The deer are here!

Before I tell you about the deer in our yard, let me report that the rubber snake worked! The robins did not come back to the front porch to build their nest - in fact - they have built the nest in a nearby scrub oak! I watch them flying back and forth to their nest each day and I am glad they found a safe place for their little family!
Now to the deer (or "deers" as Gigi calls them) - we enjoyed watching them this past winter shortly after we moved into our home and then for about 3 months, they went elsewhere and we didn't see them at all in our backyard. Well, they are now back in full force! I enjoy watching them in the early mornings feeding and napping in the shade in the afternoon. We are hoping to begin our landscaping this week and once all of our shrubs and trees are planted, we may feel differently about them as they will probably feed on our plants. For now, I love watching these graceful and interesting animals. I like to stand on our back deck and look into their faces when they look up to see me standing there.  They sometimes look a bit puzzled when I talk to them.  We love living in this mountain setting!

 The yearlings are so cute and they follow their mothers everywhere.

 They seem to like the leaves of the scrub oak best with grass coming in second.  I am hoping that when our ground cover goes in that doesn't become their favorite!

 With their over sized ears, we believe that they are mule deer.

 They are losing their winter fur coats - this fellow still has most of his/her? winter look.

We even put a salt lick to attract them to the yard.  This little guy heard me snapping pictures and got a little nervous and camera shy.

Battle With The Birds

A pair of robins (sounds innocent enough) are determined to build a nest on the brick ledge of the transom over our front door. At first I thought the wind had blown the debris onto the front porch and I cleaned everything up. The next morning there was another mess on the porch and I swept everything up again. James was visiting this time and showed me the beginnings of the bird nest above the door. He took all the twigs, string, grass etc. off the ledge. The following day when I discovered yet another mess, I declared war on the robins! Every morning they have worked hard to rebuild the nest and I work hard with my broom to remove it! I feel a little guilty destroying all of their diligent efforts - after all they are just trying to build a nest in a safe place but then I remember the front porch of a lady in our Salem ward that I used to visit teach. Birds had nested above her front door and the mess was incredible - bird poop covered the front porch and was disgusting. So... my plan is to prevent them from ever creating a nest. However, this is easier said than done! They are incredibly determined - I have been going out 3 or 4 times a day to remove the mess and there they are making a new mess and so goes the battle. They watch me from the roof and the trees and I know they are plotting their next move!  I have tried lecturing them and asking them to choose a different location for their nest - but to no avail - they have plans for our brick ledge!  I just checked online about what could be done and so - I am off to the dollar store to buy a fake rubber snake which I will place on the ledge. I will let you know if this works - wish me luck!  I hope I don't scare off people coming to visit us!

          The mess I find multiple times each day!  Fallout from the nest building effort!

         Culprit number 1 - hiding in the trees!  Chirping messages to his lady friend!
          These birds look innocent but they are not!

Culprit number 2 taunting me from the roof!

Note the twig in the beak - just waiting for a chance to add it to the nest!