Deer slept in our backyard last night. They have been sleeping in the yard, on and off, for about two months now, since the beginning of the snow and cold. This has happened enough times that, in the morning, I have made it a habit to see if the deer forayed into the yard the previous evening.

By now you realize that I live in a rural setting with my small family, on about an acre of land surrounded by large tracts of wooded areas dotted sparsely with some homes.

The deer slip out from the surrounding woods and find the one place in the yard where there was a garden. They root around for whatever they can find to eat, then lie down to sleep. My wife — it being her garden — was the first to notice.

It’s unusual for deer to sleep in the open, so their making beds in the middle of our yard seems quite strange. And yet, the deer somehow have found refuge there, enough that they return now and again.

While contemplating this small bit of nature one morning, it struck me that the deer had found a bit of nourishment in that small garden and a piece of humanity in our yard. Which, naturally, spawned the idea for this blog.

I hope you find a bit of humanity in these posts, something you can bring to your everyday lives.

–Rich Maggiani