Deer In The Moonlight

The deer have found the carrots hidden in the garden. We didn't insulate them under straw to overwinter them; we simply never got around to eating them all, even with the rabbits, or tilling up the garden to rot until spring. Yet the carrots are frozen and buried under snow, and the deer have never bothered our vegetable garden before. 

There was one, a doe, standing in the garden when I arrived home from work, and two more, her old fawns, in the back field. They took off, but not in a great panic which is nice to see, the old girl picking her way slowly, without real concern, across the snowy field to catch up to her two offspring who had disappeared awhile ago into the woods. When I told my husband, he said they might return at night to feed again.

At midnight, under that great spotlight of a full moon, when the pup stirred, I got up to see if she needed to pee but no one was stirring in the dog bed by the time I reached it. Luckily for me. If I'd opened the sliding door to let the pup out, I would have disturbed the three deer standing in the garden munching carrots in the moonlight. 

I wonder why this winter, a mild and easy one, they found this buffet. Is it the only time we've left food on the earth's table? Or are they beginning to believe that they are truly safe in our backyard? My sleepy eyes were filled with loveliness and I returned to bed to dream about green grass and flowers.