Oh Deer!

Like most of you, I have always been known for driving at “reasonable speeds”.  Dad and I had an agreement that a “reasonable speed” for Juniper Road was 45 mph.  One morning I was headed to school in the blue Pontiac Phoenix (not much of a looker, but man, that was a cozy ride).  Really, I was only doing about 45, I promise.  Just past Rushton’s, but not quite to Ben’s, a suicidal deer jumped out of the tall grass in the borrow pit… Thunk.

Nailed it.

So, I thought “well, I’m less than a mile from home, I should probably turn around and run home real quick and let Dad check out the car and make sure it will get me safely to school and back home again.  As I was driving back to the dairy, I was a little nervous about telling Dad about my misfortune, trying to figure out exactly how I would present my predicament and trying to figure out what Dad’s reaction might be (Why was I worried?  Have you met that guy?  Does not anger easily…) 

Thunk.

Are you serious?!? (Some other expletives may or may not have crossed my mind at this minute.)

For Real.  I totally hit another deer. 

Good grief.  Now I am really nervous about telling Dad.  My stomach was in knots as I walked into the barn parlor where Dad was completing the morning milking. 

Me in a shaky voice.  “Dad?”

Dad let the current batch of cows out, closed the gait, and turned to listen.

“I hit a deer.  But I was only going 45, I promise, you said 45 was a good speed for this road.”

Dad “Not when there are deer!”

I continued with my tale at what I’m sure was 100 miles a minute. “But then I turned around for you to look at the car and... I hit another deer.”

Dad shot me a look of disbelief and kind of laughed (what a relief).  “You hit two deer?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you didn't hit the same deer twice.”

“Yeah, I’m sure, there is no way that first deer could have jumped out of the grass that fast again.  I hurt her for sure.”

Dad got the next batch of cows going and followed me to my car.

Observing the deer feces (and fur) on the front of my car, “You scared the crap out of them!”

Haha… I love that guy!  We checked out the car, all looked well, but decided just to be safe I should drive the Suburban to school (maybe he was worried I would hit another one and needed a better defense?). 

It’s Juniper/Malta, I don’t know why I was surprised when everyone somehow knew about the deer before I got to school.  Everyone except Diana… haha it was like 6 months or a year later when she asked me about my deer episode. :)

And yes, dad went out and indeed found TWO dead (or nearly dead) deer part way up the hill.