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Meet the Odd Couple
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Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, stars of the 1970s television series “The Odd Couple,” had nothing on this pair. Meet Grey Ghost and Notch, the most unusual pair of friends in the Grande Ronde Valley. Grey Ghost is a wild, neutered gray male cat and Notch is a mule deer doe. The two are breakfast and dinner companions at the home of Don and Donna Fincher, about four miles north of Summerville. Notch and Grey Ghost have been meeting at the Finchers for meals for at least eight years. Notch is fed bread, grain, corn and oats and Grey Ghost table scraps. They come regularly throughout the year. When Grey Ghost and Notch are at the Fincher’s home at the same time they get together, with the deer licking the cat.“Grey Ghost really enjoys it. Notch licks his ears and Grey Ghost turns his head so that he can be licked some more,’’ Donna Fincher said. Grey Ghost enjoys it only to a point though. “Sometimes he will reach up and swat Notch when she is licking his ears too much,’’ Donna Fincher said. The two sometimes seem more comfortable with each other than with people. Grey Ghost likes to rub up against other people but does not like to be picked up. Notch does not like to be petted but will eat out of people’s hands. On occasion, though, Notch is exceptionally friendly. The deer sometimes sticks his head inside the front door of the Finchers’ home. Once this occurred when there was a large gathering of people inside. The Finchers sometimes see Notch while on walks outside their home but the doe usually does not acknowledge them. She does respond when the Finchers call her name. “Sometimes she will be with a group of deer and she will run to us when we call her,’’ Donna said. The Finchers get nervous every fall during deer season. “Every year we hope the hunters do not get her,’’ Donna said. Notch has been seen with several fawns over the past eight years, but they have never accompanied her to the Finchers’ house. It is not known if Notch is teaching her fawns about the art of becoming friends with felines. If she is, a family tradition that is making even Mother Nature smile is being established. — Dick Mason |
