deer again

Yesterday I went to close the living room door, and sneaked carefully back to get the camera. The pictures, taken hurriedly through screens in different rooms, aren't very good, but I got them.

That's two fawns up there, not one six-legged one. Mama is just out of sight past the window, even closer to the house than they are.

And the third fawn was lagging behind.

I followed them around the corner of the house (inside) so the screen in the window here is really visible. The black spot is an insect on the outside of the window.

They were quite calm about the moving human indoors.

But outside, although I opened and closed the front door without causing alarm, the moment I raised the camera Mama snorted her warning and they were off.

adopted?

This evening my dog started barking at deer (since I won't let him out to be a herding dog! what else can he do???) and I looked up to see a doe with three spotted fawns. So I got the camera and went to the window.

They don't look like they're all the same age. I know does have twins more often than cattle do, more like goats, but triplets? I think there's a pair of twins and a younger one. Do deer fawn-sit for each other, or is one an orphan?

After listening to Stony barking for a while, they began to move off, but not quickly.

They disappeared down the hill, stopping to graze here and there.

field of flowers

During my month of working two jobs I didn't find time to sleep enough, or eat regularly, but early on I took the camera out in daylight (what's that?) in case someone made hay. I didn't really expect them too, since my horsy neighbor has moved out, and it was she who paid someone to cut her hay, and they cut my two bales too and gave them to her, since I have nothing to feed them to. So I could have waited until I'd recovered. But here we are:

I was annoyed at how little the flowers show up in the distance. They are there!

And as I drive from the road to the house they're bright and highly visible.

Unfortunately, when I walk to the road and back (a rare occasion) I keep my eyes on the gravel most of the time so I won't stumble.
Before we moved in I thought I'd use the driveway for exercise. Three-tenths of a mile, so two trips to the road and I've have walked more than a mile while not being away from the house for more than ten minutes, so I could check on my father frequently. But it's very cold and windy, or very sunny and hot, and harder to walk on than knee high grass, strangely enough, so I usually walk in the woods, or down the (dirt) road to the creek.

wild flowers at home

The black-eyed Susans are just beginning to bloom. These two are the first I've found and they're right below my bedroom balcony. (As seen from above.)

As you can see the daisies are fading. Luckily the Queen Anne's lace is beginning, so I'm not short of fluffy white flowers for my black vase.

I'll be disappearing from the blog for a few weeks, as I'm about to begin working sixty hours a week. I expect I'll spend Sundays either frantically cooking enough for a week or staring out at the trees wondering what happened.

peach ice cream

I felt inspired to get out my ice cream freezer and make some ice cream last week. The peaches were from Georgia by way of my local produce stand, but it's not freestone season yet, so I had to use clings.

I added sugar, and ran them in the blender.

Then, following to the recipe I adapted from one of my mother's 1940s cookbooks, I slowly added the peach-sugar mixture to the milk, not the other way around. I have no idea why.

Then into the freezer canister.

And put the whole contraption together...

and into the freezer. You can see I don't lack for storebought ice cream.

After stirring randomly for about two hours I had the best ice cream I've tasted in a long time.

I will be making more.

natural landscaping

Of a sort.

I planted the hostas. I left the yarrow where it came up.

fleeting beauty

I can't identify these yellow flowers in my "Wildflowers of Kentucky" (which isn't restricted to natives, but includes Stuff That Grows Here.) I didn't think they would last well indoors, and they don't.

Less than twelve hours from above to below:

But they're pretty enough to make the frequent clean up worthwhile.