This rain we’ve been having the past few days is really screwing up my vacation.

I haven’t spent nearly as much time doing yard work as I intended.

Nor have I done as much fishing as I had hoped.

This evening, I headed out to Oatka Creek. I knew there was a chance of rain, but you can never trust the weatherman in Western New York.

But of course, I wanted to be outside, so of course, it rained.

I was able to throw about 10 casts before being chased back to my truck.

What made the 20-minute drive worthwhile was the chance to commune with nature, so to speak.

Where I entered Oatka was, as it turned out, the location of what I guess is an old mill. (I meant to show you a photo at this point, but Buzznet seems to be screwing with my uploads at the moment). UPDATE: Pictures now available here, here and here.

After i snapped a picture of the ruins, I turned around, looked down into a small ravine and found I was maybe 15 feet from a deer. The deer didn’t even notice me until I turned. I wish I had seen her sooner; I could have gotten a better picture.

The cool thing was, as soon as I saw her, I froze, and so she stopped running, and actually showed interest in coming back to the spot she was feeding. We stood like that for about five minutes … me not moving, her looking towards where I was standing, seemingly unsure if I was really there or not. I wanted her to move closer so I could get a better picture with my iPhone, but she held her ground and I lost my patience. I wanted to fish.

So all I have is the picture inset at the top of this post.

Related DVD: Successful Fly Fishing Strategies