Spatula of Doom

Deer make me do crazy things.

Last night, we had seven or eight visit the yard. I was already in bed, but Husband called me down to witness the miracle poop machines that eat my flowers and trees and anything else that isn’t nailed down.

Husband probably thought that I would just stand beside him and silently fume. Instead, I pulled my boots on and was heading out the door when I decided that I needed a weapon, just in case one decided to charge me. I was looking for the bb gun, but couldn’t find it. So instead I grabbed what was nearest to hand: a spatula.

Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.

But it gets better.

As I was heading out the door, I yelled at the deer: “Fear me and the Spatula of Doom!!”

Needless to say, they scattered and we haven’t seem them since.

Wouldn’t you avoid the yard of the crazy woman?

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Been busy taking Project 365 pictures, but I’m a little embarrassed to show them to you. They are all of my cats. I’ve been going outside but it’s pretty stinking cold and I don’t want to stay out any longer than necessary. Will post them tomorrow, if the internets are working…

Turkey for 20?

Once again, “we” decided to get a huge turkey that could feed 12. No matter that there were only four for Thanksgiving. I could say that we had ten other people that cancelled at the last minute but that would be a lie. Two friends couldn’t make it, but that was it.

So now, we are swimming in turkey. And this is after sending over half of it home with our friends.

For the record, I want it to be known that I wanted to go with the smaller bird, but I was overruled. Husband loves turkey dinner and seems to think that more is better. But he forgets that leftovers get old quickly. It’s only Saturday, but I’m already getting tired of turkey. We went out for lunch today but had turkey for dinner. I’m hoping that I can handle one more night of it.

Turkey pot pie? Turkey burritos? Turkey pilaf? Turkey cocktail? Anything but turkey dinner!!

This year, Dusty’s decided that they would offer the option of cooking the turkey. I had my reservations, but the friends and Husband talked me into it. It was OK. The problem was that we picked it up at 10AM but didn’t eat until 3PM. It was good, but I can do better.

It was an experiment and worth doing, but I don’t think we need a repeat of it.

I like the craziness of running around and worrying that it won’t get cooked in time. I like using my electronic thermometer and keeping too close of an eye on each degree. Only 10 more until it can come out!!

I like basting the turkey and the chef in a bottle of red wine. It make the gravy so yummy!

But I really like putting that big bird on the table and knowing that I was responsible for it.

Call it pride. So shoot me.

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Project 365 – No. 95 (November 24, 2008)

Monday morning, there were six deer in the backyard. I took off after them in my dress shoes through the snow and about half way across the yard I thought “What the hell am I going to do if they chase me back?” Thankfully, there was no mauling. But I did notice tracks in the snow on the deck as I was coming back into the house. Do you thick they are getting brave?

Project 365 – No. 96 (November 25, 2008)

This was a last minute photo on Tuesday night. It was supposed to show all of the crap that I brought home with me to grade over the break but instead it just looks like I can’t keep the backseat of my car clean. Which I can’t, but that’s not the point.

Project 365 – No. 97 (November 26, 2008)

Quotation marks are dangerous in the wrong hands.

I’m famous…

In my own mind at least! But check out the video clip down on the page:

www.albion.edu/news

On other fronts, my deer karma has rubbed off on husband. He was driving home from the store and a deer ran into his car. Not the big fancy one, but the little Miata. Thankfully he was driving slowly because there was a deer on the side of road. But aren’t they supposed to be afraid of cars? They aren’t supposed to turn and run into the path of one!

Thankfully the car is OK. A minor dent in the hood, but is easy fixed (keeping the fingers crossed).

I’ve been blogging in my head; lots of hot button issues lately: education, allergies, urban deer hunting. But until I get that direct link from head to computer, it’s going to take some time to get everything down on paper.

Stay tuned!

What to my wondering eyes should appear…

But two tiny little deer!

I was looking out the window one morning and these two little fawns went tripping across the backyard. They were so stinking cute. I didn’t have the heart to run out back and chase them away. I know that in about two months I’ll be regretting this because those little suckers will be eating all of my flowers, but they were so cute!! They still had their white spots and everything.

I love this next photo. It really makes me laugh. But no one else seems to think it is nearly as funny as I do. This photo is one of the reasons that I have started carrying Jim’s camera around with my everywhere. You just never know what you are going to see:

Yes. I stop and take photos of other people’s trash cans, especially when they killed Barney and are trying to get rid of the evidence.

We interrupt Italy photos…

No time for a long post with Italy photos today. So I decided to show you some of the stuff that’s going on around the homestead.

I was really glad to get home. I missed playing in my garden. But I am rethinking the size of some of my beds. When I got home, this is representative of what my beds looked like:

And this is one of the clean ones! We must have had a hell of a winter while we were gone. There are several perennials that just didn’t come back. And not ones that I planted the year before. I accept about a 50% loss on newly planted perennials. I am learning by trial and error what the deer like to eat and what can accept shady conditions. ‘Cause my yard doesn’t get a whole lot of light.

But I lost perennials that were several years old! My dianthus is gone, several of my Siberian Iri didn’t come out this year, coral bells, cottage pinks… Gone.

On the flip side, some annuals that I haven’t planted in years have started showing up… Pansies in the front bed (none there for 18 months), snapdragons in rock beds (I haven’t had snapdragons for at least two years). I have echinacea that shows up EVERYWHERE. I have two in my front bed and they are active suckers. I dig probably 10-15 babies out of the yard every year!

But I digress.

I got everything all weeded in the back and put in some pretty flowers on the 4th of July. We had friends over and I couldn’t handle sitting out back looking at the weeds:

In addition to all of the flowers in the ground, I planted some planters and had them on the edge of the deck to add some color.

This is what I woke up to on July 6th:

Those were begonias. (See my shadow on the bottom!! Cool.)

This is what I call the buffet:

Those used to be petunias.

What really burns me about this though is that the only petunias they ate were the ones on the patio. They left the ones in the beds alone. What is it with these deer? Are they now too lazy to bend their necks and eat the ones on the ground? Is this what I’ve led these deer to?