Oh Deer!

The lilacs are starting to bloom!

Yesterday was SO much better than the days before!
I'm finally starting to get answers to my more pressing questions and getting some training at least scheduled. I still have some frustrations with the way I was thrown into the job without guidance at all and the fact that the park was not set up all the way when I arrived (with some things needing to be done that I am not yet trained to do), but I am slowly but surely working through all of that. Even though those frustrations are still there I am feeling less overwhelmed by them and they seem more manageable. There is an end in sight and soon (hopefully) all will be resolved and I will be able to move on to other tasks.

My little arsonists are slowly getting the hang of things around here as we head into a busy Memorial Day weekend here at the park. This is a learning experience for us all and with time I'm sure we will get to a place where most things run without issue.

SUCH pretty eggs!

That being said, they do still have quite a lot to learn. For example: I had them go around and clean up the picnic shelters so they would be ready for visitors to use over the weekend. I went up to check on things and to take some pictures of the lake from the shelters to find that they had taken it upon themselves to move this robin's nest. They were quite proud of themselves and thought that they had helped the birds by moving them from a visitor use area. they felt pretty bad when they found out that you are not supposed to move the nest once there are eggs in them. We quickly returned the nest to its original resting place and I'm hoping that the momma robin was not to offended by their mistake.

My high-tech deer protection set-up

We planted some little sapling trees, but I forgot to take pictures of them. I'll have to take some another day when we go to water them so I can document their changes as they (hopefully) take root in their new home and leaf out. After planting the baby trees, one of the arsonists came and told me that a little fawn was curled up in one of the campsites. With so much tall grass and forested areas around the park, it was strange to see that the momma deer had left her baby out in the open like that. With campers arriving to other sites that night and to that one the next day, I was worried the deer would be hurt or that the mom would be too scared to come back for her baby. I called North Dakota Fish and Game to ask what I should do and she insisted that the fawn was find and the momma deer would come back for it after dark. Because I was concerned for its safety, she suggested marking its location so that campers would at least know to steer clear of the area. I couldn't find cones, so wet floor signs were the next best thing. After a few hours I drove back by to check on him and he was gone, so I collected the signs and went on home. A few minutes later, our camp host called me to say that the fawn wasn't gone, it had just moved to another site. He was concerned that it looked a bit deformed and said he saw the momma deer come back for it but she licked him a few times and then kicked him in the head before running off. I was concerned that it was sick or injured when we found it, but Fish and Game insisted that it was just pretending and would be fine. He was gone this morning, so one can only hope that the momma deer got over herself and came back for her baby. I just hope that the little guy is ok and doesn't suffer out there alone or anything. Fingers crossed no more baby deer get left in the campground this summer!

I hope you're ok little baby deer! 

Most of my deer friends over the years have been dead. This is a nice change.

 HOW NEAT IS THAT?!?!