Deer in the Headlights

This weekend we have way too many commitments to head to the beach. Way too many...including tickets to Carnegie Hall for a performance that begins at 10:00PM. What was I thinking? The husband is not joining me...it's going to be a girls night out. So, here in Brooklyn with nary a sign of yesterday's glorious snow fall...I mean dusting...I have spent the day cooking and catching up with neighbors while walking the dog around the neighborhood. Before I get to the dear, a quick funny story about dogs since so many of my blip-friends have them. I was outside walking Pacqui when I see my dog-less neighbor with...a dog! A beagle to be precise. ANd she bends down and picks him up and moves him a foot closer to the tree. He looks up at her with doleful eyes. SHe does his again...and he does the same thing. After the 3rd time I ask her what's up. She tells me she's clue-less (which for a dog-less person makes sense...) he just won't go. her Beagle charge looks up at me with the same doleful expression and I look down at the sidewalk, covered in snow-melting non-pet friendly salt and I realize the poor thing is in pain with salt stuck in his paws. I explain this to her and quickly run back home to get my container of mushers wax for his paws. (For you other dog-less folks, this is a wax that coats the paws so the salt will not get stuck in their paw pads.) I felt so triumphant and helpful and she was so appreciative...good start to a Brooklyn day. Now...about that deer...

As a collector of old things I often find myself bringing home the most intriguing things whose use I know nothing about. Like this deer. So, I bring it home and every once in a while I would bring it out and show to a friend or a family member and ask them what they thought it was for. This one took about 5 queries. (Unlike the round red tin thing with a strainer, a wire ring, a locking top and a flat insert on the bottom about which NO ONE knows anything...this one has now been in my possession for about 4 years...) By now you all know what it is for...it is hollow and meant to be a vessel with which you may keep your plants watered while you are away. Hmmm...I'm often away...I think I'll give it a try! The perfect plant is the one in the photo about which I happen to know very little, including what it is...a begonia perhaps? But the little I do know is this...it does not like too much water...in fact it likes very little water. It likes just as much water as this little deer metes out over the course of a week or so. Happy plant...happy deer...happy me!