A mess of pictures.

I just ate dinner (dirty rice with andouille, and it was delicious, thank you), so while I'm digesting I figured I'd put some pictures up from today. I took a long and wonderful walk in the sun, off the road and into a clutch of pine and fir. It's really amazing how quickly the seasons are changing, whether it's for good or not.









This last one requires some explanation. This was in an area full of young pines about 100 yards from the road, where it was clear deer had spent a lot of time. There was spoor everywhere, tracks, and stripped bark. I imagine that this is an ideal place for deer to bed down, since the trees are still so young that their branches are only a foot or two from the ground, providing good cover.

In any case, I was checking some of these nesting sort of areas and came on this one, where the ground was a bit more trampled. There was also a bit of blood on the periphery, and a kind of goo on the ground. Long story short, I think I just happened upon a place where a deer had recently given birth. Now, I don't want to get too hippie-dippy on you, because it's really not the way I roll, but there, in the quiet underneath the tree there, it really felt sort of sacred, a place I wasn't really intended to see but a special one nonetheless. It put me in a right good mood. Too bad my pictures of it suck.