Hunkered down. Three of the four who spent all day yesterday behind my house.

It rained all day and they sat all day, from late morning until dark. All that's separating them from my entire back yard is that thin bit of cheap plastic.

I had only three deer break-ins this summer, and two of them barely count. Unbeknownst to me, twice in the early summer the newborn single fawn was nesting near the fencing. I didn't see her and was poking around near her, cleaning up leaves. She got scared and, apparently, scurried under the fencing and ended up trapped in my backyard. The other break-in was just last week --- a small deer, at least a year old. He just nudged over a weakness in the fence and made his way in. He managed to find the two small hydrangeas I had hidden back there. One of his ancestors all but killed these plants several years ago and they're clinging to life back there.

All in all it was a successful summer --- the hostas got to live their full lifespan for the first time in years, maybe decades.