I’ve had a lot of deer roaming my property this summer. No doubt, they are beautiful creatures, but I am often wary of their eating habits. Interestingly enough, for the most part they have left my landscaping alone, while friends and neighbors have wailed about the destruction the deer wreak. I think I know why the deer are kind to me.

Last fall I engaged the services of my handyman to take his chainsaw to roughly hew a pedestal for my Portuguese-bowl-birdbath. During my two years here I have learned that I MUST choose my words veryveryvery carefully when giving my beloved handyman instructions. BTW, I call him my Husband-Without-the-Fuss. Thank God his wife thinks that’s funny. Anyway, I made the mistake of using the word *pedestal*, when all I wanted was a rustic choppy stump to rest the birdbath. Per the photo, you can see he took me literally and I have some odd version of an Grecian Ionic Column in my front yard. Arghhhh. But, much to my delight… it works… kinda-sorta.

Anyway, birds flock to my Olympian sized birdbath – they all but do the backstroke across its vast waters. Then recently, I discovered deer sipping water from the tub-sized bowl. Seeing them sip solved a petite mystery – often the bowl is askew on its pedestal – now I know it's the result of gentle deer nudgings. Yesterday a mommy deer and her twins (unusual) came by for a sip.

But back to my handyman for a moment. Have I ever told you about the day he assembled my recumbent bicycle? While standing in my garage, my right hand atop the extra fridge, I asked him to place the bike facing the fridge because I planned to put a TV on top of it. All he heard was *fridge* – nothing else. I left to do errands and returned home seconds before he was preparing to lug my recumbent bicycle into my kitchen. Oye. The stories I could regale about this man. :))))

Apologies, again, for big photos. I downloaded etc before I realized the dimensions.