Joy and Chaos

Betsy at home with me

Monday was such a wonderful day. I finally was able to bring home Betsy, our new family member. She is three years old, has the most expressive and beautiful green eyes, and is a mother. She left her two several-months-old kittens behind. She was surrendered because of substance abuse problems in her old home. I am grateful that the owner surrendered her so that she could live a safe life forever. Betsy is now spayed. And my sidebar is now complete with one of the first photos of her. And of me. My new small family.

Betsy is very warm and loving. She lets me hold her, comes when I call her, purrs quietly, speaks softly, and follows me around. But if Nelly is about, she steps aside. Nelly's nose is definitely out of joint. She is not being aggressive; just passive-aggressive. Nelly still uses her biscuit blanket at night, which is good because it relaxes her body. Of course, I am giving Nell all the support that I can.

Betsy after exploring the cellar.

We had a warm and delightful Monday night. I was looking forward to Tuesday when I would begin a new mathematics curriculum with young students that need extra support. The weather for Tuesday was supposed to be as wonderful as it was on Monday. It was going to be perfectly warm after a hard frost.

But five miles east of home, I hit a deer. We certainly are used to watching for deer. The roads are mowed and trimmed to help drivers see them coming. We have even had two deer leap over the front hood as we drove. This was a small deer, no taller than the hood of the car. It came out of nowhere, as if it dropped from the sky. It was simply a terrible thing to experience. It was pulled under the car and the car went over it. All I can say is that I am glad it was killed instantly.

8 AM on Rte. 16

I pulled over to call…who? I decided to call the state troopers and completely forgot Fish & Wildlife. I couldn't get a signal, but a woman stopped and she could. I was told to wait for a trooper who would retrieve my car parts that had been taken off of the car in the collision. The owner of a house nearby and the woman then left for their jobs. 

While waiting, I listened to my audiobook, watched a flock of robins, and then heard the crows gathering for the poor deer's corpse. That was a bit too much for me, so I closed the window so that I couldn't hear them. Eventually, about five crows congregated in the tall trees. The flock of robins, once I turned my car off, were very happily looking for food in the grass.

There are crows up there.

A robin foraging for food.

But at 10 AM, two hours after the collision, I went home. I called the state trooper barracks in Derby but nobody responded to my voice mail. I called my mechanic, who did not return my call until it was dark out. I spent the day with Lucy, my cats (how nice it is to be able to say cats plural), reading, and wondering why I have not cried for the deer. 

The fender was "undone"

No front plate

The deer was gone this morning. I have learned from the staff at school that the state troopers have a list of families that will retrieve the deer for food. I punched the fender of my car back into place, but the front license plate and hardware are gone. Since I am disabled, it is unsafe for me to search for them in the ditch. It will cost $12 for DMV to replace the plates. I have no idea what Subaru will charge to replace and install the hardware to attach it. 

I grieve for the short life of the young deer. I am grateful that I am alright so that I can care for the dog and cats. I am grateful that my car doesn't need many repairs. I am so thankful that my youngest mathematics students are happy with the change in curriculum and that relationship-building can continue full tilt. They won't feel deficient now. And all the kids at school knew about the deer and the new cat and wanted to hear about both all day today. I am thankful for the quality of my life. 

Thankful Thursdays at
Brian's Home

_/\_/\_

Early In May

Apple bud eaten by deer

Spring in northern Vermont begins after the last snowstorm and before the first black flies. It is when you walk your land to see what was damaged or has died and what is growing. There may be something new growing on your land or you may notice that it will be a good year for one species of plant. Early in May we saw how every apple bud up to five feet up on the trees has been eaten by the deer this winter. Apple picking will be a bit difficult this fall!

The fiddlehead of the interrupted fern (Osmunda claytonia)

The grove of interrupted ferns on the bank of the brook near the spring well is not as lush as it used to be. That may be because we have walked in the area too much. But the many ferns that are there are strong and healthy (below).

Spring azure butterfly

The first butterfly photographed this season was the spring azure. They are very small and startlingly blue on the top. This is the underside of the wings. The first butterfly spotted this year was the mourning cloak in April.

And of course, the purple trillium. They were abundant this year, as were the trout lilies.

Black flies are out now, so I'm not getting out as much as before. But I've got some marvelous photographs coming up soon! Spring is a miracle.

_/\_/\_

The Dancing Doe

I was on Telfer Hill Road when I came upon this young doe peacefully grazing in the field, quite close to the road. I pulled over, lowered the window and prepared the camera for photographing her. She munched and watched patiently but then danced off to the tree line. I know she was uncomfortable with me there, but she was not alarmed. It may look as if she took off quickly, but she took her time and stopped frequently to munch and watch me. I swear that she kicked up her legs purposefully because it was such a nice day!

_/\_/\_

The Server Problem

White-tailed spike horn buck and a doe

You have to forgive me for blog posts that jump back and forth in time. We had a huge problem with my new four terabyte server when we moved it from the sun porch to the living room because of the kitchen renovations. John carefully took each component apart. My job was to move each component to the new location with all cables attached. Did I do that? Nope. I detached a couple of cables and the server never worked after that. I was e-mailing Arthur, who designed and built the server for us He couldn’t figure out what the problem was. He couldn’t come here from New Hampshire to fix it because of the weather. Arthur and John did a lot of trouble shooting on the phone. Arthur tried to recreate the problem at home and couldn’t. John tried to mount the drives directly onto my computer without the server and that didn’t work.

Finally about a month ago, we called PC+Med in Newport. A young technician came the next morning. The first question he asked me was if the AC adaptor on the external drive dock was the correct adaptor for the dock. Well, I had no idea! So we all dug through my boxes of cables and equipment and found the proper adaptor. I had attached the wrong AC adaptor! The dock wasn't getting enough power, so the drives couldn't load, and therefore nothing worked. I was very embarrassed and told John and the technician that we would none of us ever tell anybody what I had done. They agreed. But my guilt forced me to do the right thing. Arthur had spent a lot of time and thought trying to solve my server problem and he deserved to know that it was my fault that it wouldn’t work. So I confessed. I only asked Arthur not to laugh at me for what I had done. It really hurt my pride to confess to him. After all, Arthur and I have played with computers together for twenty years and he knows that I know what I’m doing!

Arthur said he couldn’t possibly laugh at me because he has done the same thing himself in the past! This is why I love him. He’s the best!

Anyhow, because the server was down, I couldn't access thousands of photos and had only the most recent photos available for blogging. But now I can go back in time and continue our adventures.

In September, John and I drove to Burlington because I needed new glasses. My glasses were so bad that the lenses kept falling out here and there and anywhere. It got so bad that I only had one eye that worked. So we went to the optometrist and I kicked and screamed the whole way. But nothing awful happened. We actually had a nice day in Burlington. We had lunch out, went window shopping and had a lot of time together.

I finally got bifocals. John talked me into it (and I'm glad he did!). Photography and grocery shopping are much easier now. I can focus the camera and read the labels in the store. I don't come home with the wrong groceries anymore!

As we drove home from Burlington, John spotted these two young deer on Lowell Mountain. We turned around and drove back to take the photos. They were far off at the tree line but my lens caught them. Not caught well, but caught.This was the first spike horn I have ever seen. I guess it is now legal to hunt spike horns and it has always been legal for youth weekend.

By the way, click here for the 2011 hunting calendar for Vermont. It’s a pdf file for printing. And click here for Vermont hunting regulations.

_/\_/\_

A Panting Doe

I saw this pretty doe while driving home from the store. I couldn't decide which of the photos to share with you, so once again I have posted a slide show of all of the shots. In a couple of the shots, I swear that the hot doe (it was extremely hot) was panting. You may not be able to see this unless you view the slide show full screen. I hope you enjoy the show!

_/\_/\_

One Single Impression #123: Roads

Ferns rife with deep trails — deer must walk side by side here chatting, gossiping

Click to read more beautiful poetry

Thank you for visiting!

_/\_/\_

One Single Impression: Ochre

The Doe I follow her trail through a forest of ferns, over blow-downs, through brambles of blackberries. The going is rough on this granite-blanketed mountainside. She moved silently while I burst through — huffing and cursing her nimble feet and my awkward feet. I lose her after the hoof mark in the stream's ochre mud. This forest has cloaked her and rebuked me.

Click to read more beautiful poetry.

_/\_/\_

A White Flag

We saw this whitetail doe at John's a few weeks ago. You can see that her white flag is very fluffy and large (I've never seen deer tails this big). This may be a sexual display during mating season.

Whitetail Deer Set

Technorati Tags: whitetail deer, Odocoileus virginianus
_/\_/\_

Camera Critters: Missed Shots

Sitting in my waking-up-stupor the other morning, I saw a beaver swimming across the nearest pond. I was so slow getting the camera set up that I saw him do a surface dive into his lodge, shown here, just as I was all set up. He dove for the black spot under the grass, under the thatch behind a dry cattail underneath and to the right of the lodge in this photo. At least I have visual proof that the lodge is inhabited!

I also missed a humming bird and an eastern bluebird this week. Although I captured this white-tailed doe in the dawn's heavy mist, the photo is just awful! I post it anyhow.

I did not take this photo of a woodchuck. It was taken last summer by my grandson, Wingnut. This morning on the way home from church I drove by the same rock formation and the woodchuck was out. It was sunning with all four legs out on both sides, totally relaxed. Until I stopped the car. It ran so quickly that I never saw it leave. Here's to better shots this coming week!

Thank you so much for visiting!
To visit more participants,

clickCamera Critters or the graphic above.

My other Camera Critters post is about swimming salamanders.

Technorati Tags: white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, beaver lodge, Castor canadensis, woodchuck, Marmota monax
_/\_/\_

bootstrap analysis: deer browsing and songbirds

click on the graphic to view it full size

Graphic from the New York Times

bootstrap analysis: deer browsing and songbirds

I am not sure how this article about the effect of deer browsing and song birds applies to the deer and birds here in the woods. My inclination (without any scientific evidence to refute the Audubon Society) is that white-tails are now on the demonization list of the Audubon, as are domestic cats. In my defense, I haven't seen any scientific evidence from Audubon, either. Only numbers of birds in decline, or numbers of birds eaten by cats (millions and millions?). You can't give me numbers of bird kills or bird habitat lost without telling me how you collect and interpret your data. However, the above graphics are extremely interesting. I have a one in 133 chance of hitting a deer in my car in Vermont, the highest in New England. I am thinking that this "statistic" is derived by making a ratio of the deer population or deer collisions to the car population. Of course, no information is actually given on how this "chance of hitting" number is calculated. Obviously , white-tail overpopulation is a problem — for the deer. In Vermont, the deer are large and healthy. In other states, I am horrified at the condition and small size of the herd.  I hope the quality of communicating the problem improves. 

Technorati Tags: white-tail deer, Audubon Society, songbirds 

_/\_/\_