A little update from the Boonies..

Seems like this blog has lost some attention since the principle participants are now nearly neighbors.  I just wanted to make a note about our current circumstances before it totally dries up.

As you know, we live near but definitely not in Seattle.  We are actually in the officially rural part of both King and Snohomish Counties.  Our closest community, Duvall, is clearly a Redmond/Microsoft commuting complex but we live across the old 2-lane road from a dairy farm. We all have a couple of acres, we have 4, 2 of which are dedicated to a stream run-off protected area.  Some of the neighbors raise chickens, one keeps bees, we're very much in the country.

It has been a habit of mine to wake before Connie and walk down to the road for my morning newspaper (you know: sheets of paper with stories and pictures new everyday...).  I always keep an eye out for 4 legged neighbors.  I'm never disappointed in that I almost always see some bunnies, often some deer and rarely, the coyote family.  This morning was special.

I started down the driveway just below the house on the relatively long straight-away.  Around the distant corner came something smoothly running right up the middle of the road, straight at me.  Seemed about the size of a dog and for a moment I began to fear I was going to confront a coyote with a grudge about recent fireworks or something.  Still coming, I'm hard to miss. At about 50 feet I speak up loudly, "Who are you?". Ears flick forward, I recognize a small deer! Still trotting along, it comes right to me and stops. A fawn, big eyes, wet fur, nothing but legs, I am close enough to pet it. I sort of bend or bow to it, it gives me another moment of regard, then continues its trot up the hill to go past the greenhouse and the kitchen. I search for a worried or possible hostile parent, but see nothing on the rest of my walk save the usual collection of morning feeding rabbits. 

I know most of us have heard that deer are sort of a modern plague but they charm us here and haven't done any apparent garden damage to change my opinion yet.

Today I got my personalized Washington license plate for the Soobie: XAK IMD.  Feels like we're really settling in.  If only the Mariners could get it together....