On Sunday my husband and I were hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law at their house. Around 10:30 p.m., we left (after my sister and I had the dialogue noted above). She lives in a subdivision with plazas and a busy intersections nearby, and we live in a subdivision about 15 minutes away that is in a less busy area. Along the way there are some fields, some wooded areas and some farms.
Where there are wooded areas, there is wildlife. There is often a dead skunk or raccoon on the side of roads in my area. Usually smaller animals. It's sad, but it happens. Fortunately I have not run into/over any critters.
So, anyway, we were driving home. Alex was driving, and I was looking up something in my e-mail. I had just finished, and was going to put my phone away, when out of the corner of my eye I see a deer. Before I had time to mentally register that a deer just passed in front of our car, SMACK! Her friend ran into the side of my car. (I maintain my record of not running into/over critters - she ran into me!)
The impact actually wasn't that hard, but the damage was bad. Driver's side window and mirror - gone. The window shattered. Glass was all over the interior of my car. And me. Seriously, it was in my hair, down my shirt, and in my underwear... I was a little nervous about sitting down after that. (Don't worry, my tushie is unharmed).
In addition to the window and mirror, there are two small dents in the front driver side door, and a big dent in the rear one. The rear door won't even open. Plus, there is a bunch of deer dirt on my car. Ok, it's just regular dirt that the deer was wearing. But deer dirt sounds better (I like alliteration).
So anyway, my car got mangled, and Alex and I were a bit stunned. But we got it together and pulled over. We saw the second deer run across the intersection and into an open field. The one that hit us was lying in the road. I called my sister to come meet us there, and Alex called his family and the police. It turned out a passerby had already done so, and the police got there quickly. The officer made sure we were ok, as we were picking glass out of our hair and clothing. He even offered to let us sit in the back of his cruiser. We declined. And I regret it - it would have been a great photo opportunity! My husband and me, disheveled, in the back of a police cruiser. We could have used it for our Christmas cards!
We are very thankful we got through this unhurt. Alex had a few drops of blood on his face - I was worried that it was from the deer. It turned out he had a small scratch on his ear, and a couple on his leg. Had we hit the deer head on, or had we hit a buck and not a doe, he (and I) could have been hurt badly. I was scratch free, although I think I got a tiny piece of glass in my thumb from trying to pick out the little pieces from my hair. I swear, some of the pieces were so tiny they were like grains of sand. We were happy to go home, vacuum our hair with our shop-vac (which feels really cool - I highly recommend it), clean up and go to bed.
Aside from it being a little scary, this was a bit of a learning experience. Below is a list of things I learned after hitting a deer (and some stuff I just found amusing about the whole thing).
- You can keep the dead deer if you want. The police officer asked us if we wanted it. I didn't know this was an option. It's good to know in case I ever have a craving for venison. Just kidding! But when life hands you lemons - or deer - I see no problem in making the most of the situation. Although technically, I'd be eating road kill. Which brings images of a redneck family celebrating a feast of run-over opossum, or squirrel or any other varmint that dared cross the road. (Hey ma! Look what I got fer dinner! Yee-haw!) Hmm... not so appetizing anymore.
- Vacuuming your hair feels cool. You feel the air rushing around your scalp. I guess this is what it would feel like to be bald in a breeze. I hope to never confirm this, though.
- Although the deer hit the car's exterior, tons of her hair ended up inside - on Alex, me, the front and back seats. On the bright side, my car was due for a vacuuming, so that got done. Twice. And there's still glass in there. And I think I've eliminated the deer scent.
- On the accident report, the police officer put "Deer" under the section for the other driver's information. I don't know why, but I find this funny.
- One of the guys that works at the Enterprise connected with the collision repair centre is named Shazam. Seriously - that's the name on his birth certificate. I told him he was in the wrong line of work. He doesn't seem to be interested in being a magician though. He did take a deer hair still left on my car home to look at under his microscope.
So, that's all I have to say on the matter (for now). I thank God for keeping us safe and unhurt. And the next time someone says "Drive safe", I won't make any stupid jokes (although we did drive safely in this incident - just want to make sure you don't think we're reckless deer killers).
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