Animals

The other evening I was out on the porch in the swing with Bonzo at my feet, just looking out over the meadow and relaxing, when suddenly Bonzo sat up and went, "Woof!" - which is pretty rare if you know this dog! I looked towards the woods where he was looking, and there was a deer just coming out of the trees and looking around! Bonzo gave another little woof and the deer slowly turned around and took her time going back into the woods. Jon told me that our neighbor Henry had told him that the deer were going to start coming out more and more and eating the flowers and acorns on the hill below our house.

I have seen a few cranes since we moved out here. One of them scared me half to death. I was down on the far side of the meadow looking through the grass and trees at the pond - I wanted to see if I could find the turtle I always see there - and a gigantic crane flew right up out of there where it was hidden and right over my head! They seem a lot bigger than you'd expect them to be when they are in flight - especially just a few feet away from you. I saw another one flying across the highway when I came home from work yesterday. They always seem to look like they are flying in slow motion, through molasses. It seems crazy that they can stay aloft at that speed.

I know they aren't herons because they fly with their necks way out in front of them. It looks bizarre. Makes me think about pterodacyls.