If ever we needed a miracle on our little ranch, it would be now. We are faced with a rehabilitation scenario more challenging than any other we have ever encountered. The Wednesday before Memorial Day, Ruthie deer did not return home in the evening with her three sisters. We did not think much of this … More A Venomous Strike
Warning. The images posted may be disturbing. During the first few days of March, we found the bodies of three coyotes on the leased property along the Washita river. It appeared they were shot the day prior. We figured the owner of that property, a friend of ours who leased the property to us for … More Footsteps of a Killer
The first reports of our four rehabilitated, orphaned fawns venturing into the residential area east of our property, came from neighbors across the street. Neighbors just north of us reported seeing them in their front and back yards, as was the case with both Daisy and Tukker deer when they were venturing out and exploring … More A Little Too Much Adventure
Walking along our driveway one morning in Mid-March, I noticed something odd in one of our blooming Forest Pansy redbud trees. As I stepped a little closer, I discovered a female mourning dove sitting on a nest, with purplish-pink blossoms all around her. I wondered how long she had been sitting on the nest before … More Gentle Mourning Dove
Forrest had to put in a lot of work to keep the wildlife feeders and water tub filled during the recent winter storm. Normally, we hand-carried five-gallon buckets of deer feed down the slope to the feeders, but more than ten inches of snow cover made walking to the bottom much too treacherous. So Forrest … More Playing ‘Possum
Last month, I found myself making the usual preparations for the cold weather and deep snow that was forecast in mid-February. I called ahead for a propane delivery, even though I still had forty percent in the tank, as I wanted it topped off while the weather was still favorable for our propane guy to … More Surviving the Siberian Cold Snap
I remember, all too well, the day the city police animal control truck drove up the driveway, with our first rehabilitated and newly released fawn, Daisy, lying in the truck bed, unable to move except to loll her head around with eyes rolled back, making light grunting sounds. Apparently, she had ventured into a neighborhood … More Meeting the Neighbors
The weather generally dictates my schedule for the week. Lately it’s been cold and windy, so I’ve kept to indoor projects. But the last week has been a different pace, with Forrest now retired. There is an ease to everything – staying up later watching a good movie, getting up later than usual as a … More Watching and Waiting
Last week, the weather forecast remained fairly solid that New Year’s Eve would bring a winter storm. I was hopeful that, at the very least, the timing of the real danger of ice and freezing rain would start later at night so that Forrest and I would not have to cancel our dinner reservations to … More Proceeding Without Much Ado…
I am generally up anywhere between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning, thanks to Oscar, our three-year-old Japanese chin, who gently paws at the bedroom door when he is ready for me to get up. Sometimes, for whatever reason, he thinks 4:00 is ok too. If I feel I’ve had enough sleep, I go ahead … More My Eight-Eyed Coffee Companion
We took our first outing with the fawns last Saturday. The girls enjoyed their freedom and finished the day by entering the pen to eat some feed and fresh browse we cut for them. While they were eating, we shut them in for the night and, due to snowy weather, waited another day before allowing … More Sisterhood of the Traveling Hooves
