SPRING had finally arrived in that third year, and the first harbingers were emerging all around. Dandelions began to carpet the yard, creek banks, and meadows in lush green and yellow — a feast not only for the eyes but for the palate: the greens are a delicious addition to any salad, as are the flowers. As spring gradually moves farther up the mountain, the dandelion will follow, even to the highest elevations.
Although the dark, shadowed, timbered slopes above the ranch were still blanketed in heavy snow, the time for migration was at hand. A few of the deer started to disappear as their migratory urge became irresistible. But not Raggedy Anne. My wife Leslye and I began to notice that she was spending more time than usual around the house. Mule deer are ravenous for new green vegetation in spring, so we naturally assumed Anne was just taking advantage of the abundance and variety that the yard could provide. The apple and plum trees were festooned with swollen buds, and the purple-green leaves of every lilac shrub and tree created a wall of edible foliage. Anne rarely ventured far from the yard and would even remain after her family had wandered off onto a distant sagebrush slope.
