A Deer Story

With some rain on Saturday and some rain today, we are really dealing with a lot of water. I had some energy to go plant a few pawpaws in pots and, after doing two, not only was I exhausted but I realized the next six would be planted into standing water. No thanks! So I gave up.

Phil went to prune some fireblight from our orchard, a bacterial disease that makes a branch on a tree look like it's been scorched: brown and dead. He noticed that the bottom of the twigs had little incisions in them, almost like a row of stitches cut into the bark.

That would be cicada damage. Although I don't see them littering the ground, when I looked at the orchard, there was one or two per tree. And whether they like to make teeth marks in a - - - - pattern, or something else, I am glad they come only every 17 years.

Phil had one land on him while moving cows. How nice. And then it pinched him or bit him, and he wasn't thinking how nice any more.

Phil spent a long time on Saturday (four hours maybe?) putting in a section of semi-permanent fence that will hopefully help moving cows go more quickly.

While Phil was pruning, he glanced up to see a streak of black pursued by a streak of tan. How unusual, to have old Bitsy chase young pup Shadow, he thought. And then the brain registered: Wait! That's Shadow being chased by a deer!

Shadow found a fawn some days ago. We don't know if it was dead or alive, but when she was done, it was definitely not alive, and she had some extra protein. In this case, we bet that a nearby fawn had a protective mother hovering, who wasn't about to let some young pup eat her baby!