Thanks for the laugh, Bob

Bob and I share the seat on our maintenance golf cart just about every day, except when it’s raining and sometimes even in the rain—it’s a long way back to the house if a rain cloud sneaks up on us.

We sit on the farm lane and look for wildlife. Often, we set up our critter cam so it can take photos of animals that walk past at night.

This may sound like a simple activity, but we enjoy it and so does our dog Sunny and our visiting granddog, Jade. Those two dogs keep an eye out for anything that moves. Sunny sees ground squirrels before I do. When I look up, I catch the last of its hairy tail as it disappears into the ditch.

There’s a rise halfway down the lane where we stop. From that ‘hill’ we have a better view of the field. If we’re lucky, we remember to bring our binoculars, but we started our viewing season without their benefit.

From our spot, we saw five deer and maybe a sixth which could have been a fawn.

The spot where the sixth whitetail lay was close to one of the does. Bob knew at least one fawn was around, as it popped up from tall grass when he was at the end of the lane—Bob was glad he had seen it in time or he could have run it over—does tell their fawns to stay put and they do, which can be a hazard for them.

This time we were sure it was that fawn out in the field near its mother. We watched closely, hoping it would get up and follow the doe—next trip we would remember to bring the binoculars.

Eventually, all the adult deer moved out of the field and into the woods, but the fawn did not follow.

"Let’s go closer,” I said to Bob and he eased his foot onto the gas.

We inched down the lane, trying to be as quiet as possible. Sunny, our dog, was alert. He wouldn’t get excited unless a deer happened to run across our path.

Closer and closer we went. The fawn never ran away. Of course, it didn’t. When we were nearer we saw that it was a tuft of grass. Because it was breezy it looked like it was moving.

What a disappointment, though Bob saw another fawn later that day. He was sure it wasn’t a tuft of grass because it ran across the lane following its mother.

Another day, and we were back on top of the rise, looking for wildlife. Again a few whitetail deer came into view across the field. The crazy thing was, that tuft of grass fooled us again, but this time we had our binoculars along. Bob checked out the ‘concealed fawn’ and saw the disguised grass again—remember that old phrase “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”?  Yes, we did feel foolish.

Two days later, I walked out of the house and what did I see? That tuft of grass. Now that made me laugh.

Bob had threatened to chop the grass so it wouldn’t distract our deer viewing again. Instead, he dug it up and brought it back for me.

Now that weed/grass won’t be a pretend fawn any more. It’s up by our house, disguised as a Feather grass, sold to decorate landscapes.

I’m not exactly sure what this tuft of grass is named. Bob said he always called it mares tail, but when I googled that, the plants looked completely different.

It could be squirrel tail or ponytail grass, or foxtail barley grass. I’m sure someone will tell us as soon as you see these photos.

No matter, this grass gave me a good laugh thanks to Bob.

Susan and Bob Manzke, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; sunnybook@aol.com; www.susanmanzke.net.