Thursday, December 20, 2007

wwmw - share the road

It was snowing lightly when I stepped out the door - and the woods greeted me - taking me me to a world where things move at a different pace. I need this kind of walk today...however short, just some time to get away from the clock, the pressures of the other world. I kept my head down, eyes squinting and looking down to my feet, avoiding the flakes that were blowing in my face. Gloved hands tucked deep into my pockets, I walked with a quick pace, a walk with a purpose. Go get the mail and get back to work....

They noticed me first. I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me. One of them stomped her foot and snorted ...warning me that I was getting to close. It startled me.

I stopped walking and looked at them. They looked at me. I was closer than I have ever been to one, about 3 feet away. The whitetail are beautiful. So I just stood there - admiring them. The biggest one made a sort of bleating noise I had never heard before. Almost like a sheep, but very brief, grunt like.

The whitetail have taken to walking in the road. These last two storms make walking the paths difficult. The snow and ice are hard to traverse. Walking the road is easier for them. They tolerate my presence. Not wanting to navigate the berm of the road where the snowplow has heaved up icy mounds, they allow me to walk along with them. We walk in single file, I fall in step.

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There were four of them, the fifth decided to run up the berm and follow along on the deer path that runs parallel to the road...it lagged behind, and then would run to catch up to us.

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I followed them until I had to take a different path, back to my world with a clock and things to do. But my spirit thanks them for the interlude.

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How can I not love a creature that leaves a footprint in the shape of a heart?

17 comments:

judy said...

What a gift. Thanks for sharing it.

pacalaga said...

Beautiful!
(OH yeah, and I am lmao, a little stupidly here - I forgot about walk-with-me-wednesday, and was reading it as "what would M do?" Yeah, I know, it wasn't a D, but that didn't stop my brain from wanting to ask who M was. I need a snowy walk behind some deer butts to clear my head, too.)

elizabeth said...

Wow. What a fabulous moment. I'm so glad you never go anywhere without your camera!

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

How fabulous! I miss the white tails, they are so much prettier than the mule variety. I grew up with a large woods no more than 20 ft from the house and dad would feed them some with extra hay so you could literally lean out the window and pet them if you wished. One even rung our doorbell one year, LOL!

Thanks for sharing your white tail experience!

Joanne said...

Thank you so much for bringing this wintery magic into my days! It's raining here, and hardly ever snows. I feel transported, through your blog, to a landscape I really love.

Thanks too for your kind note on my blog. I'm spending a lot of time indoors, and without the kind comments and emails, I'd be pretty lonely. Your care means a lot to me!

Judy said...

Today, I went out to do the chickens and ended up following a opossum trail....right to the trash cans. Thankfully, he didn't get in. He did stop and pull down some old grape vines and eat some of the dried up grapes. Unlike your deer he is able to walk ontop of all the ice, making him very lucky.

Pat K said...

The mule deer will sometimes let you get close. Sort of. Your deer are so pretty. I've always had a soft spot for deer.

Sharon said...

What a lovely experience! The deer are just so beautiful, and the snow makes it magical!

Cathy said...

Nice!

DebbieB said...

Love the heart-shaped hoofprints. Magical.

Hey, the system is finally letting me post in your comment section! :-)

Lisa at Greenbow said...

How exciting to be that close to wild deer. I bet they did help your spirit soar.

Dawn said...

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful moment with us! The excitement of being so close to nature never ceases to help we humans with the stress of modern life, does it? I went for a romp in the snow with our Irish Setter the other day. It was a lovely time of smiles and laughter.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Blessed be ye for sharing such a gift!

Merry Christmas

Unknown said...

Hi! I've really been enjoying catching up on your blog, in the midst of getting ready for Christmas. One time in the late spring I was driving down the road and a tiny fawn went the opposite way of his mother, I stopped to let them get reconnected--luckily I had the window rolled down, she was calling to him with a soft kind of moo sound. We always think of deer as silent, but I was very thankful to hear a deer voice! Merry Christmas! Love those frost feathers--wish I could get some printed on plastic so I could put it on my windows and pretend to have frost ;0) And oh yeah, we have a self cleaning roof--an a-frame;0) Gets the dogs all exicted(monsters are scratching on the roof!)

cindy said...

Just think if you didn't take the time for the walk you would have missed this!

meresy_g said...

That must have been so exciting. I rarely have been that close to deer and they are so beautiful to watch.

gtr said...

I've never thought about their footprints that way! When I'm cursing their invasion into my garden, I'll try to be a bit more softhearted next year!

Nice post...

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