Late Night Surprise!

With Spring trying to raise its head above the intermittent snow storms, we've been taking stock of our shrubs. Two winters ago the deer came down from the hills and ate our shrubs on the north side of the house right down to nubs!

For Father's Day and Ken's birthday, we replaced most of the shrubs and this last winter we were determined to be deer free! The local nursery assured us the very foul smelling liquid we purchased would discourage their foraging, and while Ken held his breath against the smell, he liberally sprayed our bushes. Unfortunately, we kept finding deer tracks in the snow and between the burlap wrapping, we could still see the nibbled branches.

In fact, during the last snow storm, Kevin woke up about 1:30 AM and could hear some rustling. He looked around and decided it was coming from outside his window. Raising the blind, he was startled to see a deer having a late night snack on the greenery right outside his window. If the window had been open, he could have touched its head!

Determined to scare them away, Kevin grabbed his flashlight and went outside (pj's and all)! As he turned the corner, he practically stumbled right on top of several deer! For a few moments they each stared at the other. With his heart pounding, Kevin whistled and with a flip of their tails, they leaped off towards the hills. Heart still racing, Kevin came back into the house and returned to bed. In the morning after he related his adventures, I couldn't help teasing him. If the deer had "attacked" him, Kevin would have still been laying out in the snow in the morning because Ken and I had been oblivious and had slept through the whole thing!

I guess this year we're going to have to go for silk bushes! (sigh)