A Rare Winter Beauty

Whenever I see pictures of huge deer in the forest they are always shades of brown so when I received these pictures yesterday I was amazed at the all white albino deer. The pictures were taken in Wisconsin and the story tells of the rarity of the animals. I remember not too long ago though, I wrote up a short essay on albino deer so they may not be quite as rare as I thought. They are beautiful animals so I thought it was worth a few pictures and words so we could enjoy them all over again.


The picture of the snow covered tree is one my friend Judy sent to me from Colorado. She was feeling the aftermath of a winter storm and although she had to get out and shovel a path to her car, she couldn't resist taking pictures after the storm. We do not get a lot of snow here on the coast. Every once in a blue moon we have some flakes that fall for a short while then dissipate before we can say we had a snow storm. The coast has its share of storms, like yesterday when the wind blew strong and the ocean waves were six feet or better pounding into Sporthaven beach where we sat in the car and watched them for a short time. The waves were so powerful they spewed up and over the jetty rocks and covered them. It is whale watching time but if the storms keep coming in one after the other we wont be able to see them. The white caps are way out in the ocean and hide the whales as they pass through.

Right now there is a little bit of sunshine showing, and a few gray clouds hovering above. The forecasters say we have more storms moving in and to tell you the truth, I am very happy about that as we had a dry spell that made our gardens look very lifeless. We grouse and groan about the chores of the garden but when it is not at its best we find that a part of us becomes sad, even a bit lost, as we enjoy the color and beauty it gives us especially when we tend it lovingly. There is nothing loving about my weed watching as I'd like to find a way to obliterate them and smile while I did it. I have to laugh as yesterday I had three resident deer on my front rock gardens busily eating the tender shoots of the plants. I opened the door and the deer in the pathway looked up as if to ask me what I wanted . . . what I wanted was for 'it' to go away and stop eating my bush, but then when I went out later, after the three deer left, I found it had pulled up a huge weed and was eating it. Come back, Come Back.....you are welcome to eat all you want.....weeds are delicious right??? okay deer, be my guest, I promise I'll mind my manners and sit quietly and watch you devour all the weeds you want.

I hope you have resident deer to help you keep your gardens. If not, a cat will chase the rats away, a dog will chase the cat away . . . um, isn't there a song that goes with all that. Make today a good one, enjoy every moment.