The Circle of Life
We could never have a garden at this house. We’re on the deer superhighway between two “wild” areas where they spend most of their time. Oh, I suppose we could build 12 foot fences, like the retired guy down the street … or we could not have a garden.
Well, it had to happen eventually. The weather has been unrelentingly hot and miserable here, and Saturday night, I went to let the dogs in and they smelled completely horrible. So terrible and I couldn’t quite place what it was. I walked onto the deck and looked around, and there I saw a dead deer in our yard. Too bad the dogs had found it first. [And too bad it had been sitting in the hot sun all day.]
We called the animal control guys, but the Austin ones wouldn’t come get this guy because we’re just outside the city limits, and the Travis County guys apparently don’t do pickups on weekends. So we kennelled the dogs downstairs and decided to take care of business in the morning.
I showered and soaped and scrubbed the heck out of the dogs to get the stink of death off them, and Andrew went to Lowe’s to get heavy duty gloves and thick trash bags. While he was gone, I was upstairs nursing Owen and saw very large, ominous shadows through the window.
I went downstairs and discovered about two dozen vultures fighting over the meal. It was like Animal Planet back there. If we didn’t have a fence, I’d bet I’d have seen coyotes as well. The pictures don’t do it justice, but I had to take the photos from inside, I didn’t want to scare them off. Or not scare them off. Heh.
A few hours later, even after the B team and C team and D team vultures had their turns, they were all gone and all I could find was a small strip of fur and a few bones.
Jenn said,
July 26, 2006 @ 3:12 pm
Not to be sick or anything, but I guess they saved you a really nasty cleanup job.
jen said,
July 26, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
Just for future garden reference, we lived in a similarly deer-infested area and wished to garden anyway. This works: sprinkle your hair all around the garden (hair cut, shaving, whatever) and ask your husband to make like a wolf and, um, mark his territory. The deer seem to understand this type of communication. It’s like talking to toddlers (please pardon the poor transition) - they understand better when you communcate on their level.
Todd said,
August 2, 2006 @ 1:49 am
You could always build a greenhouse. =P
Jenn - Those birds really did help. If all there was left was a couple bones and some hair, that would certainly be better then doing it by yourself.
Jen - Does that really work? I have heard of hair, but never the other half!
Contentment is Wealth » Bump in the Night said,
August 14, 2006 @ 8:09 pm
[…] Terri, over at Educating The Wheelers, recently creeped me out with recent stories about vultures and scorpions, 2 days apart. Well, we recently had our most interesting experience with nature, so I just had to blab about it. […]