Tuesday, June 6, 2017

What I Did on My Summer Vacation



No, my holidays are not over yet; they are, in fact, just starting, thank goodness, and things are going well. I bicycled today to where I buy Tucker’s insulin. I am grateful that insulin is so easily made these days, and relatively cheap, that it may be purchased at the same location as one buys potato chips and dish-towels. Even so, it is a bit of a distance to ride, especially on a windy day. But there are sometimes compensations, aside from the inexpensive life-saving medicine.

I saw this deer – a mule deer, I believe, to judge from its ears and tail – calmly grazing at a site where ‘modular homes’ are displayed. The concrete path on which I was riding may be seen, to judge how close I was to the animal, and one photograph is included to demonstrate how near she was to the major north-south route. I think she is female, as there are no antlers starting that I could see; I am no zoologist (though I play one on tv), so I could easily be wrong. I think she may be very young, too. She was unperturbed by my presence and looked at the automobile traffic only when a large semi-trailer truck drove by.

The neighbourhood is semi-rural, and I have in fact seen deer right in the heart of the city; I published photographs a couple of years ago of several deer I saw dining in a churchyard on the town’s main street. But this is the closest I’ve been to one.

I hope she returned to her family safely, and lives a long life – at least long enough to make many more, just like her.

(Double-click on a picture to enlarge it.)








15 comments:

  1. Oh, she's sweet! I do hope she'll be safe. In a contest between humans and wildlife, it seems that more often than not, wildlife loses. She's in a dangerous-looking (i.e. busy) area. Purrs from the boys and paws crossed that she made her way home safely.

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  2. She looks like she found a nice spot to dine without having to share! Glad the staycation is going well!

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  3. wow - right out there. hope she stays safe

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  4. Oh, she's so beautiful! She does look very young. Fingers crossed that she stays safe.

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  5. john, glad the vacation is going so well....we have deer here in residential area's all the time; with more and more housing additions going up; they really have no place to go; sadly; this is true for all the wildlife in this area. I've never understood the need for another sub division when there's 100's plus houses already on the market ~~ waves to the crew ~~~ ☺☺♥♥

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  6. Wildlife spotted on the first day of your holiday! I hope she finds a safe place away from the traffic. The weather looks lovely for your holiday.

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    1. That area is semi-rural, but is being built over all the time. The deer probably come from near-by parks, perhaps down by the river.

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  7. Sweet little girl. Perhaps someone has put out food for the deer in the area. Delightful to see but It is scary to see them in close proximity to the roadway.
    Hugs for the cats.

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    1. I think they grow used to people, which is both good and bad.

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  8. You would love it here! This town is filled to the brim with deer. They are in town, walking on the streets sometimes but most times, on the sidewalks. My home in on the edge of privately owned woods. We who own homes and land with it, own the woods. The deer of course come though all the time, leaping the fences and strolling in the yards, dining on most things that we have as they go. I gave up planting a garden. They eat the bird food too. BUT..that is the way of life and as another commenter said, they have been sadly displaced from their natural habitat by developers taking the land. Hawks have no place much to live and hunt so they have to eat snd choose song birds many times. Foxes, just all the wildlife is sadly out of a home and come to yours and mine.

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    1. I'd love to live near to or in the woods. How refreshing that would be.

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  9. Deer are so beautiful and graceful. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

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  10. She's beautiful! I hope she'll stay safe! She looks very young!
    What are your holidays plans? Are you traveling somewhere?

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    1. Alas, my holidays are home-bound. But my days are filled with things I want to do, rather than have to do, and that makes all the difference.

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