I stay around home most all of the time in the winter, spending time with neighbors and other friends, doing interior chores and maintenance and upgrades to my home (and the truck and the trailer), helping others here in the community do the same, occasionally heading to a movie or concert with friends, and sometimes heading a bit further afield for a visit with friends in other towns or cities not too far away. I walk around the community where I live most mornings, when the weather isn’t too blustery. I also read a lot in the winter … the library loves me. 🙂
Things are pretty quiet around my home in the winter, nothing special really, and I like it like that. But THIS morning when I opened the blinds, I found a young deer sleeping in the woods just to the north of my house. How sweet is that?
She must have been comfortable there since she kept dozing off.
But, you know how it is when you’re almost asleep, and then there’s an itch that you just can’t ignore.
But then sleep returns. Her eyes would close, her head would bob, then something would make her eyes open again.
Eventually, she got up and turned around and settled back down … and put her head on the ground and then did go sound asleep. I watched her sleeping soundly for more than 15 minutes.
I had intended to go out for a walk, but my front door was on that side of the house. No way was I going to bother her.
So I headed out my back patio door instead …
The view below is of my neighbors’ homes behind my home as I stepped off my patio. Hmm, I hear something, do you? Maybe a bird up in one of those very tall trees? Oh, I think I see it, way up there!
See it now? I’ll zoom in some more. I couldn’t quite make out what type of bird it was.
Oh my gosh, a hummingbird … perched way up high and just chattering away.
I have a neighbor who keeps a humingbird feeder out all year round, so the local hummers have food in the winter. This particular one must know exactly where that feeder is. He looks like an Anna’s Hummingbird to me, and looks like he has an extra layer of warm feathers this winter. (click on photos to enlarge them)
I then went on my walk around the neighborhood. When I got back home an hour or so later, the hummingbird and that young sleeping deer were both gone. Come on back any time you two; you are always welcome here. 🙂
Yes, that’s an adult male Anna’s Hummingbird. He does seem especially “fluffy” doesn’t he? Assuming this photo was taken in the winter, I would have thought the feathers would be held closer to the body for warmth. He is a chubby one! 🙂
Thanks for the identification confirmation, Judy. And yes, he certainly was fluffy and chubby. 🙂
How cool! Both of them!
🙂
What a sweetie deer. And how good of you not to bother her while she slept. You are a dear, too. 🙂
Thanks Lori. 🙂
It always makes me feel good when the deer are comfortable enough to sleep in my yard. How cool you have hummingbirds all year!
I’ve thought the same when reading some of your blog posts with deer in your yard, Dawn. It feels good.
And yes, we have hummingbirds here all year!
Cool beans! 🙂
🙂
This was nice! Seems you have a sense that “animals” are in this life the same as “humans” are, that we’re all in this together, that we are the same. I like your photography too. 🙂
Absolutely, Sesapa, at least I’m aware of those thoughts and try to encourage them and learn more. I think I picked up that idea from my mother when I was a youngster, a whole lot of years ago. She was so interested in cultures and beliefs other than just the one that she was raised with which is a fairly new one and not all that prevalent among other people on earth. Thanks. 🙂
Kinda made me think that hummingbird was watching over the deer while she slept. Nice idea anyway. 🙂 Boy, that hummer was WAY UP in that tree! Do they do that often? I thought they mostly hid out among lower trees and branches.
Oh, hadn’t thought of that, Ben. I like your idea of the hummingbird watching over the sleeping deer. Yes, nice idea!
And yes, hummingbirds do perch WAY high up in the trees hereabouts. Their nests are usually lower and hidden in among tree branches or close to the ground in among lots of foliage. But indeed they do perch way up there in order to peruse their surroundings, I think … or to watch over a sleeping deer. 🙂
My thoughts too, Sesapa.
And, to look “around” is one thing, but to look “up” and down and over and under. And as Ann has said, she sometimes simply stands and looks and listens. I bet she listens with her heart as well as her ears. Keep on looking, Ann. What a sweet story this was.
Some people want to walk fast, keep moving, see lots of stuff!! Seems to me I see so MUCH when I stand in just one spot. So maybe I’m looking with my eyes and also listening with my ears, and also listening with my heart. I hope so. Your comment was very nice to read, Mary.
My winters are quiet too. In the summer, I get out and about a lot. But in the winter I too like to hibernate, work on home projects, read, hang out close to home with just a few close friends or family, etc. That hummingbird was spectacular. They don’t overwinter here east of the mountains but we see them in the summer.
Nice comment Paul. Sometimes in winter I feel like a hibernating bear … but most of the time I simply know that I know what’s right for me. Nice to hear that you do too.
From MANY of your blog posts, we get the impression that you feel you are connected to (and that every being and every thing is equal to) all other beings/things, all living beings, and the water, and the sky, all of it, everything, and that holds importance to you. All manner of indigenous peoples all over this planet know that is true. “God” does not exist separate from anything … that energy is in everything, and IS everything … so it isn’t a separate energy to be worshiped since its is already us and everything in the universe. A very good book that talks about this is “Alfie & Me” by Carl Safina. The book is about an owl, but also about the understanding and knowledge of life by indigenous peoples all over this planet for tens of thousands of years. Carl is not indigenous but he sure seems to get it.
Great photos.
I have ordered the book from my library!! Growing up in the Philippines, I learned about some of the indigenous culture and beliefs from the “servants” who worked in our home … and then later in life, as an adult, I learned more from native north american cultures, reading about them, and talking with them when I lived close to the Tulalip Nation near Marysville, WA. And I read, a lot. My mother taught me to read things that I knew nothing about and to keep an open mind. It has always amazed me that a chunk of people on our planet (a small chunk compared to everyone else, but a chunk nevertheless), that they call “god” he and father. “God” is so much more than that!! Why limit god? To me, it’s rather like someone talking about music when they have no hearing. Playing music, experiencing music is so different than believing that music exists.
Ok, I may lose some readers here. 🙂 That’s ok. But I read so much in the news these days about how so many of the “christians” in the USA are so critical of everyone except themselves, and how they feel they should control everyone and every thing. That’s not what Jesus taught. And that’s not what the other extraordinaly wonderful people in the USA who have other beliefs feel.
Ok, enough of that for now. 🙂 I’m looking forward to reading Carl Safina’s book. Thank M&M. 🙂
Amazing. And yet, it’s just life isn’t it? Glad you looked. I liked that fluffy chubby hummer. Good for your neighbor for feeding them year round.
Yes, perfect comment … in the end, it’s just life. 🙂 Thanks Joe.