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And welcome to all the new people who’ve recently signed up for my newsletter.
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Today it’s all about the deer.
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First, we have fawns running around again! We saw them for the first time last week. The deer in this area generally have twins, so there are two of them. We have been speculating that Mama might have had babies on the property some previous year because she is SO relaxed in our yard.
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We live on 6.5 acres of woodlands, and most of it undeveloped. Frequently, Mama will put the kids down for a nap someplace on the property, then wander over into our septic field for some “me” time. She spends a lot of time eating (she needs it) as well as sitting and chilling. If we happen to leave the house, she’ll look up, see that it’s us, then go right back to whatever she was doing.
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Let me put it this way—I stepped out of the main house to walk over to TH2 yesterday. Mama lifted her head, then deliberately shifted so her butt was facing me and started eating again.
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I figure when an animal turns their back to you, they don’t really consider you a threat.
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This morning, Mama walked the fawns across the yard, so I have pictures!
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Here’s one of the fawns at the edge of the septic field:
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Here’s the other fawn. They were at one side of the septic field while the rest of the group was on the other side.
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Did they walk over to where the others were?
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Part of the joy of watching fawns is that they have permanent zoomies. Why walk when you can hop and leap and run from one place to the other?
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And here’s Mama. If you look closely, you can see her ribs. She’s really skinny due to the birth.
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In addition to Mama and the two fawns, we’ve had three males hanging out a lot this spring. We believe their a year apart based on the size of their antlers. The eldest has a large, fully developed set of antlers. Middle brother has a few points, but not as many as the eldest. The youngest—who’s quite possibly a yearling—has small, stubby little points.
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Their behavior has been similar to Mama and her fawns. The eldest brother will put the two younger ones down to rest on the property—the last time, in the upper meadow. Then he comes and hangs out in the septic field for some “me” time.
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Here’s a picture of the youngest male:
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Now, the story of the standoff!
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I frequently drive into town first thing in the morning to walk along the trail there. It used to be a railroad, so it’s pretty flat. (I can walk out here on the property, but it’s all hills.)
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This week, on the way back from my walk, I see three female deer standing in the road at the bottom of one of the hills. They’re spread out from one another, taking up most of the space in the road.
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This is not normal behavior for deer. However, they’re all staring at me with steely eyes and determination.
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I slowly roll to a stop. They’re obviously tense, as well as unwilling to move.
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Since I’m not in a hurry, I don’t honk at them to get them going. I’m too curious.
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Just then, a much younger, smaller female deer pops up on the side of the road.
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I swear to you, one of the other deer makes a “come hither” motion with her head.
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As soon as the youngest one steps onto the road, the others turn and quickly head for the far side. One of the older deer stays with the youngest one, hurrying her along.
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In just a few seconds, they’ve all moved off the road and are on their way. And I am as well.
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I find it fascinating, though, that they understood that if there were three of them, all blocking the road, they’d stop traffic long enough for the youngest to make it across.
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So what awesomeness have you encountered recently? What has brought you joy?
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June is here! And with that, there's a new book on sale in the Knotted Road Press store.
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For the month of June, The Long Run Omnibus is on sale for merely $9.99! That means four novels (yes, FOUR novels) for the cost of two. What a bargain!
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In addition, this collection is only available on the Knotted Road Press store. (Though if you go to see Leah at a live sales event, she will sell you the paper version, also for a bargain, at just $40. That's $10 a book, instead of $15 for each.)
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Judit—a hard-headed captain of a starship who may swear too much in Hungarian—gets hired by a powerful alien to break the stranglehold that the Universal Trading Cartel has on, well, everyone in the galaxy.
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Follow Judit and her quirky alien crew as they con their way across planets and through star systems, as well as all the corporate machinations.
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This omnibus contains all four books in this completed series!
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They say history doesn't repeat itself, but it will frequently rhyme.
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However, what about crimes that get repeated? How are they similar to the original? How are they different? And why?
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The devil is in the details, after all.
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Come see what the syndicate members of MCM have done with crimes that riff off of events from the past.
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MCM. So Criminal, It's Good.
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