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Deer Fly Season
Sunday, June 10 2012
This morning when Gretchen and Sarah the Vegan went to take a walk in the forest, they hoped that all the dogs (except Sally) would come. But Ramona refused to go, seemingly worried that her parents might come during her absence and, not finding her, leave without her. Edgar, though, seemed a bit more interested. He'd shed most of his open hostility towards us and almost seemed to take a shine to me, following me around just about everywhere. So I decided that if he needed me to come along in order to include himself on this morning's walk, then that was reason enough to go.
And sure enough Edgar did come. He quickly transformed from the shy little guy he is in our house to the bold explorer he'd been on that first walk to the Canary Falls. In this mode he runs quickly and deliberately from one thing to the next, often joining the other dogs when they find something of interest.
Today we walked past the Canary Falls and continued south to that mysterious artificial pond we'd found back in April, mostly just to see if it is being used by anyone. Great patches of dense ferns and sprung up along the path since we'd last walked it, and at times this proved difficult for Edgar to navigate. But then he'd put his head down and just tunnel beneath the fronds.
By the time we reached the pond, each of our heads was a nucleus for an orbiting cloud of mid-sized biting flies (Deer Flies, I think). They were most aggressive out in the open, so we had to move quickly and continuously swat them away like human windmills. Gretchen had been entertaining the idea of perhaps coming to this pond to swim, but she realized today that the flies alone might be a deal breaker.
There had been some human activity since last we'd been to the pond. Someone had set up the outdoor furniture and mowed the grass. But I can't imagine the pond gets much use in Deer Fly Season.
Back at the house, Gretchen made another of her lavish quickie brunches (this one built around a tofu "sauté" — I forbid the word "scramble," a word that vegans are happy to use but which an oviphobe such as myself cannot abide). Sarah the Vegan joined us in our weekly coffee ritual.
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