Animals | Home on 129 Acres

Deer in the back field. Can you see them? I promise they are actually there.

One of the nice things about a holiday weekend is that you’re around to see things you wouldn’t normally see.

Last Friday morning, eagle eyes Matt spotted two deer in the back field. We walked back to get a closer look and we were actually able to get near enough to see it was a small doe and yearling.

We’ve been waiting to see deer on the property. Up to now, all we’ve seen is tracks.

I didn’t have the camera with me, so I wasn’t able to get a picture of them.

However, a trio of deer showed up in the same field on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, this group was a lot more skittish and as soon as we started to walk towards the field they took off. The photo above shows their white tails as they bounded away. If you squint really hard at the circled areas and use your imagination, you might be able to envision them there.

We’ll keep an eye out this weekend and try to get actual photo proof that deer pass through our property. What’s on your weekend wish list?

Wishing everyone a great one.

A country scene from our Sunday morning run.

This past weekend, we went for our first run from the farm. Once we determined where the run actually started–does a long driveway count towards the final mileage?–we had a great time touring the area immediately around the farm and seeing a different perspective of the property.

It was a nice sunny day, no wind and not too cool. Just warm enough for the first shorts run of the year.

To give you some perspective on the size of our property, just over 2 km of the run were actually along the border of our own land.

We ended up going for about 7K in total. Good preparation for my race this weekend after being completely off running for the past two weeks and hit or miss for the two weeks before that.

Running down the quiet country roads was a nice change from the city. We had a good paved trail by our old house, but nothing beats the country air.

Speaking of the air, I’m constantly noticing the smells of the country. There’s the earthiness of the marshy spots as they’re thawing and warming up in the spring sunshine. There’s the manure of the barn yards we run past. There’s the sweetness of hay from the huge bales in the back of the pick-up truck that drove slowly past us. I love it all.

The most interesting moment of the run came when we were going past one farm where 10 calves were penned in a paddock by the road (not sure if I’m using the correct “farm” terminology here). The calves were all penned, but the mama guard cow was not. She came charging down the driveway towards us, and I don’t think it was just ’cause she was happy to see us. I of course stopped to walk because cows, especially ones that are stampeding towards me, are still enough of a novelty to cause me to stop and look. Matt was not so interested in slowing down. His comment as he watched the huge mama thunder towards us was, “Ummm… maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

She stopped just short of the edge of the road and proceeded to pace along the fence, placing herself between us and the babies and snorting in warning and keeping an eye on us.

We talked nicely to her and the babies and then wished them all a good day and jogged away.

It was a fun sight for the morning, and definitely made for a memorable first run.

ETA: We went for our second run last night and met a run away dog while we were out (and his family who was trying to get him back). What is with us and run-away animals!