Larry, I don't think you sound like a jerk. The deer can be a huge problem if they are eating plants you don't want them to eat. We don't hunt them, but I'd never quarrel with anyone else's right to do so....as long as they aren't hunting them on our property. I love the deer and we don't shoot them. They have struggled so hard to survive here this year and were so thin all summer long. We've been feeding a lot of deer since June, and have a feeding area where we put out food for them, have two food plots planted for them, and have waterers out for them. The regular herd consists of 8 to 11---they don't always come in one large group, sometimes they come in a couple of smaller groups. And, then, there's more transient deer that come in small groups of up to about 4 or 5. Bucks often come alone. I have no doubt that hunters will kill the deer on the property to our north, west and south where hunting is allowed, but people ask to hunt on our land all the time and we say no. I feel like the deer should have some place where they can live without being killed. Do they drive me crazy in terms of eating plants I don't want them to eat? Yes, they do. I just plant everything they like to eat inside the veggie garden, which actually has a mixture of veggies, herbs and flowers growing within it every year. It has a 9' tall fence to keep the deer out. In the remaining unfenced areas of the yard, I just plant stuff the deer don't eat, or at least seldom eat. It isn't a perfect solution because sometimes the deer surprise me and eat plants that they normally won't eat, but that's only in the worst of the drought years. When we bought this land, we knew we only "needed" a small portion of it upon which to live and garden. We just figured we'd leave the rest of it in its natural state and encourage the wildlife to stay there. That mostly works, but you know, there's always nuisance wildlife that comes up to the house, barn, orchard and garden area, and with the nuisance wildlife, we shoot them. For us the nuisance wildlife includes raccoons because they kill our chickens, skunks for obvious reasons, and bobcats and coyotes. I'd rather chase off those last two than kill them, but if they keep coming back and killing our animals, we'll kill them too. For you, deer are a nuisance animal and I understand that. For me they would be a nuisance animal if I didn't have a fenced garden that excludes them where I can grow the plants that they like as much as we do. People here normally hit a lot of deer in the roads at night at this time of year. There's just so many poorly lit, rural roadways where the deer enter the roadways with no warning for the drivers and you cannot see them until it is too late. This year, beginning in about late July or early August, there have been oodles of livestock accidents, mostly involving cows in the roadway but sometimes horses, goats, pigs, or donkeys. It has been just horrible. So far, there's been more livestock-vehicle accidents than deer-vehicle accidents and they can tear up cars even more than the deer do. I just think the drought has sent the livestock through, over or under fences looking for greener grass elsewhere, and with the drought, there hasn't been greener anything anywhere until the last month or so. A couple of years ago deer were hit and killed in the road right in front or our property 2 or 3 separate times within maybe a 6 week period. My dog, Jet, is very sensitive to that area of the roadway to this day and when you take him for a walk and he gets close to where the deer died, he wants to turn around and go the other way. I've always wondered if it is his memory of the scent of death in those spots, or if he sees ghosts. Dawn

Calin ~ if his name was Christopher it would have taken much, much longer to finish! Thank you everyone for the kind words. I wish I could have gotten a picture of his mothers face when I gave it to them!!

Theresa, is your doc saying your general health isn't good enough for surgery? Or is it just your age? My stepdaughter had trouble finding a surgeon because she was too young - late 40's. They said she was too young for the surgery. She finally found a doc who said she was too young to be living in such pain. She's had them both done now, and she's so pleased. She had ruined her knees by water-skiing and downhill skiing. My leg is so swollen, it looks like a tree trunk. The doc said she's not surprised. She had to do a lot of bone spur removal which causes a lot of trauma, I guess. PT is tough with all the swelling, but I'm working on it. I can walk without a cane or walker. Pretty amazing. Thanks, everyone, for your well wishes.

My old house was the only one on that street still painted yellow when my husband purchased it. I do not think it was the same house because a couple of people asking to purchase drugs thought the house they were seeking was a different style. I too would worry with this house with the possibility that someone would not know there were new owners. The family members that I have interacted with seemed like normal everyday people but I did not know any of the younger ones that I am aware of.