They Didn’t Tell Us About the Deer

You won’t find it in the real estate listings, or the city websites pitching the benefits of living in the Kalamazoo/Portage area.  And it won’t occur to your new neighbors to warn you.

But there are deer everywhere.  Stopping traffic as they walk along or sprint across the streets.  In your yard eating your tasty plants.  On your deck or patio looking in your windows.

Michigan natives have lived with this forever and accept it as a normal part of daily life.

Our first week in Michigan after moving here from Los Angeles, and we were a bit creeped out by the lack of a fence that would prevent potential intruders from walking up to our ground-floor bedroom window.

Sure enough, about midnight, we hear someone outside the window.  Full on fight mode, flash backs of L.A.’s infamous Night Stalker serial killer.

But you know where this is going; when I pulled back the shade I was eye to eye with a deer munching on the foliage.  And the transition to a less stressful, more peaceful life had begun.

We’re not in L.A. any more.