Lately I've been trying to get out and take walks more often. I could definitely use more exercise, and I'm probably never going to be the kind of person who does a real workout, so this is my compromise. Luckily, I live right across the street from a 640-acre forest with two beautiful lakes, a blocked-off paved main road cutting through the reservation, and miles and miles of trails covering all kinds of terrain. I still like to go out and explore places further away, but this place is so close to home that it's great for when I only want to be out for an hour or two.

Recently, I've been sighting deer there semi-regularly. I've been going to this place for as long as I can remember, and I've never seen deer there before this year, or perhaps last year. I don't know if it's just because I've been going there more often lately, or if they've only recently migrated here from somewhere else, but whatever it is, I'm loving it. It does make me a little sad to think that they may have been pushed here from somewhere else, but they seem like they're doing OK, if maybe a little too accustomed to humans than they should be.

Case in point: Yesterday, I was taking an early morning walk on the main road when a deer just stepped out into the road maybe 30-40 feet in front of me. I just stopped and watched it as it paused for a moment to see if it was safe, and then continued across to the left side of the road, at which point I realized that there was another one that was already over there. A little further up the hill on that side of the road, there were four more. All of them were within eyesight of this road, which is very well-traveled by people jogging, walking their dogs, etc. I sat down on a rock at the side of the road and watched them eat for about 15-20 minutes until they broke off into two groups, four of them staying on that side of the road, and the two closest to me going back to the other side of the road and up a hill. I knew that just a little further up the road, there was a trail that cut back towards the direction these two headed in, so I made my way there. A little bit up the trail, I found the two of them, staring back at me through some trees. Again, I sat down for a while to see if they'd stick around even though they knew I was there. Not only did they do that, but after a few minutes they sat down, while still keeping an eye on me. I hung out for maybe 10 minutes until I couldn't resist the temptation to try to get a little closer to them. So I got up and started to slowly walk into the area where they were. They got up on their feet, but didn't go anywhere. Little by little I made my way closer, stopping every once in a while if they started to seem like they were going to bolt. At one point, when I was maybe 30-35 feet away, one of them started grooming the other one, licking it behind its ear (so cute :3 ). In the end, I managed to get about 15-20 feet away from them before they decided it was too close for comfort. Even then, they walked away with what seemed like relative calmness. It was pretty damn awesome (although the whole thing did have me kicking myself for being one of the last people in the world not to have a cell phone-- so unfortunately, no pictures). I felt kind of like a jerk for disturbing them, but I couldn't help it. When I was younger, I was one of those little kids who chased after the birds on the beach, or the squirrels in the park, forever hoping that eventually, one of them would realize that I didn't mean it any harm, and that I just really wanted to be friends. I guess not a lot has changed.