Yesterday, we continued to work on the pond along the front walkway and decided we needed some more rocks to set on the ledge that runs along the inside of the pond. So off to the stone landscaping place. In search of the perfect size and just the right color to match the small boulders that create the small waterfall.
After turning off of our street, we head out on a little wooded roaded that winds to the state highway. We come upon a van stopped in our lane. Before we get too close, we can see under the van that something brown was in the middle of the lane, in front of the van. We thought, oh no, he's hit something. But no, they didn't. A doe and her very young fawn had jumped out onto the road and when the fawn saw the approaching van, instinct took over and he dropped down as flat as he could, thinking he was hiding. Unfortunately, there's not alot of cover in the middle of an asphalt road. The man driving the van didn't know what to do, he didn't want to just drive around and away fearing that it was injured or that someone else might come along and hit it.
Having raised an orphaned fawn when I was a child and living on a ranch in the middle of 40 acres, I knew that he wasn't injured, only doing as Mother Nature dictated and was "hiding from predators" by not moving and letting the spots on his coat serve as a camoflague so he would blend into the underbrush. I knew it could be a long time before he moved, and might not until his mama came back to nudge him. I decided to pick him up and move him to the edge of the ditch in hopes that he would bound off, but he didn't, he just continued to stay frozen. While I backed off, the two young teen girls from the van decided they wanted to hold him, too and get pictures on their phones. DearHusband let them finish, urging them to do it quickly, then he took the fawn away from the girls and waded across the ditch and put the fawn on the woods side of the ditch and this time, he bounded away and in a flash, we couldn't see him anymore. I am sure his mama was close by, as he had bleated for her when I first picked him up. I've watched deer before, they cross this road frequently, and I've seen the does wait in the edge of the foliage and call to the fawns to encourage them to jump the ditch.
I was a nice brush with our local wildlife that ended with an experience those girls will never forget. I won't either, as spotting our local deer is one of the things we enjoy about living out in the county!
We are going to finish the pond area today. I want to finish the rockery and get the plants back into the ground, add the new ones we purchased and get some mulch down in hopes of choking out some of the pernicious weeds. I will post pictures of the project, as soon as I have the final product ready to photograph!
It's a beautiful Sunday morning, I have enjoyed a cup of coffee while perched on a huge pile of pillows in the corner of the couch so I can can see the pond and the bird feeders. I have been enjoying the song of the goldfinches at the thistle feeder and have been thoroughly entertained by the hummingbirds chasing each other away from the feeder on the front porch next to the hanging baskets of red petunias. Time to get outside myself and get busy!
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