Snoozing deer

Today I turned a little pencil sketch made a couple weeks ago into a colored scratchboard piece. I spied a family of deer laying down in the woods together, napping in the late afternoon. Snow was still on the ground. I hardly noticed them, as they blended so well with their surroundings; really, they were just mounds of soft brown. I took the binoculars to them, rewarded by how tranquil their expressions were and how cat-like each repose. We don't often picture these large gentle mammals sleeping. And yet there they were, dozing close to each other in perfect contentment. The next day, I snowshoed up to the spot they had been and looked at the shallow divits left in the ground. Such a nice napping place. I feel I know them a little better now. And perhaps come spring, I won't be so peeved when they eat my hosta.