"It's been a LONG winter."
This is the lament heard in every Midwestern home at this time of year....
By the end of February, we are weary. Our backs ache from all the snow shoveling, we are tired of wearing big heavy parkas, sick to death of wet snow boots at the door, and dreading the next time we have to go out to warm up our car and scrape off layers of ice and/or snow.
I'm just saying -- winter ain't for pussies...
If winter is hard on humans -- imagine how difficult it is for the animals. There's no food...no water...
My brother Calvin and his wife Jeanne live just a few blocks from me -- on the edge of the woods. Every winter -- they feed the wildlife. It's kind of their full time job. They have a huge assortment of birdfeeders and squirrel feeders. And this year, they noticed the deer were hungry, too So they started to put out ear corn.
They have so many animals coming to eat -- they have to make weekly shopping trips for the corn, hay, and birdseed.
At this point, Cal takes his Gator to local farms to haul big loads of shell corn...
The other day (to keep John from going to bed at 4:00) -- we went up to their house for a cup of coffee....
And this happened...
Some nights, they get 20 deer at one time. We saw a herd of 13...and it was like watching theater. Just outside the dining room window...we watched them for an hour. They would come running over the hill...easily jump the fence (from a full stop)...then, tussle with each other -- two of them got up on their hind legs to have a boxing match.
Really...it was so entertaining -- they should be selling tickets!!
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