Tag: Back Yard Wild Kingdom

Monster!

I had to step outside today to take out the trash and I saw this hideous monster. How can we live in a world where an evil like this exists?

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Also, you’d think that living in the woods in New England would mean we’d have some cool fall colors. Not really. In our back yard the leaves go from green to ugly yellow to dead on the ground. Oh well.

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Jen and I talked about going leaf peeping up on the Kanc this weekend. It’s probably a smidgen too early, but it will be a fun day if we go.

Three Stops on a Sunday Morning

I went to three places this morning. The first two were sort of a bust but the third worked out nicely.

I tried to retrace my steps from Friday and hit a couple of things I saw on the Plum Island Turnpike. The first was the little airport on the side of the road. It wasn’t as nice as it was on Friday. I think there were fewer planes parked there, but I’m not sure. I pulled over on the side of the road and then wussed out and took a couple of pics through the windshield. They kinda rot.

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There was also this cool abandoned looking house so I drove up to it, but the sun was directly behind it so I had to find a place to turn around. That took approximately 3000 years, but I managed it. This pic is also through the windshield, but it’s not as crummy as the last couple.

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That house has to be haunted, right? Otherwise someone would have bought it and fixed it up (and then probably sold it for a fortune).

On the way back to civilization I stopped in the airport parking lot and tried again. The pictures are better, but the view was better from the road, I think.

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Dig the tall asshole’s shadow
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The next stop was a pretty major fail all in all. It was Water Street in Newburyport, I think. There’s a marina on what has to be the Merrimack River, but might be the Parker River? Not sure. I wanted to get close but it’s right in the downtown area and the waterfront is super built up and I couldn’t find a parking lot or an entrance or anything. I found one little pull off on the side of the road just outside of the downtown that was about 235236236235 miles from the boats. I pulled off and snapped a few in hopes of getting something decent.

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The view in the other direction wasn’t quite as New Englandy picturesque, but it was better (I think?).

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Check out the house with the observatory looking thing on the roof.

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One last shot at the boats.

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At this point I was feeling pretty blue about the whole morning’s adventure so I headed back home. I had a thought about trying to find the airport in Lawrence, but I set the GPS for home thinking I’d adjust it after I got back to the highway. There was a stretch of road in Amesbury that was on the river as well with a couple of bridges. I thought about finding a place to park on the way in but passed. One the way out I found a little spot called Alliance Park that was right next to another marina type thing, and a cool looking bridge. There was a parking lot and I was the only visitor. I wandered around the park and got some decent looking pictures. It sort of salvaged the trip for me.

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Bench. Obligatory.
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Duck!
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Once I got back to the highway I did point the GPS at the airport in Lawrence, but it was all fenced off and you couldn’t really see anything. There were parked planes in view but the fence ruined the vibe. I didn’t stop and just headed home.

That’s when I got this bonus shot. I got out of the car with my hands full of stuff and started walking up the side of the driveway. 30 yards away from me, along the trees in the backyard, was a deer! I couldn’t get a pic because my hands were full. We just stared at each other for a few seconds and then it hopped into the woods. Crap. I started walking up the driveway again and saw two more.

I quietly put my stuff down on the steps and snuck around the corner of the house. When I lifted the camera the went into the woods too. Damn. I crept into the back yard to see if I could see them through the trees. I could. They were just standing there, eyeing me with suspicion. I tried 5-6 shots but only one of them came out.

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Can you see her there, through the trees? I told her she could come back any time. She and her friends are always welcome in our yard. Probably not in the house though, sorry.

Is Santa Close By?

It’s snow and we have a ton of deer in the yard. Santa must be around here somewhere.

Our deer friends look cold and snowy and I’m guessing they are feeling pretty miserable right now.

Also, we haven’t gotten much more since my last snow pic post. Hopefully it’s as deep as it is going to get now. Fingers crossed.

The Deer Show

I’m trying my hand at working in the office on a Monday. It’s still early, but as of right now I nearly have the building to myself. There are two people in view in front of me but they are as far away as you can get and still be in my line of site. There’s no one in site behind me. The traffic was non-existent too. I zipped in without any problem.

Now having written all of that, it just dawned on me that today is a state holiday. It’s actually the first time in my 17+ years with the company that we don’t have today off. So… maybe my Monday experience is somewhat less than typical. Oh well.

That’s not what I want to write about this time though. I want to write about Deer. Again.

This morning, as I was doing my normal morning routine, I happened to look out the window and see a single deer. She (I assume it’s a she, but I think the males would have all shed their antlers by now so who knows) was in the yard, not the woods, and perfectly framed in the window. She was just hanging out, but then she looked sort of startled. She was looking off into the woods on the left side of the house. She dipped her head and stomped her front hooves. Then she took a single step backwards and did it again. Then another step backward and repeat.

Clearly she was confronting something. I couldn’t see anything in the woods but the angle was really bad so there could have been an AT-AT* out there and I would have missed it. She was clearly worked up and nervous about something. After a few minutes she turned to face the woods and did another startled little jump. There was nothing back there though.

After a few more minutes something did come out of the woods from where she was originally looking. It was 5-6 more deer. They hung out with her for a few minutes and then something spooked them all and they ran off to the right. Two more deer came across from the left at full speed, which is awesome, and then a couple of stragglers wandered in after that. They were in the woods though, so they were taking their sweet time.

And that, my readers and only friends** is the story of the scared deer.

May your Monday be less scary.

*Star Wars reference. AKA Imperial Walkers. Use your harpoons and tow cables and go for the legs.

**Clockwork Orange reference, my droogies.