...The end of the story

Ok, there is no good way to write this post and if I hadn’t taken you along on my Deer journey I would not post at all…

The other morning I got up and noticed a coyote going down the road and a lot of vulture activity up in the brush close to the road…
So I decided I should go see what was up…
It crossed my mind that it might be one of our cats…
It wasn’t, it was Miss Deer…
Even now, writing this, tears come.
So this will be brief.

My husband believes that she was hit by one of the many drivers who travel this old dirt road much too fast. He thinks he could see evidence of her being dragged to the spot she was in and it was right on a corner. She wasn’t as afraid of cars as she needed to be...
She didn't fear much I don't think.

I feel that she wasn’t meant to be in this realm for long…the neighbors who took her in as fawn lengthened her lifetime here a bit, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Lesson for me….I don’t know.
I miss her...I had come to lover her even though I knew it wasn't wise to let my heart attach to hers....but did I have a choice?

I wish I hadn’t seen her as she was with the vultures.
I did dream of her the other night….
She was chasing a car down the road.

deer kissie face....

Not too long ago I was walking my dogs and a cat up in the ‘back forty’…Maia and Zoe we’re up in front of me and around the bend on the path we have worn. I looked over my shoulder, ever alert for Miss Deer, and sure enough she was about 100 yards behind me…..We saw each other at the same time…her tail went up and she start prancing in my direction, happy to see me…THEN she got closer she saw Maia…this is when the Deer morphed into something much different than Bambi......

Her ears went back and all her fur, and she has a very thick winters coat, went straight up and out from her body making her look bigger, her eyes took on a glow and she started RUNNING towards Maia.

Well let me tell you, my heart took a huge leap in my chest, recognizing before my head did, that I needed to keep Maia out of harms way. I turned toward the Deer and made a loud growling, roaring sound and she stopped..... thank Goddess.....giving me enough time to get Maia by the collar and start down the hill…..with Deer in hot pursuit……

Believe me, never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision running from a scary looking deer. I never thought a deer could look scary! Maia and I got inside the gate and I latched it….by then Maia was wanting to mix it up with the Deer so she was barking and running up and down the fence, with the Deer still looking much like something out of a dream gone wrong.....prancing around, pawing at the ground and making a very strange sound…somewhat like a cross between a cow and a goat.

I cried and cried that night, I think over my loss of innocence. I have mentioned here I had noticed a change between how the Deer and Maia were interacting…..no more play…but I didn’t think it had advanced to such a energetically violent stage….these two DO NOT LIKE each other.

But Deer still likes me….and I still like her, I love watching her even when she is eating my jasmine…..However I can’t bare the thought of something happening to Maia…or to the Deer for that matter...but Maia comes first and I'm wondering how this will all play out.

And their relationship is very strange.....the other day I went to the door and Maia was pressed against it as hard as possible, and there was the Deer, about 3 feet from Maia all bushed up and with fire in her eyes….no soft doe eyes here….but Maia wasn’t wanting to do battle…she wanted in the house.

Last night she chased us down the hill again and that’s after napping near the front gate for much of the day with both dogs doing the same thing less than 10 feet away…???

Anyway I cried because she scared me, because we can't be friends, not really....and because I don’t want bad things to happen. I was angry at the people who humanized her. I was mad at my husband for not being scary enough to run her off and keep her from coming back. I cried because she lives such a solitary existence and she seems to want to be part of something,

And as I sit here writing I can see that she snoozing up behind the house in the sun…what to do? what to do? enjoy, julie

A view with a deer...

I haven't posted about her in a while...but she is still here. Really she is heartbreaking. We've found out the she was bottle fed by some kind people who live up the hill from us. However, their kindness has left the Deer very lonely. She isn't domesticated but she isn't really wild either. She seems to have no place in the world. I've spent a lot of time with her and feel her loneliness because she has no companions, and she is afraid at times because she has no companions. We've spoken with a woman who has had special permits to care for wild animals...a lot of deer have passed her way. She thinks the chances are slim to none the deer will find a herd to join. We're thinking because she is not very happy with Maia right now, but always seems exceptionally happy to see me, she has imprinted on me.
The photo of her is one I took the other day of her watching me through the window....She would like to come in...or have me come out to her... julie

...a vision I had.

She's watching Miss Deer!

Wow! It is such a gorgeous day….Those of us living in the Sierra Foothills are being treated to a preview of spring. Everything is so green.

In regards to the Deer, I had a lengthy chat with friend and fellow artist Sheila Boyd the other day. She is a lover of animals. They are her passion! She has walked with mountain lions!!! www.animalartbysheila.com Realizing I was beginning to come from a place of fear with said Deer, she talked to me about enjoying the magic of her visits. Not hard since she is such an engaging creature. And because listened…..I have settled down so Maia & Zoe seem to be ignoring the Deer unless I am outside too…..I think something may have happened that I was not witness to. There has been a change in the relationship between Maia and the Deer…Yesterday when Maia approached the fence Deer bushed up, ears back, head down…..she looked rather scary. She has a long winters coat and when she bushed up, she looked big and bad!!

We aren’t running her off unless she is “underfoot”. The other night Michael went out to check on her when the coyotes yipping and yapping was getting too close. There she was, tucked under a tree in the back. He has taken to being her nighttime protector, even leaving his “scent” around the fence! I’ve promised him I won’t get too close.

This week Timberline Gallery is starting the first of what may become many, Art Adventures. This is a program we are putting together for elementary aged school children to introduce them to the arts. Since there is no longer art offered in our schools. The first group of children will be coming this Friday to tour the gallery…learn about various mediums and styles, and then get some hands-on fun. My part in this will be to give them a little guidance while they each make a mask.

The first group of 15 are between the ages of 5 - 15, so I think this may be an Adventure in Art for me too! I woke up this morning with the vision of 15 out of control kids covered in feathers, paint, bones and clay! In an art gallery!!!!!

...The Deer

Mybe I should tell you a little bit about me…I live in the tiny town of Coarsegold, 22 miles from the southern entrance into Yosemite Natl. Park. I live with my husband Micheal, 2 dogs, Zoe, Maia…, and our 4 cats Patchie, Satori, CC and Huey Lewis & the News (mostly we call him Mr. Hue). In addition, a deer has adopted us......

I looked out the window one day and I saw Maia running up the length of fence that runs up the side of our property behind our house…at first I thought I was seeing double because Maia is a brindle Great Dane and running next to her on the other side of the wire fence was a doe almost exactly Maias size. They ran up and down, up and down…it’s about a 120 yard fence line and the were going about half way up each time…then the little doe would turn and flip her tail at Maia and do a little spin and then they’d run in the other direction. After about 10 minutes of this Maia was slowing down and the deer ran off. It had been hilarious to watch…they were playing!

That was 5 months ago and The Deer is still here. Our house is on a bit of land in a glen and quite a few wild things...deer, coyotes, bob-cats, skunks, raccoons, and every once in a while Mt. Lions go through here. There is a pond up the road and animals are drawn here. The Deer came almost every day…coming to the fence and looking in the yard for Maia to come play…I swear she made a little clucking sound one morning to get the dogs attention. I loved it…it was so fun to watch them. The way the doe flips her tail at Maia and twirls around I am positive she thinks Maia is a boy deer…not a buck of course, but a boy deer....

We did have a buck hanging out here for about a week...she didn't like him. One day I came home and they were both near the fence so I hissed and yelled...He ran off but she jumped into the yard!!.

Maia and I can be walking up from the little pond and if we come upon The Deer she'll stop whatever she's doing and trot our way. Maia isn't really 100% thrilled with this….Maia knows The Deer is a deer, and that The Deer is a wild animal…a danger, or something to prey, or who might be preying on us. So Maia is a little tense and more than eager to play the chase game with out the fence between.

And The Deer is coming around more and more….Sleeping by the front gate while I walk right by her to get into the yard….I thought she was going to follow me into my studio one day because she saw Maia come in……One night I was walking up to the house from my studio and the outside light didn’t come on and The Deer and Maia and Me just about bumped into each other.

I started worrying about what could happen if Maia and Zoe, who is a lovely little cow dog, all met up with no supervision around….my imagination went wild….

I decide to call the animal rehab place to see if they could come and take her somewhere to rehab to her back to wild, a much safer state…deer need to be afraid of domestic animals and people (people aren't all that trustworthy when it comes to Mother Nature and our wild friends)...or maybe a petting zoo...(yes, we can pet her) I'm worried about her getting mauled by the dogs or one of the dogs being severely hurt by those delicate looking hooves. They wouldn’t take her……she’s too old to rehab….geez she's just a year old…..they told me to do everything I can to scare her away…and if The Deer becomes a nuisance they will come and put her down....as in Kill her!

They warned me of the danger of allowing my 10 year old grandson to be around deer who seem tame but may strike with their hooves.

They told me to get a room deodorizer spray can and chase the deer while spraying (apparently some deer are afraid of the hissing sound, but not this one). The woman said to make a lot of noise, clanging things together, hissing myself, while using the spray. And I have grabbed my spray can, an old wind chime to clang and I run toward her hissing and clanging…making growling sounds. One day I ran through the yard chasing, hissing, clanging…only to realize that my new neighbors were staring at me with disbelief since they could only see a demented woman, me, looking much like some sort of wild thing myself and the Deer out of their range of vision. She did run off a little ways at first but she's figured out it's me....she likes me and darn it, I like her.

My husband has shot bird shot around her feet and she will run off but she doesn't seem to remember and comes back the next day. But at night if we hear the coyotes close by and the deer is inside the fence he let's her stay.

She hops over our fence with ease and usually to join me if I'm outside..I actually hide from her....it was raining here the other day…hard…bits of ice coming down…I hear Zoe growling so I look to see what’s up…The Deer is standing at the door with her nose pressed against the glass…so pitiful… What to do? What to do? She needs a herd…and it can’t be us.

to be continued...and yes, I'm obsessing about The Deer!