Permsteading.com

I got up early today, my wife had to go to church to help the Ladys make Easter Eggs so I was up early. I am retired so I am the kind of guy who normally tries to get up around the crack of 8:30 or 9 every day. Today I walked out of the house at 7:30 and saw 4 squirrles at the bird feeder, not an unusual sight at any time of day around here. Then there was a snort, and I waited and watched as 4 deer came into the yard up around my butterfly garden. I watched them for awhile as they milled around, then they moved on. Deer are such beautiful creatures. I love to see them, I love to watch them in their natural habitat. I have alot of wild things living with me here on the place. Deer, turkey, squirrle, rabbits, groundhogs, opposums, raccoon, fox, owls, hawks, song birds, it is a Joy to live here and see them all. I have a group of wild turkey that come into the yard to my bird feeder. Showing my Grand kids wild turkeys up close like that is a real Joy for me. Many children today do not get that chance to see wild turkey at all, let alone up close like that. I took these pictures the other day. I love living in the County.

We have wild turkeys in the area of the farm as well. There is a flock of about 50 that ranges over a couple of square miles. They aren't friendly enough to allow photos, however.

These turkeys are far from tame, But because the bird feeder is so close to the house I can sneak up on them. I pop out of the back door befor they know I am there. It is alot of fun watching them. I do not like to scare them off, but those pics were worth it to me. They will be back at some point, but I have not seen them since I scared them away by taking the pics.

Snowed last night. Enough to cover the ground and the trees with a white layer of clean fresh snow. Everything is white and clean. The Wild Turkeys were back at the bird feeder for a long time this morning. I guess there isn't as much to eat for them when it snows. Everything is so pretty today. One of the Joys of living here.

We have gotten a light dusting of snow since I was last at the farm. The temperatures are cold enough to keep me in town. It was supposed to hit 14 above sometime today.

I trust you were a little sloppy filling that bird feeder, Guy.

Yes, I always spread some of the bucket on the ground by hand. The doves like to eat off the ground. The squirrels will eat off the ground as well. The Turkeys only eat off the ground, they are too big to land on the feeder.

Here's one of my regular visitors who stopped long enough for a picture yesterday. This little doe has been around the neighborhood since she was a fawn a couple years ago. I ran into an old fella who told me that some escaped exotic deer on a private farm had created these piebalds by breeding with our local blacktails. I dunno if that's true, but she's a cute little thing. I love living in the country!

I have never seen a deer like that. There have been several Albino deer fairly close to my area, many people have seen them, but I have not been fortunate enough to get a glimps. Unfortunately people tend to try and shoot them as a trophy so they often do not get to breed. I am a hunter and enjoy hunting deer, and I use the meat, but special animals like that should be left alone to breed. Seeing deer in the yard up close and personal is a special experiance. I do see some here from time to time, but not as many as I would like to see. Since I fenced in the garden they do not seem to be much of a bother. They do nibble the apple trees a bit, but they could use trimmed anyway. Great picture Matt.

when i was living in SF, i always loved going up to point reyes and seeing these:



and these

The whitetail in my neck of the woods don't usually hang around long enough for me to turn the camera on.