While We Were Away…

Friday morning of last week found FD and me packing our bags and getting a cooler together to take along on our semi-annual journey to Nebraska to visit my family. Two months ago when I planned the trip, I hoped the timing of it would be long before Daisy deer would deliver this year’s fawn(s). But when we saw Daisy Thursday evening, she was showing the first signs of birthing drawing near. Her udder was expanding and she had become a little aggressive with Spirit, her fawn from last year. We saw her hoofing at Spirit, running her off the feeding area. Daisy was making it known this was her birthing territory and she wanted everyone out… and now!

The visible udder seems much larger than last year. Daisy is a seasoned Mama!

Squirrels chatter, alerting Daisy to possible danger.

Daisy maintains a post on a knoll to keep watch.

Friday morning before we left, we found Daisy nibbling in the clover and feeding on corn. She still wasn’t showing signs of slowing down and resting like she did three days before she delivered her twins last year. We noticed that her udder was bigger, but then this was her second pregnancy and perhaps it would be much different from last year. Also, Daisy seemed as active as ever. I was not too worried about Spirit either. This was her home and I felt despite Daisy being a bit aggressive lately, Spirit would still hang around somewhere near. So FD and I bid them farewell, loaded the truck, and headed north.

Catching scent must be a pleasing thing!

Daisy often puts her nose to the air, catching scent of any danger.

In Nebraska Saturday morning, I sat down at my sister’s kitchen table with my iPad to check my email and noticed that I had one from our hermit neighbor, Steve. I had told him we would be gone and asked him to keep an eye on Daisy, as she was nearing her time to give birth. The email – in typical man style – gave little information. Steve stated he had seen Daisy with one baby that morning, and it looked like a big fawn. I replied with more questions and he was good to return with answers right away. I felt terrible when he told me he had heard Daisy making a strange noise Friday evening while moving about in our front yard and along the north side of our house. He felt she was trying to get our attention. It bothered me that I might have been able to be with her when she delivered, and here I was, seven hours away (that’s with “leadfoot” FD driving – it would be eight hours if I was at the wheel!).

Needless to say, upon getting this news, FD and I were both anxious to get home, but managed to enjoy ourselves despite the lure of heading south to see Daisy and meet our new granddeer! I was curious about Spirit too. I will write more about the Memorial holiday spent in Nebraska in a later post, but for now, suffice it to say the thing that got me through my anxiety was my old friend vulture. Each time we set out to visit family, take in an event, or simply drive around to view the countryside (a tornado had recently hit a nearby community), I saw my animal totem flying high above or alongside the vehicle. “Glide and Soar” were the words that came to me, helping me relax, and to know that Daisy was just fine on her own.

A slender and svelte Daisy greeted us!

When we arrived home Tuesday, FD tore out of the truck and jumped the fence into Steve’s backyard, while I unloaded a few things and got the dogs set up in the house. FD is a much better tracker than I, and I knew if nothing else, he would locate Daisy. As I returned to the truck, FD exclaimed he had found Daisy and her baby and that it seemed normal size for a two-day-old fawn. As big as Daisy was in her mid-section, and as full as her udder seemed, we felt there had to be another fawn hidden away somewhere else. FD picked up the fawn he had found to check its sex (a little doe fawn) and I took a couple of pictures of FD with the fawn before he set her back down near Daisy and returned to our side of the fence. We did not bother them the rest of the evening.

Daisy hears chattering squirrels.

Daisy spends a lot of time jumping Steve’s fence these days!

Since we arrived back home, Daisy seems content to get extra love and spoiling from us. She is on patrol like last year, keeping watch for varmints and anything out of place. And, like last year, she is an eating machine. Most of the time I can look out and spot her somewhere in the area, on alert and eating. It isn’t just grazing and lollygagging around. She is eating quickly and moving about – always on patrol.  Also like last year, she is secretive and disappears when it is time to nurse her baby. I would love to have more photographs, but I also know she will bring her fawn to us when she is ready.  Then I will be able to meet our new granddeer and show off a little more! And I still have a feeling there could be another little fawn out there somewhere. That giant udder has got to be nursing more than one fawn! Only Daisy knows, and she isn’t divulging any secrets yet!

It’s a girl!

And, if you are wondering, “what about Spirit?”, as I have been, fret no more. I spotted her last night, alone, but indulging in a favorite pastime of hers – eating new leaf shoots and blossoms off of my blackberry shrubs! I was so happy to see she was still hanging about nearby, the thought of losing a few prospective blackberries did not bother me in the least. It was just so good to know that both of our girls were well – while a new little girl lay curled in the brush just north of our home. I wondered if she might be dreaming of the day when she would nibble her first tender shoot…

© 2014 Day by Day the Farm Girl Way…