NOTICE

The regular meeting of the 

Cabot Select Board

has been changed to 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

7:00 p.m.

at Willey Memorial Hall, Main St.

The Select Board meets on every 1st and 3rd. Wednesday of each month,

unless otherwise posted.

In the past, the Select Board has met on Thursdays. 

* * * * *

We had another visitor at our apple tree yesterday.  A nice young buck in velvet came into the back yard in the afternoon.  Before we could get the camera out, he had devoured all the day lily blossoms.  We watched and took pictures as he went to the apple tree and carefully picked the little green apples from the branches.  The process knocked several onto the ground, and he seemed to prefer eating them there.  He also ate a lot of the grass under the tree. 

As we watched, something caught his attention in the direction of the road.  I went to see what it was, and was surprised to find Woody sitting by the walkway staring intently at the deer.  The two seemed to be very aware of each other, but neither seemed afraid of the other, and that was a surprise to me after Woody's close call with the doe a few years ago when he decided to make friends with her fawn.  She chased him into the woodpile on the back lawn, and after that, he has been very cautious about deer.  This young buck just seemed interesting to Woody - not a bit frightening.  

 

Fred got tired of watching, but Woody and I were entertained for about a quarter of an hour watching as the young buck nibbled grass and chomped on apples.  Suddenly, Woody decided to get closer, and as soon as he started towards the deer, the young buck sprang forward towards the cat, and Woody did a u-turn in mid air and scooted back to the safety of the walkway.  The deer didn't pursue him; he went back to eating, but kept an eye on Woody.

Then I think he realized there were more of the tasty yellow day lilies right where Woody was sitting.  He started down the hill towards them, but stopped at the lilac bush.  The flies were bothering him a lot, and whether it was the flies or just a young buck being rambunctious, he suddenly did a high kick with his hind feet, and took off down over the bank towards the road.  

I have never seen a buck in velvet before, nor have I seen a deer kick like that.  He looked like one of Santa's reindeer getting ready to take off.  I got some pictures and have made a slide show.

I sure wish I'd been fast enough to catch that high kick, though.