About 1 am last night Jack woke me up - no riske story here!- to tell me there were 5 deer in our back yard AND they were snacking on our shrubs. The moon was bright so when the young forked horn streached his neck up to see what was in the birdfeeder outside out bedroom window I got a wonderful view of his profile. Sitting up in bed I could see a couple of other deer standing at the arborvida planted at the end of our patio. They are the first deer we've seen in our yard. They must be pretty hungry to brave the heavy dog scent around our house!

Jack asked if I minded if we just let the deer eat the shrubs...he didn't want to chase them off. I don't mind at all - I'm glad they have found them. Everything should have a purpose and seems like that is their's. Jack pulled down the blind in our room...so they could eat in privacy... and we went back to sleep.

When Jack got up at 5 am...his ususal get up time... he was surprized to find them all still here! He flipped the patio light on and stepped out and they still didn't leave. The little buck just looked at him.

Little Shilo stuck her head out the door and looked at the deer and then ducked back into the house!! She's only 1 1/2 and has never seen deer so we'll not snicker at her too much. She gets her feelings hurt really easy! I can just hear her saying "It's hard to be brave when you are small!" Since it was 2 degrees Jack didn't commune outside with the buck long.

From the livingroom window (ours faces into our backyard) Jack watched as one of the doe's pawed at the snow beneath the large apple tree at the far end of our yard. We didn't pick up the apples that had dropped this fall and now I'm glad we didn't. I'm sure they taste better than the evergreens!

They were gone when I got up at 6. The arborvida have been nicely trimmed down but the fruit trees we planted this summer seem to be untouched. I will be getting tree wrap and some fencing tomorrow. The trees will do fine as long as the deer don't de-bark them. If winter continues to keep snow on the ground they may be back to do that!

The three fruit trees were purchased with wedding gift certificates so they are doublely special! An apple, pear, and a plum!

It's Friday night so I stayed up late to post. Off to bed now! Tomorrow I'm off to Rite Aide to scope out the sea sickness remedies, then to the vet's for Mike to get his atheritis shot, and then to the gym! Getting ready for the cruise! 15 days away!