Saturday, March 19, 2011

Chased

I never knew a baby could cry as much as Sailor did those first several months. He was colicky and even after everything was done that I possibly knew to do he still cried.

My days and nights were spent walking the floors with him cuddled closely to me in my arms. It seemed to be the only thing that brought any sense of relief to him.

One evening LV and I wanted to make a call to his parents. Sailor was sweetly sleeping in his stroller for a change. the shanty was too small for the stroller so we propped the door open and parked the stroller outside.

In the middle of the call he started crying. I checked to see if he needed a clean diaper or if he was hungry but neither of those were what he needed gathering him up I started started walking around the barnyard, After a little while I noticed another big herd of deer feasting in one of our fields. Crop damage was a big problem and I started walking towards them. I'd let my crying baby scare them away.

It didn't take long for most of the deer to run back into the woods, but one big buck wasn't feeling threatened at all. he stood there watching me walk towards him with my crying baby. Finally he had enough and lowered his head and came charging towards me. Clutching Sailor close to me I ran faster than I ever had before. I burst into the phone shanty breathless, not caring if Sailor disrupted the call.

LV hung up right away and we watched as the buck stood there holding his head proudly, smug and satisfied with himself that he had successfully chased me away. We stayed in the shanty until he turned around and walked back to the woods to join the rest of the herd.

18 comments:

  1. How frightening! You must have run into the 'leader of the pack' who was going to show you who was boss!
    We had a herd behind our home who would munch on our flower gardens as if I'd set out a buffet just for them. There were a few, who when they saw me, would stand their ground, snorting and pawing at the ground. I have to say, they always won the challenge. As lovely as they are to look at, they're real pests to a garden!

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  2. I enjoy your story so much. It is like reading a book little by little,
    Makes you wonder what will be on the next post. Have a good week end!
    Blessings my friend.

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  3. Oh no, the sound of angry pounding hooves behind you must have been a shock and terrifying. I was once chased by two cows so I have an inkling of how that feels. Pretty scarey. I'm glad you made it to the shanty unscathed.

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  4. Such vivid recollections!

    I had a similar encounter with a junkyard dog one time. Scared the toenails right off my feet!

    Blessings,
    Kathleen

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  5. Wow, I didn't think deer would do that.

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  6. YIKES! My son had colic as well and I always thought *that* screaming would scare anything away, LOL, glad you had that shanty to run into!

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  7. That is sooooo scary! I think i would have had a nice long cry after that experience. My Daughter had colic too and it got to the point where even when I was able to leave her with my husband (to get some groceries) her cries still echoed in my head as I shopped for diapers!

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  8. My first-born was colicky for 5 months. The best baby books said colic would go at 3 mos or 4 mos at the most. At 5 mos, our baby boy was still screaming up a storm and we were due to visit my parents in the USA and I warned them that the baby cries a lot. Wouldn't you know it, that his colic finally wore itself out and he didn't cry any more than a non-colicky baby would on that 6-week trip? I breast-fed til he was 12 mos old and he never like a "dummy" (pacifier)....I used to say that I was his "dummy"....as suckling or walking with him up & down was the only way to soothe him....if we stopped moving, he'd start crying again, so we moved/swayed a lot in those days!

    I'm sure you've shared this story about the buck with your son--I know mine would've loved hearing it when he was a young boy!

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  9. Oh my word. Somebody bring Rhoda back, please! Surely that was the last time you confronted a buck with a baby in your arms.

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  10. Oh, I feel for you. Meredith had colic and the whole time I was expecting Sara all I worried about was if she would have it too. It made for some LONNNNG evenings!! I can't believe that buck charged you - I bet you were freaking out for sure. I'm sure all the does thought he was so cool after that. LOL

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  11. Yeah, if you want to confront a buck it's probably a good idea to have a gun in your hands. With dinner as bonus.

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  12. My youngest daughter had colic for 5 months. I used to feel so sorry for her. I would do everything I knew to help her. Her pediatrician said she just had to grow out of it.

    I imagine you did have quite a scare. You have to watch confronting those bucks.

    Be blessed. I am enjoying your story so much.

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  13. Bucks are tougher than you might think.

    I bet you never tried that again!

    Good thing you had somewhere to run in to.

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  14. Yikes! A male deer, especially during rutting season, will attack anything he thinksis threatening his herd. A lot of people have been hurt by a "stag at bay".

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  15. There are very few things as frustrating as a colicky baby, and it sounds like you coped much better than I did.

    What courage to walk toward the deer - and what grace to know when to run! :)

    Isn't life like that? Sometimes we should walk towards the challenge, and sometimes we should just run the other way as fast as we can! Have a bless day - Marsha

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  16. Finally, I am all caught up! I am a new reader and have spent the last couple of weeks going through all your old posts. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

    I have also had the experience of a colicky baby - one of our favorite family stories is of my husband falling asleep on a cement floor with a screaming baby on his chest.

    I've also seen bucks charge - you don't want to mess with them, especially when they're with their does!

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  17. That would be beyond frightening...with babe in arms. Oh my!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.