A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Mule Deer that had been visiting my birdbath for a drink. The title of that post was "All Are Welcome Here" but I'm rethinking that sentiment a little. Tonight when I came home from work to find she had not only drained the birdbath, but had proceeded to begin devouring the native plants I'd been nurturing through the spring for the hummingbirds. The Scarlet Gilia that was just about ready to bloom is gone. One Eaton's Firecracker (billed as "great for hummingbirds") is gone and the other, like the Scarlet Gilia also about to bloom, will probably survive (I arrived home just in the knick of time because she was about to eat it, too). It goes without saying that I am not happy about this turn of events. It isn't like I can drive down to the corner store for replacements - it's 200 miles round trip to the nearest native plant nursery (at $5 per gallon).

I can't stay too mad at her, though: She looked a bit pudgy and is probably eating for two.