Chores Aren't Always Boring

Ever wondered why they use so many damn packing peanuts?  

My mind was going there this evening as I was getting the trash packed into our canister for pick up in the morning when I heard the jingle of metal fencing.  My first instinct was that the bear had come back for the compost or Amy was out looking at the garden.  Then I remembered that Amy was inside and saw that there was no black critter digging around the compost.  It continued.  As I walked up the hill I saw a spotted fawn floundering on the upslope side of our garden fence.  He struggled for a bit.  By the time my mind wrapped itself around the situation and I started to make my way up there to scare it off, he freed himself and strangely made his way towards me.  His body was shaking as he fearlessly approached me to within twenty or so feet.  At that point, Amy opened the door.  At first she didn't realize what the deer was and even asked "What's that?"; confused as to why any deer would dare to venture so close to a human.  Luna knew what it was and barked.  The fawn scurried off through the orchard back into forest.

My first thought was "great, now I have a desperate orphaned fawn to worry about eating my freshly-blushed apples and crash through our fence line into our garden."  I did damage control.  I walked up to the section of fence that the deer had blindingly attempted to crash in order to assess the damage.  I wasn't there a minute when I heard more commotion in the woods up the hill.  Was it the fawn again?  Maybe his mother?  Whatever it was it was cruising through the bush at an alarming rate.  It drew closer.  By the time the sound was just beyond our clearing I realized that this was no small deer.  My throat dried and goose bumps rippled my skin. The crashing ended but I could still follow moving shrubs.  Suddenly no farther than twenty feet from me, a huge black wolf pounced out of the woods into the clearing!  It was the same black wolf that stood at the base of the driveway a couple of winters ago and howled.  This time, however, I was close enough to see his yellow eyes, follow the grey fur that lined the perimeter of his massive pointed ears, and gaze at his aged white scruff of a beard under neck and between his front quarter of his otherwise black fur coat.  Every hair on my body sprang to attention.   It didn't take him long to recognize that the human in front of him was no prey.  Without effort he glided back into the woods and watched me.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  This was by far the closest that I had ever been to a wolf.  I had my phone on me and wanted to give Amy a chance to see this amazing creature so I called her.  Unfortunately it didn't take him long to bolt once he heard the door open.  All the while I could hear more crashing a couple hundred feet away around Spruce Knob.      

Unfortunate fate for the fawn; this wolf was hot on it's trail!  Given that wolf's size and speed and the fact that he probably has a couple of buddies covering the flank, I most likely won't have to worry about the little guy wrecking my apple crop...