Apples and Deer and Wild Turkeys

 Snow has finally come to our valley - 3 snowfalls in a week so far. a bit late in the season, but any snow in the mountains is welcome to maintain the drainage and keep the timber from drying out during the summer.

The deer have come down from the hills and I am tossing out lots of withered apples to them.  And I have to include the flocks of wild turkeys that camp in the yard until late afternoon when it's time to go find a nice big pine tree to fly up into. They have become pests, those turkeys.  I open the front door and they make a beeline for me, assuming they're going to be fed.  So, I have to retreat and return with apples, so they can chase one another about the snow-covered yard, trying to steal apples from their kin. They have very strong beaks and can run fast while carrying an apple.

Jay took this photo of the deer with a red apple in its mouth - note how long its tongue is. They can get proprietary about the apples, too.



When the snow melts this time, the wildflowers will begin to bloom.  When I was small, Mom and I would vie with one another to see who could find the first buttercup. She would always win because I had to go to school while she would keep her eyes to the ground while trudging over the hill to the barn to feed the cattle and my horse.  She could hardly wait until I came through the door in muddy galoshes, empty lunch pail in hand, to shout out, as though I was her rival younger sister instead of her daughter, "I found the first buttercup today!"  If I could go back for only that moment.

But, here comes Jay, down from a trek on snowshoes. I'll make him  a hot mug of tea.