The muck pile behind the indoor ring at the barn is getting massive now - it hasn't gotten warm enough to thaw it so it can be moved without breaking a plow. But the deer love the cover it provides, and the small shoots that are trying to grow from the seeds when the sun stays out for a few days. The first trip out back with the wheelbarrow scares up a deer family most evenings now. The bark has been stripped from a lot of the trees out back and they have had to hunt for food through a deep and icy snow cover this winter.
They take a few moments to decide whether to leave, and do so more slowly than in the warm weather. Often a couple stay behind for a while, looking over the pile at me before they finally follow the others. I sometimes wonder if these are last year's babies, the oldest of the group or just the most frail of the herd. We are all living a little closer together after weeks of back to back snow storms.
No comments:
Post a Comment