Mule Deer, Kitchen Window

Originally uploaded by miss_distance

The mule deer are sure-footed as mountain goats, and very personable — something about the combination black-button eyes, bunny ears, and mouths that seem to perpetually grin. I’ve seen them bounding easily over steep formations of rock and mud, and when they run they seem to bounce, like animated caricatures of themselves, as if their hooves were made of rubber balls. This one is hanging around the “yard” behind staff housing, chewing, as far as I can tell, on the bark of twigs and small branches that broke off in the recent snows, and now litter the grass.