Nature Scenes We Rarely See

As I looked out my window this morning I saw the familiar shape of the tawny brown doe on our front path.  She was having her favorite breakfast of purple heucharas and hostas.  She was also nibbling off the flower buds of the japanese anenomes and phlox--two of my late summer bloomers that are suddenly rendered bloomless! 

I was annoyed to see all that she had eaten and started walking towards her to shoo her away.  My garden is not her salad!  But then she gave me that doe-eyed sweet face, and my anger evaporated a bit.  Even after 15 years of living with deer, it is still fun to be so close to a large wild creature.  So, I wasn't telling her off too seriously, but I was walking towards her.  Then something funny happened.

She was standing on our new concrete path and when I got within her comfort zone, she started to walk away.  Only the concrete she was standing on is stained and sealed, and though it isn't slippery for us to walk on, it was apparently slippery for her hooves.  She was suddenly like one of those cartoon characters.  Her legs were moving but she was getting no traction.  I wish I had my video camera, because she ended up running in place and then falling over with her legs all splayed out and looking very bewildered.  I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her.  I also had to stifle a giggle because she just looked so funny--a bit like vintage Gary Larson "Nature scenes we rarely see" from the Far Side.

She gathered herself up, looked at me with a bit of embarrassment in her eyes, and was off eating another part of the garden in no time.  I'm hopeful that she will always remember that the concrete path is trouble.  And maybe at least this part of the garden will be safe from this particular doe.