Near Miss

Hey there you, the young stag who ambled across in front of my car as I was busting down the road--didn't your mother ever teach you to look left-right-left before crossing a street? And you came out of the twilight too.  These teenagers!

Rural Witchery

Fiorella has a witch's garden out front. Every shrub, plant, and flower in it is poisonous, although she did chop out her oleanders today to make room for ligustrums. No evil plans afoot, no murderous beverages brewing--it's just that Fio lives in deer territory, and pansies, caladiums, oleanders, ligustrums, boxwoods, and the like are the only greeneries that Bambi thinks twice about before sucking them down like a vacuum cleaner.

Mosquitoes--3; Fiorella--1

Three or four deer were standing by the side of the road as Fio drove home this evening--and those were just the ones she could see.  It was like they were hitching a ride.
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Despite the spray, the mosquitoes are out in full force again.   And, unfortunately, Fiorella is their kind of gal.
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Don't hold your breath, but Fiorella may get some recompense for the crappy job ol' Jason did.  She's talking to Home Depot about it.  Next time she needs something done, she'll work up a contract.
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And, at the same time that Fio was writing this blog, she (1) was bitten by another mosquito, (2) she squashed the beast in mid-air, and (3) she accidentally let a replacement mosquito in the house when she opened the door for Sonia Dog.



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Hill Country Update

We must have had a local politico move into our rural paradise. All of a sudden our narrow, two-lane road has been repaired and repaved.  What's next--a yellow stripe down the middle?
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The deer have gotten desperate enough to chew on the pansies in the urns outside the front door.  We never have found a totally deer-proof flower.  They'll even eat salvia if the mood strikes them.
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Whatever the weather is in Austin, it's cooler here--thank you, God.  But winter is nearly over, which makes Fiorella sad.
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Road Kill

Fiorella has always had a sorrow for dead deer on the side of the road and a poor opinion of the people who ran them down--until she herself almost hit a little doe who sprang out of nowhere.  Thank goodness, Husband's gasp alerted Fio in time.

Deer are designed to be invisible.  Their colors blend in with the woods, and they freeze when anything approaches, and, at the last moment, they bolt--across driveways, over fences, and onto roads,

It isn't so much that the cars hit the deer as that the deer hit the cars.

Sonia Grows Up

Fio walked Sonia Dog twice around the driveway with four deer grazing in the middle of it.  All it took was a stick and a half of PupPeroni and Fiorella's hand under doggie's collar.  Somewhere along the way, Sonia realized that the treat was guaranteed, but she'd never yet caught a deer.

Maybe it's adult maturity setting in,  After all, Sonia will turn twenty-one in dog years next month so she'll be putting all that teen-age nonsense behind her.  She isn't as interested in rawhide bones as she used to be, and she gets querulous if we stay up past her bedtime.

But she's still our sweet baby Sonia.

Of Brain and Beauty

What deer make up for in grace and beauty, they lack in intelligence. The brains within those big-eyed, delicate little heads are truly minuscule.

Fio and Sonia Dog had barely left the front porch for their morning walk when doggie froze and pointed. About forty yards away, a deer was standing at the edge of the cedar thicket on the other side of the driveway.  As it walked slowly across the drive into the far west yard, Fiorella stuffed treat into Sonia's mouth and convinced her to turn around.  Looking back, Fio saw another deer come out of the cedar thicket.  Then a third one, then a fourth one, then a fifth one.

Yes, five deer in plain view with a mastiff under tenuous control.

Not very bright.

Escape Artist

Sonia bolted off leash again yesterday.  The weather was a little cooler so Fiorella took her out for an evening walk.  Ten paces down the driveway, Sonia spotted a deer and raced off after it,  Fio called her several times, but Sonia didn't come back till all hope of venison was gone. Then she sped down the drive, bypassed Fio, and stood on the front porch, waiting for the door to be opened.

At least she knows where she lives.

Walking Sonia

The walk started out well.  Fiorella escorted Sonia Dog up the south driveway, requesting that she "sit" at various times as cars went by.  They walked the road and down the north driveway without incident, then began to retrace their steps by going up the south drive again. Fiorella basked in the morning sunshine and the obedience of her sweet dog.

Until, heading down the north driveway again, Sonia caught sight of a deer dumb enough to leap through the cedar thicket.  Doggie, of course, tore after her, her red leash flying behind her.  After cris-crossing the thicket a couple of times, Sonia returned to the driveway, but instead of coming to Mommy, she galloped to the front porch and waited to be let in.

Needless to say, Sonia did NOT get a treat.

Greyfriar's Sonia

Our Sonia has passed, with flying colors, the real-life test she flunked the day before. Yes, she had pulled Fiorella to the ground again, for the first time in at least a year.

As they walked up the south drive, Fio and Sonia had spotted a doe and fawn, frozen like statues, on the far west lawn.  Fio growled "Leave it!" and gave Sonia treats as the deer walked off into the cedar jungle. But, coming down the north drive, Fio was so busy mentally congratulating herself on her handling of the situation that she didn't realize that the doe/fawn unit were ut the far west yard again until Sonia pulled at the leash.  Instead of yelling "Leave it!" and stuffing doggie with treats, Fiorella pulled back on the leash, a tactic which ended up with her on the ground and Sonia galloping off after the deer.

The next day, Fiorella took Sonia out on her walk with fear and trembling--and a vow to be more alert.  Good thing too, because Sonia was tempted by not only the same deer and fawn, but also by two joggers coming straight at her.  "Leave it!" and treats carried the day.

Oh, and in case you're wondering about today's title, after she chased the deer, Sonia ran back to Fiorella, still on the ground, licked her, and sat down beside her to wait until she pushed herself to her feet.

Decision Time

A herd of grazing deer was the first thing Sonya Dog saw when Fio and Husband took her outside for a walk the other day.  Husband instructed Doggie to "leave it"  and "sit" and Fiorella began stuffing treats down her throat.

Sonya knew what her choices were.  Instinct told her to break leash and take after the deer.  But the treats, both a distraction and an enticement, told her to sit still.

Sonya's almost an adult now.  She sat still.

When a Young Buck's Fancy . . . .

The deer are leaping out of the bushes every time Fio turns around, which is why Sonia, our own eager Deerstalker, is not allowed to participate in Fio's daily double walks.  This evening's adventure was typical. As Fio walked down the north driveway, she heard rustling in the thicket to the right.  When she came back through a few minutes later, two deer flew across her path.  The second one had antlers so she can only assume the first one was a doe. Yes, rut is in full swing.

Got All That?

Fiorella took Sonia up the north driveway for her morning walk, holding the leash tightly and staying alert for deer since Doggie's bolted the leash twice already this week.  Spotted a pedestrian walking up from the dip at the south edge of the property and turned around before Sonia saw him, walking her back down the north drive again and going up the south drive.  No deer around, pedestrian was out of sight--whew!  Went around the road to the mouth of the north driveway, heading towards the house, and spotted a deer posed ten feet inside the park beside the drive.  Turned Sonia around again and walked her up the north drive to the street, crossed to the south driveway and got her back to the house without incident.

And Husband wonders why Fio always carries extra treats.

Birthday, Welcome, Gifts

Yesterday was Sonya's second birthday and she celebrated by controlling herself while workmen were banging around on the roof, restraining herself while a doe and two fawns cavorted in the yard, and eating her fill of leftover pancakes and bacon.
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Fio received a nice welcoming note from the president of Hatchette Group, the parent company for Grand Central, which is her publisher.  Of course, she panics whenever she sees there's something from her agent or her publisher in her in box.  Are they going to dump her?  Is the magic carpet ride over?  Your Fio is not one to take things for granted--or, as her students used to write, "for granite."
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This is weird, but this year Fiorella has started buying Christmas gifts early, like normal people do, instead of at the last minute.  Could it be that Fio has finally turned into . . . an adult?  Nah.
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Oh, Deer!

Grab the Neosporin--Fiorella had an adventure.

She was walking around the driveway, accompanied, as always, by the faithful Sonia. Fio is proud to say that Doggie has become inured to the sounds of riding mowers and neighborhood construction, and even tolerates passing cars and the yammering of next-door dogs.  In fact, Fiorella was promising Sonia a second lap around the driveway when a spotted fawn leaped up beside them and rocketed away.

Sonia was on it in a flash, jerking the leash around Fiorella's wrist so strongly and suddenly that all Fio had time to do as she slammed down into the grass off the driveway was think "uh-oh."  Luckily she fell on her left hip, not the replacement one, but she did have to lie on the ground. breathing hard, for a few minutes before getting up.  Injuries were slight--a few cuts and abrasions and an angry prickling that made her wonder if she'd landed in an ant bed.

Sonia soon came  bounding back, full of the joy of the chase, looked up at Mommy, and smiled.  Mommy did not smile back, and Sonia did not get her second loop around the driveway.

Sonia, the Huntress

Fio assumes the private behavior class in which Sonia Dog is enrolled has been effective because she no longer breaks away from Mommy and takes off down the road to chase passing automobiles.  Instead, she stands stock still and stares fiercely at them.

Deer, though, are another matter.  Yesterday, while Mommy was walking Sonia on the driveway, Doggie spotted two does, one as great with young a she might go.  Sonia froze and stared at them like she does at cars, but when one of them twitched, she whipped the leash out of Mommy's hand and raced after them.

The deer bounded away, of course, and Sonia, her ears flopping, came galloping down the driveway when Mommy called, so no harm done except for the leash burn on Mommy's finger.

The fallow doe might drop her fawn on our acreage, but Fio doesn't think Sonia would bother it unless it leapt up and away.  Given a little action, Sonia would bring down Bambi.

Deer and Drought Resistant

As far as Fiorella's concerned, spring is here. She's put away her jeans in favor of shorts, and Husband visited the nursery yesterday, where he sank a small fortune into yucca and rosemary, both of them deer- and drought-resistant.

Fio loves the new view. The grass is bright green, and wildflowers are beginning to bloom on the verges of I-35--baby bluebonnets in the midst of millions of little yellow dots. The pink primroses should show soon. And the red paintbrushes.

Fio and Husband don't have any bluebonnets on their property, but they do have purple verbena, wild and tame. Those weird butterfly bushes the landscaper planted are in full bloom, but Fio is preparing to replace them with rosemaries because she doesn't want to ruin her other hip nursing the butterflies through the drought this summer like she did last year.

Yes, summer will come, the rain will dry up, and the drought will be in full swing again, but this time Fio and Husband will be better prepared.

Yucca and rosemary, that's the way to go.

Music to Its Ears

When Fiorella went outside yesterday to glory in the driveway repair and maybe pick up some flint in the bargain--the new dirt that had been brought in was rife with it--two deer peeked at her from out the wildwoods.

Fio froze still as a statue in the middle of the driveway, then started talking in a soft, singing voice, trying to assuring the deer she was friendly. One of them ran off, but the other one remained in place, as still as Fio, as she explained that she was a mother and would never hurt it. Only when she stopped talking did the deer dash off.

Ah, Fio's voice has soothed a savage beast.