A Wildlife Parade

I'd forgotten how much wonder nature holds for those who either have become distant to it's charms or hardened by the rigors of living away from "civilization". Case In Point. As some of you may know, we put an addition on the side of our house last year for my mom to live in. For the past 25 years or so, she's been living in an urban setting. Now she lives in the middle of 15 acres of woodland at the end of a 1/4 mile private dirt road, virtually in the pucker brush. Over the past week or so, she has been treated morning and night to a never ending and truly fascinating parade of wildlife. It started one evening with a pair of yearling does. Our variety is white tailed deer. The very next evening it was the fattest porcupine I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. The following day it was a partridge strutting his stuff to attract a mate. The next day we were visited in the middle of the day by a young buck who decided to nibble on my husband's day lilies shoots that are above the ground by a good 4 inches. Yesterday, early in the morning, we had the pleasure of watching a 2-3 year old doe grazing on the lawn for a while and she returned that evening as well. During the winter, we had a beautiful red fox visit to feed on some cracked corn we'd put out for just that purpose. Now, she's wondering what's next. I've pointed out that there is a real possibility for both moose and bear to wander out of the woods. She says she doesn't mind anything but she doesn't want to turn the corner of our house when she's out walking and run into a skunk. She's game for anything else.