An Unmistakable Crimson Color

 

Once I had an admin.  She was very good at what she did.  She later went to Yale.  I don’t have an admin now.  Haven’t for seven years.  And, I am in charge, therefore of my calendar. And I do well enough.  But a day like this morning you note how much room there is for improvement.  I had a call at four, and then six and then eight, and then ten and then at noon.  Calls every two hours leaves you winded, feeling like you haven’t really done anything yet.

It snowed all day.  Inches of new snow fell on the feet of snow covering out there.  I have a suet feeder and the Tufted Titmouse (mice?) and the Carolina Wrens had reduced it down to a small, snow covered nub.  One brave squirrel and then another locked their feet on the porch and stretched the fullness of their bodies all the way down to the green catch and scratched and chewed in hope of grasping a seed or two.  I went down through the untrodden snow and inserted a new cake of seeds.  And then, as always, I filled an empty gallon milk container full of seeds and threw those from the porch out below my window.

 

Later the deer came, as always.  I try not to begrudge them.  It’s cold. A hard life must have just gotten much harder. And older youngster is eating sunflower seeds.  The younger one seems to smell his ass.  The older one, perhaps not surprisingly doesn’t like this and lets the youngster know with a rear kick. The younger one does it again and this time the kick is more pronounced.  He (she?) spins and rises, as does the smaller one and now they slash their paws at each other till once again the younger one backs down.  

 

Later, my wife comes by the widow and asks: “What’s that?  Is that blood?”  And down where the seed is out over the snow there is an unmistakable crimson color that could only be the outcome of the earlier clash.  “Yes.  The deer were fighting earlier.”  She insists that I do not put any more seed below the window, but I don’t agree to this. 

 

Later I noticed the sun didn’t properly disappear till 6:00PM.  Soon it will be quite different.  And now I need to take the garbage up to the top of the drive.  We missed it in the snow last week and now its snowing again. 

 

 

 

Tuesday, 02/09/21