July 25

The produce across the road is a bounty for area deer, much to the Cournoyer’s dismay, who are at wits end. Nothing seems to be immune, as peppers, peas, cucumbers, squash and beans have been notably affected.

Our access road is a natural corridor, as the deer come up from the lower woods to feed, usually around 10 or 11 pm and again in the early morning. I have rarely seen deer in my pre-dawn walks, so I suspect that they frequent the fields between 10 pm and 2 am.

Tonight may be such an evening, with the full Buck Moon rising late evening, and warm temperatures which will assuredly create a fog over the cooling fields.

We hear them occasionally, moving tentatively up the corridor through the grasses that have grown uncut in the two-track of the access road. On still nights, the rustle of their hooves and chittering calls of alarm signal their passage; we need only wait several minutes then look out the front window to see ghostly shapes making their way slowly up through the front yard, under the apple tree (a favorite respite in the autumn, when new apple falls occur), and across the road to the spruce line.

If the fog is just right, their evanescent shapes lose substance as they enter the fields, making their way to the lower rows beyond, melding into the mist.

Notes:

Rose of Sharon blooming

Sun Drops and Evening Primrose blooming