Oh, deer!
One of the joys of my stay in the Washington, D.C. area a few years ago was working the night shift at a site which allowed me such access to the fauna of Northern Virginia.
The Independence Center of Northrop-Grumman/TASC in Chantilly is on the edge of the metropolitan area. Manassas and the Bull Run battle sites are nearby. So is the Annex to the National Air and Space Museum, and Dulles Airport a short distance beyond that. But museums and airports aside,the area is not exactly what you'd call urban. And sitting in my chair in the lobby of the glass building, it was quite common for foxes, deer, and other critters usually somewhat shy of humans to come so close that I could almost touch them, without their ever knowing that I was there.
One night I was surrounded by a family of no less than seven deer- a buck with nice, big antlers, a couple of does, and four fawns. At one point they congregated right in front of me, no more than ten or fifteen yards away, on a slight rise in front of the building. It was quite an experience for a city kid like me, even though I've gotten a great deal more used to deer being around than I was when I lived in the middle of Chicago.
The deer here in Des Moines are losing all fear of humans. I live on the edge of town; in fact, the street I live on is Des Moines' northern city limit, and I'm on the other side. Not infrequently I'll see deer on my neighbor's lawns, especially when I walk home from church late at night.
Other critters are getting more and more common, as well. When I was growing up back in Chicago, we had to sneak into an area owned by the railroad in back of the local park when we wanted to hunt for snakes. But twice last autumn garter snakes literally crossed my path as I was walking down an urban sidewalk. I used to remember the moment I had to stop when turning onto Main Street in Kellogg, where I lived during my last call, to let a large bull snake cross the road as summing up what life in tiny Kellogg was all about. But it's getting more and more common to have such encounters even in Des Moines, a city of nearly a quarter million.
Last night, as I walked up 11th Street on the way home, a doe came into view. It looked for all the world as if she was going to walk right up to the door of my building. She crossed the lawn instead, and paused to lick my mailbox. I stood there at the corner she had walked by moments before and watched her. She seemed perfectly OK with my being there. As long as I didn't make a move in her direction, she was intent to ignore me and slake her thirst on the ice that had accumulated on the mail box.
Even after living for quite a while now in circumstances in which such encounters are relatively common, they still give me a thrill. Deer are beautiful creatures- and beautiful wild creatures. It still seems to me a strange and fragile thing that I should have the privilege of watching one from so close a distance. And while I'm not sure it's finally a good thing for either the deer or the people in the area, I continue to be amazed when I- an inveterate city kid- encounter such a beautiful, wild creature literally on my own front lawn.
The Independence Center of Northrop-Grumman/TASC in Chantilly is on the edge of the metropolitan area. Manassas and the Bull Run battle sites are nearby. So is the Annex to the National Air and Space Museum, and Dulles Airport a short distance beyond that. But museums and airports aside,the area is not exactly what you'd call urban. And sitting in my chair in the lobby of the glass building, it was quite common for foxes, deer, and other critters usually somewhat shy of humans to come so close that I could almost touch them, without their ever knowing that I was there.
One night I was surrounded by a family of no less than seven deer- a buck with nice, big antlers, a couple of does, and four fawns. At one point they congregated right in front of me, no more than ten or fifteen yards away, on a slight rise in front of the building. It was quite an experience for a city kid like me, even though I've gotten a great deal more used to deer being around than I was when I lived in the middle of Chicago.
The deer here in Des Moines are losing all fear of humans. I live on the edge of town; in fact, the street I live on is Des Moines' northern city limit, and I'm on the other side. Not infrequently I'll see deer on my neighbor's lawns, especially when I walk home from church late at night.
Other critters are getting more and more common, as well. When I was growing up back in Chicago, we had to sneak into an area owned by the railroad in back of the local park when we wanted to hunt for snakes. But twice last autumn garter snakes literally crossed my path as I was walking down an urban sidewalk. I used to remember the moment I had to stop when turning onto Main Street in Kellogg, where I lived during my last call, to let a large bull snake cross the road as summing up what life in tiny Kellogg was all about. But it's getting more and more common to have such encounters even in Des Moines, a city of nearly a quarter million.
Last night, as I walked up 11th Street on the way home, a doe came into view. It looked for all the world as if she was going to walk right up to the door of my building. She crossed the lawn instead, and paused to lick my mailbox. I stood there at the corner she had walked by moments before and watched her. She seemed perfectly OK with my being there. As long as I didn't make a move in her direction, she was intent to ignore me and slake her thirst on the ice that had accumulated on the mail box.
Even after living for quite a while now in circumstances in which such encounters are relatively common, they still give me a thrill. Deer are beautiful creatures- and beautiful wild creatures. It still seems to me a strange and fragile thing that I should have the privilege of watching one from so close a distance. And while I'm not sure it's finally a good thing for either the deer or the people in the area, I continue to be amazed when I- an inveterate city kid- encounter such a beautiful, wild creature literally on my own front lawn.
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