Month: January 2022

I’m so tempted to go out! The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and it’s hard to stay inside—until I look at my weather station. It’s early afternoon; the temperature has climbed to 23° with a wind chill of 15°. I’m staying indoors until the deer show up for dinner!

As you can see at the top, the deer were waiting for me this morning. I had hoped they would wait until later, but I guess they weren’t deterred by the inch or so of snow that fell overnight. The snow is melting pretty quickly today since the sun is shining; the last snow took several days. I think it will be gone in the meadow in a few hours.

As a rule, I don’t go down until I see deer in the meadow. Sometimes I see just a couple when I look out, but by the time I suit up and prepare the bucket of food, I may be greeted by five, eight, or 20+ when I step outside! I sing out “Gooood morning!” and “Buenos días!” and watch to see if more run down the road from one direction, up the road from another direction, or down the slope and out of the woods on either side of my little hollow. Morning feeding takes from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how cold it is, how many deer want apples from my hand, and whether another “shift” arrives (especially if the latecomers are some of my regulars). If it’s a stunning morning like the ones below, I’ll take time to stop and admire the moon and the beauty of nature.

I continue to walk almost daily, although I have missed a few days when it’s been too cold or wet. What I see from day to day remains about the same. Sometimes I see deer in the woods or in a neighbor’s field. They can be hard to spot!

The woods are still mostly gray and brown now, except for the pines and invasives like privet (Ligustrum sinense) and honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). I’m always happy to see the beds of green ferns and the slowly spreading patch of Puttyroot orchids (Aplectrum hyemal).

A little while ago I noticed that the deer were beginning to gather. (The turkeys have been around almost all day.) When I first stepped into the sun, I thought I might go ahead and walk down to get my mail and newspaper after feeding. Then the wind started blowing again (wind chill 20°), and I quickly changed my mind. I’ll go tomorrow.

The sun will go behind the trees soon, and it’s time to get ready for another cold night. No walk today, but here’s the field on the other side of the ridge. I wonder what it will look like in the next post…

I’m glad we didn’t get the 8 to 12 inches they had forecast! It measured about 4″ when I went out to feed at first light and was still snowing heavily. Since then it’s been a mix of snow and sleet but not much more accumulation. It was snowing again when I fed this afternoon, but it was slushy. Low 20s tonight mean it will be icy and slick tomorrow, when the forecast calls for a high of 30 and teens overnight.

I didn’t walk today 🙂 and am not planning to go tomorrow. I didn’t walk when it snowed earlier in the month, either. I thought maybe I was losing my drive to go, but I’ve noticed in recent Facebook “memory” posts that skipping a day or two is not that unusual for me, especially in January.

Lots of deer were waiting this morning, and I gave them extra corn. I usually throw apple pieces, but this morning the pieces sank into the snow, so I stomped the snow flat in a few places for the apples. It was easier this afternoon since the snow had melted a little.

Several does and 2021 fawns come regularly when I call; one of the fawns eats apples from my hand and follows me around as I fill the pans with corn. Sometimes one or two follow me up the hill when I’m finished; of course, I usually throw down a few more apple pieces. Two of the 2020 buck fawns, Flopsy and Fork, come around occasionally, but they don’t get close.

It’s getting dark and cold, and I want to post this in case the power goes out. Reading my old posts has also reminded me that sometimes I don’t have much to write about. That’s happening today. Maybe I’ll have more to report soon.