You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I walked past my front door early this evening when I realized something didn't look quite normal. What was it?

It was a deer outside the screen door and it was..... are you ready for this.....

it was licking Charlie, my orange tabby!

As I watched, Charlie, who had been sleeping before being mistaken for a furry salt lick, woke, startled. I can only assume that in some cat form his thoughts were along the lines of "Whoa! WTF!"

It just so happened that my camera was nestled inside my purse on a small table just inches from my left hand. I continued to watch as I tried to quietly pull my camera out and turn it on. Meanwhile Bambi and Charlie were sniffing noses, another cat outside was pressed up against the screen trying to look inedible, and a third cat, safely inside the screen door, watched the scene with great curiosity.

As you can see, by the time I was able to snap a photo, the deer had realized he had an audience. He quietly watched us watching him, with no apparent fear until Rosie pattered up to the screen to see what was so interesting.....

"Grrrrrrr. RAWR-RAR-RAR! RAWR-RAR-RAR-RAR-RAR!!!"

And off it ran. I stepped outside and saw it had joined a buddy standing in the yard, which you can see from the photo below, taken earlier today, wasn't very deer friendly, being full of fences, lawn furniture, decorations, etc. (Of course the baby and teenager weren't still sitting out there.) Not looking terribly worried, they slowly picked their way across the lawn and trotted off down the street towards the copse of firs across the street. (And when I say "they" I mean the deer, not the baby and teen.)

While you're looking at the photo, notice the pretty giant flowers? The sprung up instantaneously. Okay, so they're nylon whirligigs I found at the Dollar Tree yesterday. There are five of them (which you can see better if you double click on the pic). Pretty, kitschy, and the vibrations help keep voles and gophers out of the yard.


Something just occured to me - maybe it was some sort of DEER DARE! They were very young deer, just out of their spots. Maybe they were bored, teenage deer.

Mike (walking down the street with Bambi): Look at all those cats.

Bambi: Where?

Mike: Over there. In that yard on the other side of that picket fence. Hey, I dare you to jump over the... no, wait, I dare you to go up there and lick a cat.

Bambi (stopping in the middle of the street to stare at Mike): Are you frickin' nuts!? No.

Mike: Oh, come on! Do it. (Mike shoulders Bambi, pushing him towards the sidewalk)

Bambi: No. Way. I am so not going to lick a cat.

Mike: Chicken.

Bambi: I am not chicken.

Mike: Chicken. (Bambi still looks hesitant.) I'll tell you what. I'll go up there into the yard with you. Look. That orange one is sleeping. You can sneak up on it. Go on. Go lick it!