I got up, I took a peek out the back window and lo and behold, there they were. Two of them crunching happily on our neighbour’s cedar trees (sorry about that). Funny thing about the central Okanagan area; all the cedar trees look like (how can I say this delicately?) an elongated version of Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard rocket. You know what I mean. The trees have been ‘pruned’ all around up to a height of about five or six feet leaving a larger, rounded ‘tip’. Deer love cedars and I didn’t at first believe it when I was told they are the creators of these uniformly misshapen trees. Having been living here a few months now, I can assure you it’s true. And funny.

Our deer friends were here first

We happily share the backyard with these creatures; they were, after all, here first. But it’s not unusual to see them day after day for a week or more and then, nothing. As quickly and quietly as they arrive, they disappear. I always wonder where they have made off to and hope they’re ok. We occasionally hear coyotes in the hills beside us so I worry when the deer have been absent for a while that something untoward has happened to them and am always relieved when they return.

Usually, they come by in groups of two to four but we have on a couple of occasions, ‘hosted’ a herd of 10 including the gorgeous stag who visits us less frequently. We’re now paying extra close attention to the female bellies in the hopes of seeing fawn in the not-to-distant future. Suffice to say, I’m no wildlife biologist because I can’t tell for the life of me if we’re, collectively, ‘expecting’ but I remain hopeful.

So, on this bright, sunshiny Sunday morning, it was great to see them. I feel constantly blessed and gifted when they come by; they’re a far cry from the previous wildlife visitors we had in Toronto. Racoons.

I’m glad they’re doing ok and I sure do hope they’ll be back again soon. I’ll be looking out for them.