This is the strata unit beside mine.
The deer are noshing down on the yew hedge that has been put around various places of the property. The yew tree is a symbol of death, in English literature, since pretty much all parts of it are toxic. The Pacific Yew contains taxol, which is now used as one of the many components of chemotherapy for various types of cancer. (Chemotherapy, of course, is the medical practice of giving poison to a cancer patient, and hoping that the poison kills the cancer before it kills the patient.) If these deer get cancer, I suppose they've already had the chemo. I don't think these *particular* yew are Pacific yew, but they're still toxic to humans, and it's interesting to see the deer eating them so avidly.
(Yeah, OK, I think about death an awful lot these days ...)
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