Company

I've been at The Bolt Hole for five days now getting ready for our big trip. Except for the one day I had to go down to town to do some shopping for supplies I haven't seen or talked to another person. That doesn't mean I am alone.

Red squirrels chastise me from the pines as I work in the yard. Birds (lots of birds) wake me at 4:30 AM and continue to sing all day long. Hawks and turkey vultures glide overhead. A chipmunk came out of the bushes to spy on me while I burned some wood in the fire ring in the backyard. And the occasional garter snake makes my heart race as it slithers back into the grass when I walk past. But my best visitors to date were the two pairs of deer that casually walked through the yard Wednesday and Friday morning.

Wednesday I was sitting at the kitchen table surfing the internet during breakfast when I say a deer walk past the window. I grabbed my camera and went out the front door to see two does standing in the lawn. They spotted me and went through the gate and across the street. I stepped into the road and snapped a couple of pictures. (And, no, that is not the trailer we are taking west in the background!)



Friday morning I happened to glance out the front door at 7 AM (the birds had me out of bed much earlier) and spotted a 4-point buck and a doe feeding on the lawn. I snapped this picture through the glass before heading upstairs to the deck to see if I could get another photo of them before they headed down the trail on the other side of the yard. (I did snap two more pictures but the buck's was the best.)



Here's a close up of the buck.



It's twilight now and the robins (as well as other birds) are getting in their last chorus for the day. Soon the swifts will be chittering above the tree tops, then the owls will start. Perhaps there will even be some coyotes yipping away during the night.

No, I haven't seen many humans up here where the paved road ends, but I am hardly alone.