcome here.  And next summer?  Think again before you try and make my garden your buffet table.  (Hopefully by then we’ll have some sort of remedy for this issue!!)

In the meantime, I am very grateful that it was only a deer in my backyard this morning.   It could have been something worse.  And after all, perspective is everything.