Poetry Monday: Neighbours

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is .....NEIGHBO(U)RS.

Join Diane, MotherOwl, Mimi, Merry Mae and me as we give a tip of o(u)r hats -- or not -- to those folks who share our lives by occupying a space close by us -- at work, at home, or by geographical accident. Good neighbours or bad, let's let it all out :)

You can leave your poem in the comments or post on your own blog; if you do the latter, please leave a comment so we can find you and your excellent offering. Use the topic, or choose another. The objective is to have fun and give your mind a workout.

*****

We are lucky to have excellent neighbours at the moment -- kind, considerate, friendly, and supportive, yet still allowing everyone to have their private space, given our comparatively small house lots in this town.

But my poem today isn't about those neighbours.

Read on :)

*****

Sometimes Exasperating . . . But Always Magical

The folks in houses round us
Are top-notch. No complaints.
They have our backs; they are our friends;
They're close to being saints.

But the beasts who range the closest
Are a different sort, all right.
They use our yard as bed and bath;
Munch everything in sight.

They flaunt their coats of fur!
(How unethical can you get!)
And as for paying monthly rent?
Well -- not one penny yet.

They even had their babies
Along the property line,
And brought them back for naps and snacks,
Time after time after time.

If they were human neighbours,
There would be heck to pay.
But since they're white-tailed deer, you know,
It's fine! They're A-okay :)


*****

Some photos from last summer, of the neighbours in question, follow.

I wish I could have gotten a picture of the two wobbly fawns that we think were born in the back yard tree line (the second year in a row!) but I didn't dare disturb them. But as the fawns grew, it was easier to get pictures because they were no longer hiding in the bushes. There were two mothers who visited regularly with their babies (one mother had one fawn, the other had two), and there were an additional mom and fawn that occasionally joined the rest.

These shots are not clear, but they'll give you an idea of what we were seeing all summer.

The earliest picture I could get after the babies started showing up

Taken through our basement window. Note the ears up close to the window; this was one of the twins, lying down next to the house. The other twin, along with mama, is in the background.

The body attached to those ears, after he/she stood up

The twins, having a snack. I wondered why my perennial geraniums weren't blooming this year. Eventually I realized they'd all been mowed off by little teeth!

Napping in the sun. Still wearing baby spots.

Later in the summer. The baby spots are gone.

Can you spot six deer in this very hazy photo? Taken in the fall; you can see the tree to the right has mostly changed colour.

The video was taken early in the summer.


And one final shot, from our front verandah. This is the twins' mama, with one of the fawns. This mom was very thin all summer. You can see her ribs in the photo. Feeding two babies is tough on the mother. I hope all of them survive the winter.

"Mom! That two-legged animal is looking at me again!"

And here's a casualty of the grazing habits of our "neighbours". This used to be a beautiful geranium but in its first peak flowering, one morning all of the blooms were gone. There was a muddy hoofprint on the verandah that identified the culprit!

If you enlarge the screen (press Control and the "+" keys a few times) you'll see the denuded blossom stalks in the center of the shot. This is why we can't have nice things! Well, this, plus cats :)

*****

I hope the upcoming week brings you lots of magic and not much (if any) exasperation :)

Note: The topic for next week's Poetry Monday is ......WINDOWS.....

Good luck!