Family Mellmann

It turns out that if they can't see your face, they don't see you as a threat.  This mule deer was standing on the patio outside our living room window.  The deer pass through here regularly and sometimes use the patio rather than the steep slope just past the bushes, but this lady just stood at the window taking in the mountain view and then peering in our window.  She is about eighteen inches from the window, and my hand was pressed up against the inside of the window to minimize glare.  If there were no window between us, I could pet her.  She sees my hand but my body, which is hidden behind a small section of wall, and follows my hand movement with her head but doesn't leave. If they didn't massacre flowers and garden plants (in the summer), they would be fun to have around.  

After four days of near constant snow, this meme hit me in the funny bone so I thought I would share. But have no fear, the sun is out today for the first time in a few days.  And with it comes something I have never seen, a winter rainbow.  To the right of the sun (in my picture below) you see a wisp of a rainbow in front of the mountain.  If you've been reading this page for a little while you might recall many other rainbow pictures where the rainbow seems to start in this same location.  Anyway, despite the negative temperatures outside, it's shaping up to be a beautiful blue-sky day.