Deer Visit
Yesterday I looked up from my writing to see deer crossing the field in front of my house. I leaned out the window and took this picture. They look thinner than they usually do at this time of year. The second one’s ribs are showing. You can see from the picture that the grass has not turned fully green yet, a sign of the dry winter we’ve had here in northern California. Deer don’t graze on grass, but the plants they like are sparser too. Less grass means I’m having to feed the sheep and donkeys more hay than usual for February.
Maybe the drought year is why another animal came by this morning. I had put out hay and everyone had begun eating when the donkeys spooked and ran out of the area where their feeder is into the midst of the sheep bowls. The sheep scattered and then regrouped inside the barn. The donkeys didn’t eat but, ears up in alert mode, kept looking toward the fence dividing our home from the cattle ranch next door. I went to investigate. There, on the other side of the fence and only a little ways up the slope of the cow pasture, stood a coyote. He was probably 30 feet from me, looking past me to the barn and the donkeys. Then his eyes turned to me. We stood looking at each other for a long moment. I forgot to greet him, but went right to silently asking him to find food elsewhere. I was trying not to picture little Beau and Fleur, not wanting to put the image of them in his head. I didn’t run him off, but waited for him to get my message. This is his home too. I saw how unwanted he is—who welcomes a coyote? I wasn’t scared. I knew he wasn’t going to attack me or the animals. Certainly, he wouldn’t take on the donkeys, with their deadly hooves. He looked at me, then turned and moved away, slowly at first, then breaking into a lope and disappearing into the trees. How hard to be a predator…
