HONEY CREEK WHITETAILS

"It's only a pine cone's throw from my studio door down to Honey Creek. During the time we've lived here, I have seen many of the whitetails as well as red and gray foxes, skunks, rabbits, raccoons and the hundreds of species of birds who make their homes nearby. "One winter's day, I walked down to the creek at dawn to catch the first glow of sun. We'd had an ice storm the night before the trees were bent over, encased in a transparent, sparkling glaze of ice. For a time I didn't notice the three does standing as still as the ice itself. Maybe an ear twitched or a tail flagged to catch my eye, but there they stood in their winter gray, unconcerned with the perils of the ice storm. The buck was elusive but an essential part of Honey Creek. The pattern of the buck's antlers is repeated in the frozen weeds."