Mule Deer

It really felt like fall this week. We managed to get in a fishing trip, as usual, but the majority of our week was spent getting a start on winterizing.

Red Rudbeckia, aka black-eyed Susan, was a big success in this year’s garden.

Central Oregon winters can be fickle weather-wise, but there is the guarantee of one good snow dump. For that reason, you need to button up the exterior.

Petunias, a favorite of mule deer in our neighborhood

We’ve transformed the patio from a basic BBQ spot to a retreat, complete with a host of herbs and flowers. This has been a great place to share a morning coffee or evening cocktail.

The patio gets crossed by neighborhood cats and there is a resident family of chipmunks that skitter across. The chipmunks seem to be using the bottom of our grow towers as watering spots.

In recent weeks there has been a small clutch of Mule Deer Stags feasting on neighborhood greenery.

Interrupted mid-munch (petunias, strawberries, and cherry tomatoes are top contenders)

We’ve seen a decrease in foliage on flowers and trees. We watch them nonchalantly strolling through the neighborhood streets.

However, we’ve not been successful in catching these tree pruners in action . . . until this week.

Continue reading “A Patio Visit”

We never seem to get used to how quickly fall overtakes summer. In what seems like a couple of days, the hillside shifts from shades of green to ochre.

Morning walks now require a warm coat and hat. However, by noon we are back in shirt sleeves. Fall is without a doubt our favorite season.

I’ve renewed the pursuit of Steelhead in the Deschutes River. To that end, this week we made our third, but not final, trip to Maupin.

Seasonal runs of these ocean dwelling rainbow trout aren’t always open to anglers, so one needs to take advantage when opportunity knocks.

The Deschutes Canyon still holds summer green along river’s edge. Higher up the slope underbrush has started to take on the reddish hues of fall.

The real sign of seasonal change is the presence of mule deer moving through the canyon on their winter migration . . . their gray fur a perfect camouflage on the hillside.

We watched as a pair of does with two yearlings work their way along the slope. Cartoon-sized ears keeping track of our presence as they search out another river access point.