New Year Deer

I woke up fairly early on New Year's Day (can you tell I'm a bit behind in my posting?). Like 7 am, which is roughly when the dogs' desire for me to be mobile overrides my ability to ignore their ear-flapping head shakes just inches from my face. God forbid I burrow under the covers, or a cold probing nose will worm its way in and guarantee I shoot out of bed in an instant. Still, I figured I'd enjoy a nice quiet morning since it's the one day per year you can pretty much guarantee everyone stayed up past their bedtime the night before. I brewed a cup of my awesome Teavana white ayurvedic chai and sat back to appreciate the morning stillness and snowy backyard scene. The deer in the photo was standing next to our fence, still enough I was able to run and get the camera.

The echoing gunshot that sounded next was uncomfortably loud even in our closed house, causing the dogs to whine and bark. No wonder the deer were hiding along our back yard - we all hoped the hunters had the sense not to fire towards the houses. I fully respect the right of someone who wants to kill a deer for food, but not in my damn backyard, and not at 7am on freakin new year's day! Thankfully deer season has ended and I can stop worrying about misfires finding their way into our yard and dogs.