The United States entry into WWII started 70 years ago today with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Bambi
This past Wednesday, we had an unexpected visitor: a white-tailed deer. It was a young buck about four feet tall with small two-point antlers.
Our property is enclosed by a six foot high fence, which you can see in the background. Both the front and back gates were closed and there were no loose boards or holes in the fence. The deer had to have jumped the fence to get into the yard.
I found out about the deer when I went out on the back deck to see why our two Jack Russell Terriers were making so much noise. They were harassing the deer and chasing him along the back fence. At first, I thought a large dog had gotten into the yard, but soon realized it was a deer.
Our back gate opens onto a busy four-lane highway that runs along the back of our property. Once I got the dogs safely in the house, we called the town police for help since opening the back gate to let the deer out would be a real hazard to both the deer and the traffic. And I didn’t want to open the front gate and have the deer running amok in the neighborhood.
Two of the town’s finest showed up in short order and decided it would be best to try and get the deer out the front gate. So we opened the front gate and the officers tried to herd the deer out the front gate. Unfortunately, the deer would not cooperate. He ran toward the open gate, but always turned back at the last moment.
As a result, Plan B went into effect. They would open the back gate and one officer would stop traffic on the highway and the other would herd the deer towards the back gate. They got all set up to coordinate their activities, but lo and behold, the deer had disappeared. We assumed the deer had jumped the fence or had made his way out the front gate while nobody was looking.
We did one more test to make sure the deer was really gone. I let the dogs out and they went off following the deer’s scent, but found nothing.
Or maybe this was just the ghost of Bambi haunting our back yard!
9/11 + 10
Ten years later and we’ve been battered and bruised, but we’re still here. Can’t say the same for a number of those responsible for the horrific events at the Word Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville.
Irene, Part II
In a previous post, I said that Hurricane Irene had not left much visible damage other than fallen tree branches. But I forgot to mention just how large one of the branches was. We were lucky in that it fell forward and got lodged in the upper branches of a neighboring tree rather than across the back fence and the power lines and highway adjacent to the fence.
Note: click on a picture to view a slide show with larger images.
Going Up, Part XVII
Construction is finished on the second McMansion to be built in our neighborhood. The final landscaping has been completed, as has the deck we mentioned in Going Up, Part XVI. As the builder said: “There’s only one more thing to be added for final completion; the Sold sign in the front yard.”
The back of the house, including the deck.
The north side of the house.
Another view of the house from the back yard. Notice the First McMansion in the background.
The south side of the house.
Here’s the first McMansion, which sits between our house and the second McMansion. It was built in 2006.
To put things in perspective, here’s a picture of our humble abode. Our total first floor square footage is probably not much more than that of the master bedroom suite of the newest McMansion, which includes the bedroom, a sitting area, a huge master bathroom, and a walk-in closet that is nearly as large as the bedrooms in our house.
This is the final entry for the second McMansion. But don’t be too surprised if we start another of our “Going Up” series of posts in the not too distant future.
The Hurricane
This past Saturday, we had a visit from Hurricane Irene. Fortunately, it was not as bad a expected, but the high winds and rain caused some flooding, minor property damage, extended power outages, and downed a number of trees in our area.
Our neighborhood made it through unscathed and the power outage time was minimal. The only visible evidence that the hurricane had occurred was a number of fallen tree branches and a backyard that turned into “Camp Swampy.”
In one week’s time, we had an earthquake and a hurricane here. What’s next?