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Southern Oregon Journal: Creative (desperate) winter dining Sunday Jan 15, 2017 at 12:01 AM By Peggy Dover for the Mail Tribune There came a knock the other day. While sitting in my recliner, surrounded by snow and deserted streets, and considering how it felt to be a hermit, it came. Several indoor days and snowbound nights had forced me into a lone-wolf shape. Oliver told me I was talking (howling) to myself more than usual. Then, clattering on the outside wall jerked me from thoughts of what in the world was left in the fridge. I slowly pulled back the drape to discover a buck just on the other side of the window, not two feet away, gobbling birdseed and knocking his antlers against the house. He didn’t see me in his desperation. He was hungry, poor cold baby. And those fickle birds flick out the seed they don’t like anyway. He was welcome to whatever he found. Though it’s a relatively new sight — we never saw deer in town 27 years ago — I love watching them but don’t feed them. Not on purpose, anyway. But they do take my yard for an all-you-can-eat buffet, making regular rounds these days. With building on the rise again and taking over the local countryside, they’re bound to wander down and join us for a bush and bird food lunch now and again. So, I left him to it and returned to the task at hand on how to fulfill my own stomach’s needs. About two weeks had flurried by since driving Fiona “into town” for supplies. I took yet another glance in the pantry with a slim hope that something new had appeared on the shelf. I could have made an artichoke and garbanzo bean pizza, but the appeal of it didn’t warrant the time. I think I boiled some potatoes and mixed them with questionably old roast beef, then called mushroom soup mushroom gravy. It was stew. The point is, winter storms make an excellent excuse for cleaning out, or should I say, grazing through fridge and pantry. I’m just grateful I didn’t have to resort to the decades-old box of unflavored gelatin. I felt extra thankful for the grocery fill-up I finally made earlier this week, but after a long day of errands, I caught myself about to whine about having to put them all away. What? The walk I took in the sun today felt extra good, except that I knew it had been a while when, headed uphill, I thought there was a street sweeper following too closely only to realize it was my breathing. The little buck must have enjoyed the seed I get by the 40-pound sack at Valley Feed in Eagle Point, because even though I didn’t see or hear him this time, he returned and gave the bush next to the feeder a crewcut. I thought it looked mighty sparse for an evergreen shrub. But then I noticed something in the driveway — an antler lay there. I went out to collect it, and found the other one near, as well. In appreciation for not being harassed and enjoying a winter meal, he had left the only thing he had to give. OK, maybe that’s a bit farfetched. But it was a neat surprise, because I’ve never found even one of these in the wild. For now, life is back to “normal,” and green is making a comeback. — Peggy Dover is a freelance writer living in Eagle Point. Email her at [email protected]