Black-Eyed Susan Scratch; Back Yard Wildlife

Walkwithapurpose, the only Maryland-bred filly in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes today, has been scratched due to a bruised foot.  So the quest for the second jewel in the Triple Tiara will be contested by 8 fillies at Pimlico this afternoon.  -  And I'm sticking with the choices I made yesterday in the blog.
  I'm spending much of my time at Alexy's - previously, I was able to take Lovey and Nedi over there with me when I was house-sitting, but Cloudy has gotten worse at sharing "her" space, so my kits are back at home.  (After all, it is Cloudy and Shady's house.)  The front yard of the house is rather shallow, but has a rock garden with roses and several trees; the back yard is comprised of a full acre - mostly grass, but with several small treed areas, another rock garden, the tool shed, the pump house for the irrigation ditch, and several bird baths.  And the back yard is full of wildlife.  Birds, squirrels, mule deer, fox, raccoons, coyote, black bear and mountain lions are frequent visitors.  You never know what you'll see when you look out the rear windows.
  This morning, as I was scrambling eggs, movement caught my eye, and I watched two herds of mule deer bound across the back yard.  With four feet of snow falling in April, and a foot on May first, the deer have only now begun to shed their winter coats - and, honestly, they look awful.  Yellowish long hair sticking out in tufts - like mohawk haircuts running wild all over their bodies.  It's quite a sight!  And yesterday evening, I went out and called for Shady and Cloudy to come in for the night - Shady came trotting in, but I had to look for Cloudy.  She was in one of her moods, and did not want to come inside, did not want to be touched (she shredded my right index finger), and would not be coerced.  I gave up, and 15 minutes she walked in, like it was her own idea...  Anyway, when I was looking for her, I was wandering around the back yard, and I'm sure if someone was looking at me from a distance, they would have sworn I was drunk, because I was weaving around so much - avoiding certain areas and crisscrossing others multiple times.  The reason I walked in such an odd pattern was because there were 6 adult deer and 5 fawns bedded down in the yard...  I had no problem approaching the adult deer - they all know me, and just continued to chew their cud, after sniffing me - but I tried to avoid the newborns ....
  Spring - I love the flowers, the new growth of trees and bushes, and all the adorable baby critters!