A not-quite snowy weekend

The big coastal nor’easter did not produce the major snowfall here that was forecast. I did get several inches of snow from it, but the big snow that I was hoping for didn’t materialize. Since it is now March, I may well not have the opportunity to use my cross-country skis or snowshoes at all this year, which would be a first.

I doubt the local birds and animals will mind much if the winter passes without a major or even a semi-major snowfall. The little deer that I saw last week is trying to make itself a nuisance. I almost hit it in my driveway on Saturday. My driveway is L-shaped, and I can’t see the bottom of the L until I make the turn. The little deer was standing right there when I did. It’s a good thing I wasn’t going too fast. Then yesterday it actually peered at me in the cabin. Baby Dog was yipping, so I went to the door to look out and see what it was, figuring that one of the local raccoons must be on the front deck again. It wasn’t a raccoon. It was the little deer, peering around the edge of the cabin, eyes wide, more curious than afraid. Even then it didn’t run off. It just switched its tail a time or two and casually moseyed off into the forest.

It must be that its mother is dead and so not around to tell it what it should and shouldn’t be doing. It looks healthy enough, and if it can make it through the next two days of bitter cold, it may well survive the winter. Hopefully, at some point it will wander far enough to hook up with some of the other deer on the mountain, and perhaps them it will learn more wariness.