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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Wild Life


Compared with Seattle, it often feels like we're living in the "country" here.  The main reason for this is the constant presence of wildlife.  There are lots of deer everywhere.  I find this incredible and novel, especially when they're just meandering through our yard, but it seems like most folks here are pretty used to them.  I recently looked up from my computer to see this buck standing outside of my window.  I've missed getting pictures of deer before, so I took a chance, grabbed my camera, and just walked out the door.  I finally got a good picture!  He eventually bounded over a little fence and into the forest, but he gave me some good opportunities to photograph him before that.  


I also got a mom and her fawn on their way up our driveway.


I've gushed a bit about how wonderful it is to pick wild blackberries, but when it's blackberry season, it's spider season too!  


These spiders look the same as the ones I'm used to seeing in Seattle, so they must be a Pacific Northwest thing.  Anybody know anything about them?

I've learned a bit about how to pick blackberries and avoid picking too many spiders.  Wear solid shoes and long pants, step with care, and move slowly.  The shoes and the careful stepping are really to avoid the ubiquitous deer scat.  The long pants and the moving slowly are to prevent thorn scratches, getting all caught up in thorns, and sticking your face or hand into the middle of a spider web, which is extremely alarming even though I'm not specifically afraid of spiders.  The feeling of a spider web all over your face is just creepy.

Here's the bay


...where I see things like this Bladderwrack, a kind of seaweed which I'm told is edible, but I haven't tried it yet.  


How about you?  What wild things have you been seeing lately?

In knitting news, that secret project in the Hazel Knits Divine is finished and in the mail, and my next collection is so close to publication I can hardly stand it!  The collection consists of three patterns and the whole thing is somewhat Halloween themed.  It'll be available on October 1, so keep your eyes peeled.

And our Eple Knit Along is starting October 1 as well, so make sure you've got some sock yarn at the ready!  

Read more about the knit along in my Ravelry group.
Read more about Eple.


2 comments:

  1. When we lived in Coeur d'Alene, I was pretty excited about the deer at first—they're so lovely! And then I planted a garden, and once my sugar snap peas got to be about 4 feet tall, deer hopped the fence and ate all the stalks down to a nub.

    I'm still a little bitter about this.

    So, a word to the wise: if you plan on doing any gardening, make sure you've got some deer-proof fortifications. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our neighbors have a fenced-in garden and they still complain about the deer eating their flowers. I can see how this could make a person bitter. However, I have no garden, so I find them charming.

    ReplyDelete

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