Deer Dear

It seems that some days my boys walk around with their heads in the clouds. I keep thinking that one day they will finally pay attention. But as my dear loving husband keeps telling me "They are kids and kids will be kids." I guess that one day I will realize what he is telling me.

Tonight we are all sitting at the supper table, talking about our day and just being silly (as usual). I sit in a place where I can look out at the horses. Tonight I see CoCo just perk his head up and blow all up like the herd leader - he sure is beautiful when he does that. I mention to everyone that CoCo sure is interested in something. They all look out the window at him. By this time Shadow and Redman have spotted whatever CoCo sees. I am curious myself so I step out the back door.

I'm amazed! Not 1, not 2 - but 3 deer. Years back when I first moved to this area, I would see deer signs. More people moved in and the wildlife moved out. It was such a pretty sight to see the deer just easing along and grazing. I am so glad that they could possibly be coming back into the area.

We all ended up outside to watch the deer and the horses. The boys ask a few questions about the deer and why the horses were acting so silly. I just love answering those types of questions.

Helping the Wildlife

Have you ever helped the wildlife? We do. We go about out daily chores and we think of the effect we have on wildlife. Today is a good example...

I brought out my bike today. Yeah - you should have seen the boys. They stood in amazement as my bike rolled down the back steps. It was funny to hear their aws and see their faces. Ok - back to what I was saying. On the way home, I spotted a huge green worm. I felt like the boys when they saw my bike rolling down the steps. I was amazed at how large he was and how beautiful green he was. Nope - no pictures, I didn't take the camera with us. I like to travel light.
We watched the worm for about 5 minutes and then we let him continue to his destination. We left him alone to do his thing. That's what wildlife does.

I have a few tips that you may or may not have thought about, that you can do for wildlife.

1. You can sting popcorn, cranberries, grapes, crackers and other things that you can think of on cotton thread. Hang it outside for the critters to enjoy. Make sure your thread is 100% cotton and the popcorn is 100% natural with no salt or butter.

2. Fill net material with any kind of bird seed, tie a ribbon around the top and hang it for the birds to enjoy. You can add crushed egg shells, orange slices, orange peels, crackers and other things that you think of.

3. String raw peanuts on 100% cotton thread and hang them for the critters to enjoy.

4. A pine cone can be a wonderful treat. Mix peanut butter and oatmeal for a think paste, coat the pine cone with the mixture (make sure to get it in the pine cone), roll it in bird seed, hang it and the birds will flock to it.

5. Suet. Melt beef fat or bacon grease and let it cool. Add bird seed, peanut butter, fruit or granola. Hang it in a net bag and the birds will love it.

6. Don't throw away your table scraps, put them in a net bag and hang outside.

Onion mesh bags are great to use for the netting material in most of the ideas.
I'm sure you can come up with a few other ideas too.
Hang some of these on your Christmas tree inside. When the time comes to take down the tree, just remove your ornaments and leave the natural ones on the tree. Set your tree outside and let the critters enjoy all the treats.

Don't just throw your Christmas tree out for the trash collector to take it to the land fill. Let the critters use your tree to protect them, they make great places for bunnies and other critters to hide in.