deer

WDP — Wild Animals

Fandango32 Comments

Do you ever see wild animals?

My wife and I live in a suburb of San Francisco on the East Bay, and we see a lot of animals around our home and neighborhood. Are they “wild animals” like lions and tigers and bears, oh my? Well, they’re not domesticated, that’s for sure. They live in the wild in and around our area and they roam free and forage for food.

These animals include deer, like the one in the picture above taken in our backyard. We also have seen coyotes, raccoons, and even tarantula spiders on our property. But it’s the moles and gophers who bother me the most because they eat our plants and destroy our lawns. And trying to rid our yard of them is like playing real-life whack-a-mole.

Supposedly there are bobcats and mountain lions in the hills around our neighborhood, but I’ve yet to come across any.

Written for today’s WordPress Daily Prompt. I thought I’d give this new WordPress prompt, which started to appear on the Home screen on the iOS app maybe a few weeks ago, a try. The prompt questions seem somewhat unimaginative, but so is my response to today’s prompt. Sorry about that.

One-To-Three Photo Processing Challenge — August, 2022

Fandango16 Comments

For this monthly prompt from Kate at The Squirrel Chase, the idea is pick a photo you want to play with and process it using three different methods. The photo I’m featuring today is of a deer that was standing on the hill just beyond my backyard fence. When she saw me, she froze (like the proverbial deer in the headlights) and stared back at me until my dog started barking at her, at which point she turned around and bounded down the hill.

All processed photos were made using apps available for the iPhone at Apple’s App Store. Also, all images, including the original, were resized (shrunk) to make them quicker to load (and to take up less space in my WordPress media folder).

Original photo
Processed using the Prisma app
Processed using the Sketch Master app
Processed using the Glazed app

Which image do you like best?

Close Encounters of the Worst Kind

Fandango13 Comments

I was hiking alone along a rocky path deep in the woods when I was startled by an unearthly-looking creature that jumped out in front of me and started snarling. The thing was larger than a bobcat, about the size of a cougar, and it looked hungry. I could tell that it was sizing me up as a fine, nutritional meal.

The big cat bared its teeth and slowly started slinking toward me. My desperation was growing and I knew I had to figure out a clever way to avoid becoming its next victim.

It turns out that I was very lucky. Just as the mountain lion was about to pounce on me, a deer crossed its path. I guess the deer looked a little more appetizing to the cougar than I did, because it began chasing after the deer.

My heart was beating so hard and so fast inside my chest that I thought I was going to pass out. I knew, though, that I had to rally and get back to my car as quickly as possible before the cougar changed its mind and decided to target me again.

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (unearthly), Word of the Day Challenge (cougar), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (nutrition), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (desperation), My Vivid Blog (clever), and The Daily Spur (rally).

Oh, If Looks Could Kill

Fandango23 Comments

“I can’t believe that you ordered venison for dinner,” my wife said. “We have deer in our backyard and they are such beautiful, graceful animals.”

“First of all,” I said, “deer belong in the pristine wilderness, not in our backyard. Second of all, they are eating all of our plants, shrubs, and trees and killing them. So if they can eat all of my expensive plants, I can eat them.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she said. “It’s people like you who eat innocent animals that will be the reason deer will become extinct. You’re heartless.”

“I’m not a hunter, but left unchecked, deer will overrun the areas they inhabit, resulting in an adverse effect on the ecosystem,” I said. “So it’s important to properly facilitate and manage the size of the herd.”

“Didn’t you ever watch “Bambi”? It was heartbreaking when the hunters shot Bambi’s mother. I know you think this will sound a bit quirky, but I’m going to start a petition to ban the shooting of deer.”

“Not quirky,” I said, “ridiculous. Bambi was a Disney cartoon. But hey, do your thing, sweetheart. I’m going to finish this delicious cut of venison. Wanna bite?

Oh, If looks could kill! I thought

Written for these daily prompts: E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (venison), Word of the Day Challenge (pristine), The Daily Spur (wilderness), Your Daily Word Prompt (facilitate), My Vivid Blog (quirky), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (petition).

Note from Fandango: I’ve never eaten venison. The person in this story is not me. The photo above, however, was taken in my backyard.

TMP — Wildlife

Fandango35 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

Since we moved from the city to suburbia in early 2020, we have been plagued by wildlife destroying our plants and yard. We’ve got deer eating the leaves off of our trees and plants, destroying many of them. We’ve had gophers and moles building tunnels and poking holes all over our lawn. And now this:

Last night a whole litter of baby raccoons crossed my driveway and invaded my front yard.

Sheesh, we should never have left the city for the burbs.