Oh...deer...(sorry!)

Several years ago, the WestEnders household began composting. Now, I'm not talking about a full-on, save all your leftovers, make sure you have the optimum ratio of components in the mixture, water and aerate and...whatnot...kind of operation. For us it was just about putting out food scraps so they could decompose naturally, rather than filling up our garbage bags with perfectly biodegradable organic material. When we moved, we had to leave behind our simple wire contraption, situated in the far right, back corner of our property. So in looking for a relatively inexpensive replacement, I ended up ordering a no-frills plastic tube that could basically be used to contain the items. We set it up one afternoon in a jif, and thought we were good to go. However, the very next morning, this is the scene that greeted me out the back window, when I awoke and wandered downstairs in search of my first hit of liquid caffeine:

"Oh my goodness," you might be thinking, "it must have been really windy the night before!" Or maybe there was a monster thunderstorm! Or...some other type of natural disaster occurred, to have caused the very sturdy bin to topple over like that, exposing all of the...tasty morsels...inside. Hmmm...you know, the other day--before the parcel had arrived--Husband had been forced to dump one load of compost-heap-bound stuff into the ditch behind our house. After a few hours of observing the increased...nature traffic...in the back yard, he cheerfully noted, "Wow, that's pretty much like leaving...Deer Takeout!" I have mentioned before the absolutely astonishing number of bucks, does, and fawns who pretty much treat our neighborhood like it's...well...their own...Deer Kingdom. With that in mind, I managed to capture a few of the likely suspects--literally by opening my front door, sitting on the steps, and snapping the photos. Here they are:

Seriously, don't they look TOTALLY untrustworthy? And guilty as heck? And....downright adorable...but whatever, leave my compost alone, you darn...little...Bambis! So, in the spirit of "get off my lawn, wildlife"...or some such nonsense...I determined that I would W-I-N the battle of the vandalized compost container. Since I was going to Lowe's anyway (Heaven help me...) I purchased some wire, which I then threaded through the holes to secure the plastic cylinder to the nearest tree. (I swear I don't know if I felt like McGyver...or the biggest yard-obsessed-dork on the planet. That was rhetorical, by the way, feel free NOT to weigh in...thank you, your restraint is appreciated...) When I was finished, this was the end result:

It looks great for now, and feels very firm...but will it hold under the determined pushing and prodding of a hungry deer in search of a snack? Only time will tell--like when I peek out tomorrow morning, with bated breath, at java-thirty, to assess the situation. Fingers crossed...