This morning, after a brief but heavy rain shower, the dogs and I were walking down the lane towards the bottom of the mountain and what do we see? A deer, a doe to be specific, standing in the middle of the lane. She looks at us. We look at her. She twitches her tail, which turns out to be too much for the dogs. Dog stands up on his hind legs, as tall as me, balancing against the leash I’m holding. Doe twitches her tail more. Baby Dog starts to bark.

That does it. Doe takes off into the woods and while I’m trying to settle the dogs, another doe crosses the lane behind the first, followed by three (count-‘em) three fawns of the exact same size on her heels, followed by two more doe and another fawn and I think another doe and maybe even another fawn. I have a whole herd of mamas and young ‘uns in front of me and two crazed dogs by my side. I can tell it’s going to be another one of those days.

So my daily morning doe is actually multiple does, though it’s odd this is the first time I’ve seen them all together, not to mention what appears to be triplet fawns. It’s not uncommon for one or two of the does to wander through my back woods in an evening, setting Baby Dog to barking. She’s convinced the deer are attacking the cabin and are Dangerous Creatures. I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to disabuse her of that notion. I’ve come to the conclusion that Baby Dog thinks everything is a Dangerous Creature.  I think I'm ready for a weekend!