Sunday, August 2, 2009

Stealth Mode

I used to want to be an Indian. This was because they got to wear moccasins and beaded belts and shoot arrows at cowboys. Oh, yeah and wear feathers. Eagle feathers. You had to catch the eagle first. Not so easy. In grammar school, my friends and I used to spy on each other. We wore sunglasses or Zorro masks, hooded sweatshirts and moccasins, and prided ourselves on walking like a brave. We tried not to snap a twig, as we tip-toed through the bushes around neighborhood houses at dusk. This was way before ninjas.

I could so have been shot. As stealthy as we were, we could have learned a lot from Bambi's kith. This fawn comes to our place early every morning, looking for tender shoots, or anything that we are trying hard to grow. The deer control agriculture in Port Townsend, the way the Mafia controls sanitation in Chicago.

But I mean who could be angry with such a dear, I mean deer. Dear deer.

2 comments:

tlchang said...

What an amazing amount of wildlife you get through your gorgeous backyard! As much as I love seeing it, I must be finally domesticated to a suburban existence. Deer (and raccoons) would be dire to my chickens and extensive gardening. We don't get much beyond small birds, squirrels and the occasional 'possum, which is mainly after the sunflower seeds in the bird feeders. While I miss garden toads and the occasional snake and various critters from the woods that invaded our yard when I was growing up, I am grateful to not have to deal with anything more damaging than insects to the plant life here. Trade-offs....?

Richard Jesse Watson said...

You're so right, Tara. The little darlings can clear cut a garden in a jiffy. Naturally, the further out of the city, the more one finds wild thangs. Though on the news a couple years ago, there was a story about a coyote who wandered into downtown Seattle and walked into an elevator. I can imagine the scene...He looks left, "How's it goin'?"...he looks right, "Woof! nice shoes."...