These are random musings of my life journey, the people, animals, places, and events which have woven, and continue to weave, a tapestry that is me. We all know there is no real destination, only the ongoing experiences which blend together, creating the trail. Each step gives a glimpse of what is to come, without allowing me to see the end result. It is exciting. I have a home base that is mine, that gives me a place to rest. This is it. This is where my heart is, no matter where I journey...................

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Hodge-podge

This is one of those days when little bits and pieces are coming to mind rather than a post about "something." So get ready for a patchwork quilt!

A few days ago I decided to remove the word verification here on this blog, thinking that it is probably time again to let the guard down. W.R.O.N.G!!! Within two hours there was a "canned" comment with sexual content to an old post back in 2009. Damnation, anyway. Why can't people leave our blogs alone???

I've had a couple close calls recently in my truck, both at low speed, under 25 MPH. When I was driving home a couple days ago, and I got just 30 yards or so from my driveway, a deer jumped out in front of me! Scared the bejeebers outta me!! I slammed on my brakes, and didn't hit her, but barely. Stopping suddenly on a gravel road is iffy and rather scary, as the vehicle just skids all over the place! Even at <25 mph, it is not a good thing. I was glad I was almost home, 'cause my knees were shaking after that.

Then this morning as I was driving out toward the highway, everything was fine until I came to a sharp curve just before I got to the highway, and as I rounded it,  I had a vision of my truck being purple. There was a red pickup truck coming toward me, IN MY LANE!!! Of course, "in my lane" is relative on a gravel country road, but he was certainly not hugging the right side of the road, as is wise!  Once again, I braked and pulled as far to my right as I could and the vehicles did not touch, but I don't know how! I looked in my rear view mirror, as I was now stopped, and he was still driving down the middle of the road!! All I could think was "WTF!!!" which I said out loud.!  Several times!!

On the funny side, this evening I was driving across the gravel road, and I saw a doe elk in the field ahead of me. She was probably 20-30 yards off the road and at least that much ahead of me. I don't often see the elk, as they tend to stay away from us humans during the day, so it was a treat. I was admiring her coloring and size, and the thought crossed my mind that she was thankfully far enough away from the road to not worry about her. Almost as if she heard my thoughts and knew that I've been having, uhmmm, incidents, she suddenly jumped almost straight up in the air and barreled away in the opposite direction!! It's a small community and word gets around!!

My neighbor had a strange incident this week, too. They heard a little commotion in the night, but didn't think much of it. They have a small fenced area for their dog, and when they got up in the morning, there was a deer doe in the little fenced yard, unfortunately already dead. They don't know if she couldn't jump back out for some reason or what. To make it sadder, she was pregnant, leaving us wondering if she got in the small yard (looking for water or food?) and couldn't jump back out because of her awkward size? because she might have been in labor and couldn't make it over the fence? Also sadly, I think it might be the momma deer that has produced several sets of twins since I moved in here, raised the babies under our watchful eyes in the neighborhood. It made us all very sad to hear about it. If it was Our Girl, I will miss her greatly. She is the one who brought her babies right up to our decks and porches and fences, almost as if she was showing them off. She is the one who slept under a tree just off my back steps for a good part of one winter, watching the house and my pups every night.  Ahh, the cycle of life. It is just hard to see an end when we are the ones left to hold together the pieces.

There has been another doe hanging around lately. She is younger, but is already very comfortable with my noisy little mutts. She comes right up the the fence, munching on grass while being only a couple feet from the noses of My Kids without being intimidated. I'm hoping that she will take over where the other sweet lady left off, raising babies here.

So there you go, the hodge-podge.  Go forth and unscramble!!

10 comments:

  1. Well that is sad about the Doe that didn't make it. It's funny how we get attached to things and animals that really aren't there for any reason but to make us happy!
    As for the gravel road , Kate had her FIRST experience with one on Sunday on the way to church camp. She was going a normal speed around a gravel corner and noticed the lack of control of the car! We hadn't really come across this until now so that's when I explained that you have to slow down on gravel! Hope she remembers! Love Di ♥

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  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. I don't have word verification but blogspot seems to be able to corral those nasty old vermin spammers who try to comment on my blog. They end up in my spam inbox where I delete them en masse. Get a lot of Chinese spammers whose posts end up there.

    My wife wouldn't like to read this blog of your's. She's addicted to wild deer, always looks for them around our neighborhood. She hates when something bad happens to them.

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  4. So sad about the doe. :( I am sure you will miss her a lot!!!

    Glad that you didn't have any run-ins with tht car on the road. The one good thing that Lucy told me when I first moved to Marysville was that gravel roads are very unforgiving. She is right and I always go extra slow when I am on one.

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  5. I took word verification off and put it as moderation on any comment on any blog older than two weeks. It works quite well. I get a few comments caught in the spam folder that I look at once in a great while and can delete or not. Occasionally I get a real comment in the for moderation file, but most that are caught there are spam as well.

    But at least I save my friends the unpleasant task of typing those silly words.

    I'll keep typing them for you though!

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  6. Di & Caroline, about gravel roads, yes, a person has to be careful, and I usually am. Both of these incidents were unusual, and I was going less than 25 both times! It can be scary! And I watch people tear up and down the roads, wondering how they survive!

    Dave, Caroline & Di, the poor deer. I know it is just part of the cycle of life, but it is sad. I really, really hope it was not "my" deer, but I'm afraid it was. Several of us have watched her and we haven't seen her for several days. :'(

    Dave & Merikay, I don't like using word verification, as it is a nuisance, but I feel it is better than risking having some of the awful spam posts. Yes, I think the blogger spam block is working well, but I'll still be careful. See that "Comment Deleted by Blog Administrator" above? That was one that slipped through which slammed American women and advertized for mail order brides from India. And when I say "slammed," I mean it threw us against the wall, stomped on us and cursed us!! I'm not kidding!! It was awful. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I don't ever want someone to read something like that here, and if I don't catch it right away, it could happen.

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  7. I enjoy posts like this one very much because they give me an idea of life in other worlds from mine. Living that close to deer and other creatures is not something that happens round here.

    Drive safely!

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  8. Friko, I agree. I enjoy the bogs I read from England, Canada, Australia, etc. for the same reason. If I can't be there in person, I'll join my friends in cyberspace!

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  9. Wow sounds like both animals and people are accident prone in your area! I would have been bothered by the near miss in the truck, too. It takes a while to get over that kind of thing.

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  10. Jenny, I live in a rural area, and my home is high in the mountains, just a couple miles from a national forest preservation area, so wildlife is prevalent. The fast-moving, discourteous trucks are, unfortunately prevalent also!

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If you have something to say about it, just stick out your thumb, and I'll slow down so you can hop aboard! But hang on, 'cause I'm movin' on down the road!!! No time to waste!!!