The Grass Is Always Greener
When I lived in British Columbia I could never forget deer. If you left the garden gate open your carrots would be sheared to the ground and your tomatoes trampled. If you didn’t have a fence, much less a gate, you didn't stand a chance. Tulips about to burst into bloom would disappear in an evening, asters shorn of their flowers, hanging baskets tipped and torn, young trees rubbed raw. When we first began to consider Prince Edward Island as a home I was delighted to find, there are no deer! None. At all. I couldn't wait to move. I packed immediately and put my bags by the door. No more 10 foot fences, smelly concoctions and supposedly deer proof plants.
But I didn’t figure on this.
When I first saw this scene I had the impression that great rivers of water had forged their way through the grass. How odd as this has been a particularly dry year. My neighbour saw me staring at this and asked if there was a problem. I explained my confusion and he laughed. You see, this is what field mice do to your lawn after a winter under the snow.
I had thought these two were keeping a closer eye on things but obviously they've been laying down on the job.
I don't particularly mind mice but those are some big long winding trails. And I wonder, can you imagine if that had been a bed full of prized dahlias? Suddenly the deer don’t look so bad.
3 comments:
Ah, we had voles one year and the lawn had trails chewed to bits running all over it. I realized why I had seen a great owl watching our back yard more than once. The action that happens under the snow is amazing! :)
I hear that deer are a problem through out BC. I've never come across this myself. We see them occasionally, but they don't seem to graze here.Bears on the other hand...
Great to find your blog.
Ms. S - I love owls and wish we had them around here. I think I've possibly heard them but haven't seen any. Don't think there's enough trees here for them to perch in.
Hi Laura, how lucky you've managed to evade the deer! The only time I haven't had to deal with them was when I lived directly in the city. We lived on Bowen Island, Gibsons, and Gabriola Island and deer were always an issue. The up side was that every year we would get to see the babies racing around playing together. Gibsons had bears too and that's no fun at all. Forget having a compost bin or even a barbeque. I don't know how people do it.
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