wildlife

Now this is the wildlife we are used to seeing around our house while living in Colorado. Not the WILDlife that have graced us with their presence while living here in Arizona. Just around the corner from our house we sometimes see deer. Our neighbors have said they see them walking through the wash behind us. With the fencing that is around our backyard, we have never seen them there, only in front of this house, occasionally. Yesterday, I just happened to have my camera with the telephoto lens with me, so I was able to stop, slowly turn down the window and capture a few shots of these two.

Now, I know that it is unbearably hot here and I would not want to be wearing a coat every day, but these guys look like they have been sheared. No fur. They do have the nice velvet on their antlers, but where is the fur? Are they sick or is it a furless variety of deer found in the desert? It is sad that they are here where it is so hot, rather than up high in the cool mountains.

It is a little ironic that I saw them on the day that I posted the color orange, because if we were still in Colorado, it would be about the time that we would start seeing a lot of orange around town. It is almost the time of year for the invasion of the hunter. They flock to the state, wearing orange hats, orange vests, orange jackets, and even tie orange ribbons on their car antenna. (that is so another hunter does not mistake their white pick-up truck for a deer). Restaurants actually give discounts to hunters wearing orange. So, as I said, I thought it ironic that I saw these two deer on orange day.

It was nice to see them. It brought some nostalgia to my day, thinking about fall in Colorado and how the mornings must be feeling a little crisp right now. How the leaves are just starting to turn yellow on the aspen trees. How the setting sun casts long golden shadows on the pasture grass.

Thank you deer for letting me take your picture and for making me feel all nostalgic.