The Deer

First, let me apologize for not adding to my blog sooner but I just wasn’t sure what to write about. Then last night Ken said to me “Why don’t you tell the story about the deer?”

“That’s a great idea.” I said to him. “I was going to write about our Christmas and New Year’s but everyone does that.”

The Monday morning before Christmas, I was sound asleep in my cozy, comfy, warm bed when all of a sudden I was awakened by a screeching sound coming from Ken. I immediately jumped out of bed to see what was happening. It was 6:30 am and Ken was heading out the front door to go to work. It was of course dark outside so he switched on the lights and low and behold he caught something out of the corner of his eye. As he looked over to the right, he saw two coyotes running out of our yard. They ran down the driveway, across the street and up the hill. It scared the, you know what out of him. Upon further investigation, he saw a rather large deer lying down under our living room window; approximately fifteen feet away.

Apparently, coyotes chase a deer until it can’t run anymore and once it’s down, they kill it. Luckily for that deer, Ken opened the door when he did or we could have had a big mess on our hands. Anyway, Ken still had to get to work and he had to get from the front door to his van which was parked out on the street. We tried everything we could to scare it away, but it didn’t move. Ken felt the deer was too tired to be a threat to him, so he decided to take his chances and go on to work. Ken was right; the deer looked at Ken walk away but didn’t bother getting up.

Now, as for me, I had to be out of the house by 7:30 to care for my grandsons all day so my daughter could go to work. I was afraid to leave the house for fear the deer would attack me. Ken said that the deer would be gone by then. He was wrong.  7:20 came and I had been keeping track of this animal. I looked out once and he was standing now, eating my junipers under my front window. That was okay as they needed trimming anyway. I thought he would have his snack then leave. Nope, I looked out again and he was lying down in the same spot. I was scared because I knew I had to leave. Ken got to walk out the door but I was going to have to stop and lock it. Shaking in my boots, I thought oh well, if I die, I die. Maybe I can get to my car before the deer even stood up. No, as soon as I opened the door, he was on all fours staring at me. My hands were shaking but I managed to lock the door and get into my car. I looked over and the deer was chewing at my junipers again.

My daughter and grandsons were fascinated with my story and also concerned if the coyotes would come back while I was gone. The boys and I went back to my house later that morning and Lucas asked me what we were going to do if the deer was still there. I told him that I wouldn’t even let them get out of the car; we would just go back to their place. Fortunately, the deer was gone. 

However, about a half hour after we got to my house, the deer came back but this time he was in the front yard but at the end of the property. I told the boys not to go outside for any reason. Lucas and I watched the deer for a few moments and noticed he was limping. That upset Lucas a little and I told him I would call Grandpa and see who he could call about the situation. Now, that’s what I call passing the buck. Anyway, it was around noon when I finally got a hold of Ken and he said he would call the conservation officer. Ken called me back and said someone would either come up to our house or call me but neither ever happened. 

Lucas kept looking out the front window and updating me every fifteen minutes or so as to the deer’s status. He was very concerned for the deer. 

As Ken was arriving home from work, we saw the deer trying to get through our hedge at the end of the property. He had been there all that time either eating the shrubs or lying down. As the deer made his way through the hedge, Ken watched him walking away and he said the deer had definitely been injured. The deer took off and Ken watched it go around the corner and up the street.

Lucas was afraid for the deer and Grandpa explained to him that there wasn’t too much we could do for him. He told him that the conservation people were aware of the situation and it was up to them to handle it.

Lucas was relieved to hear that the deer did come back the next day and he was happy to know he was still alive. However, the deer didn’t stay long and we haven’t seen him since.