I Surrender

I am sending up the white flag, as it's pretty obvious I've lost the game, the match, the battle, the war!  The animals have won, and all I can hope for now is peace and mercy.  I got a delivery of alfalfa yesterday, and was hardly back in the house when I noticed a dark shape streaking away...a deer had come to feed before I could get the gate back on the shed.  How do they know?  Jungle drums?  Telepathy?  Last night when Pearl came in, she brought a not-dead mouse along.  It mattered not that I have explained many times that there are indoor toys and outdoor toys, and they are not interchangeable.  Pearl was not happy with me when I took her toy gingerly by the tail and put it out on the porch...and for all I know, the mouse was not happy either.  This morning when I opened the front door to see if the mouse was still there (it was not), there was a doe right in the driveway, and she watched me and had no inclination to leave.  Thinking this might be a photo op, I went to get the camera.  She had moved around to the breakfast room and I stepped out onto the deck.  As I was trying for a (camera) shot, suddenly the buck rounded the corner.  While I was shooting him, the smallest member of the family appeared, a young fawn, just out of its spots.  Isn't that just lovely...a family out for breakfast...on my dime!  I used to think that the squirrels who raced away as I approached the goat pen were running for cover.  Oh, no!  They are hurrying to wash their face and paws before mealtime.  I give up.

The pictures are pretty dim, but so was the light.  One does the best one can with what one has.