Backroader: Afternoon visitors

Another gorgeous day on the island; a cool 10°C start but my thermometer hit 35° - perfect weather for my solar cooker but I was at work. I did try yesterday but the Weather Gods were playing games - the sun was shining after lunch when I decided to make muesli bars but it clouded over as I finished mixing the ingredients and I resorted to using the electric oven. Thirty minutes later my muesli bars were cooked, and immediately the sun came out and it stayed clear and sunny for the rest of the afternoon!

I'm on shorter days this week at work so a good chance to get stuck in cutting up firewood; there sure is a lot of it and it will take me weeks to work my way through with my bow saw, loppers and secateurs. I was heading outside just after 4pm when I saw not one, but two bambi whitetail with spots eating the grass by the deck. I moved slowly toward my pack to grab my camera and then a third, older whitetail came into the picture. I snapped a few shots and watched the deer until the older one started chomping on my potato plants. As I opened the ranchslider a fourth spotty deer took off with the others - it's been a long time since I've seen bambi whitetail around and although I'm happy for them to keep the grass trimmed, I might have to think of a way to protect the potatoes.

Two spotted bambi by the deck with an older whitetail at top right

I wonder if this is a big sister/brother to the spotty ones?

Totally unconcerned about my presence - maybe they thought I was
at work. Potato plants at right.

Not quite as cute as bambi deer with big eyes are the spiders around the outside of the house at present. Their webs are engineering marvels and of quite different designs. Here's a few examples...