Thursday, May 29, 2008

Deer Be Gone

I used to like deer. Sweet, shy animals. So pretty. I grew up in a rural area and now live in a somewhat rural area, so seeing deer is not uncommon, but there is still something magical about seeing them wander through your back yard. Unfortunately, the deer really like my roses. We first discovered this last year when on Mother's Day, I went outside and found my bushes mauled. The roses survived, but the roses had been full of buds ready to bloom, and it was a kick in the gut on an already hard day.

We hadn't had problems with deer yet this year, and I hoped that the wet spring might keep them away since they could easily find food. Alas, that theory was shot down yesterday. My rose bushes were again full of buds, days away from exploding with blooms. I went outside yesterday, and you guessed it...they had been eaten. The poor bushes look shorn. Again, they're still alive, but it's so awful seeing the bushes like that. So yeah, I used to like deer. Nobody messes with my roses. We used a "deer-be-gone" spray last year that worked ok, but we've decided that a more permanent solution is needed: chicken wire. It's going to look awful around the bushes, but hopefully it will protect them.

In surrogacy news, we are making a little progress! We received the second draft of the contract late yesterday, and there is only 1 tiny correction that needs to be made. The donor/surrogacy coordinator from the clinic FINALLY returned my call yesterday (I had called her twice in the last week with no response). It turns out that we CAN get started with testing since our contract is in the finalization stages! I'm going to try to schedule my testing today, and I've emailed our surrogate to set up hers. I asked the coordinator when we could start cycling, and she said that if the surro's tests come back clear, then with her next cycle (mid-June)! I'm still anticipating things really getting going in July, but wow.

The funny thing is that after she told me that, I started to panic a little bit. Am I ready for this? Do we have all our financial ducks in a row? I had a brief desire to flee. After waiting for this for almost 9 months, I panic? That's not the reaction I was expecting. But I calmed down. I am ready. We ARE ready. This is one of those situation in which I just need to take a deep breath and a step forward and let what needs to happen happen.

8 comments:

Samantha said...

I understand both the deer and the panic bit! Each cycle I've gone through there is always a bit of a freak out moment, where I think, "am I really ready?!?!" My husband gets it even worse.

JJ said...

Yea, total panic mode--I get that! But you are ready--well, Im ready FOR you! Very exciting=)

kate said...

Dude. You are going to kick ass at being a parent. You are totally ready.

As for the deer, I was told by a landscaper friend of mine that deer hate marigolds, and so if you plant a perimeter of marigolds around your roses, the deer should leave them alone. We've only seen deer a couple of times and they were too timid to get close enough to munch on anything from our garden. We have some bunnies that live in our yard, and they like to munch on stuff, but they avoided the marigolds we had last year, so maybe it works. Anyway, if it does, it could be a prettier alternative to chicken wire.

sara said...

You have me laughing about the deer. We live in the burbs, hence no deer. But we do have chipmunks and a lot of them. When we moved in I was like, aww look they're cute. They look like chip and dale or alvin and the chipmunks. Yeah, that changed when they bury through my landscaping, kill all my azaleas, and so on.

On the surrogacy front. Wow girl, June is almost here! I am so excited for you. I hope the last tiny detail gets worked out soon and you get your testing today too. Sending a plethora of good thoughts your way!

niobe said...

Sadly, in my mind, Deer = Lyme Disease.

Mtnhighmama said...

I have seriously lost the deer battle. I have about a half acre IN THE CITY and they still manage to take down everything. Pesky buggers.

Last year I spent a good majority of my evening wind down time scheming how to find someone to shoot the deer with a bow and arrow, skin it, and then leave the head on a post outside the garden perimeter... sounds brutal, I know. BUT, I put in hundreds of plants, and entire row of beans and ya know what I got? 3 measly wax beans! 3! That's it! Aaarrghhhh...

I feel for ya!

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic, good luck with the testing - what do you all have to be tested for? Just STDs etc?

JW Moxie said...

I don't have any deer problems, but I did almost hit one the other night. The sucker was standing on the side of the road in someone's yard. As I rounded the corner, I seriously thought that it was just lawn decor, until that booger sprinted out into the middle of the road long enough to give me a heart attack, then turned and bounded back through the yard it came from.

Congrats on moving forward with testing and cycling, finally!