A life of love

A life of love
Everyone should have a Great Pyrenees

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Van versus deer.....

We were blessed to have a wonderful evening with my dad's family, many of whom I have not seen in five years or more!  It is my Uncle Don's 80th birthday and so there was a family event!  Great fun and we really enjoyed it.  Several of the kids even went swimming in my cousin's pond!  It was about 60 degrees, but they decided to swim anyway.  The water was warmer than the air, brrrr......  But they had a blast.

So, on our way home, we were within a mile of home and what to do know - out jumps a big deer.  Sigh.  I always wondered how our big van would hold up against a deer.  Not that I really wanted to find out, you know.  I was working on a crocheting project - Steve driving, and the kids in all their usual places.  We were nearly home.  I heard a scream, and looked up to see a deer flying through the air in front of the windshield.  Sigh.  We ended up on the side of the road, no fast movement other than pulling over.  Talk about excitement.  Several of the kids hadn't even realized what happened.  Kiley had been sitting right in the middle of the bench seat behind the front seats and got a front row view of the whole thing. 

Ugh.  We all sat there for a minute, checking on everyone.  Alex had been facing sideways turned to talk to one of his brothers and got his neck and shoulder wrenched.  Other than that, no one had any sore spots. 

Then we climbed out to look at the van.  It could have been worse, by far.  We have no leaking fluids, that we could find at all.  The plastic grille is smashed in, of course some pieces broke off.  One headlight appears to be a little loose.  And the strip of metal under the grille is pretty smashed it.  The upside is that it was getting pretty rusty with little dings all over, so we were going to have to do something about that yet this summer anyway.  So, it appears that all is functional, if not pretty.

While Steve checked on the van, I went over to where the deer had flown to the other side of the road.  It must have died instantly.  No suffering, no ghastly wounds, just very dead.  I don't know what I would have done if it were still alive and suffering.  Our gun of course is at home.  Though that is only a mile from where it happened.  At this point, we are too tired and shook up to even think of butchering it, though the practical nature would seem to tell us that we should.  I haven't ever butchered a deer, and neither has Steve, though our Ethiopian born sons insist that it must be a lot like a sheep, so they could do it.  We really don't have the best tools for it, and church starts early tomorrow.  Not today, just too much to think of attempting.  We did call a couple neighbors to see if they wanted it so it wouldn't necessarily be wasted.  That is as practical as we were going to get tonight. 

So we know how the van holds up against a deer.  Sadly, Steve hit a deer with his car last fall, less than a mile from where we hit this one.  Honestly, the van held up better than his little car did.  It all could have been worse!


"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

3 comments:

Laurie Neverman, The Common Sense Woman said...

Where were you at when you hit it? August hit one just last Friday near the corner of AB and KB. His just took off the passenger side rearview mirror, thankfully. The little car would not likely have fared as well as the van.

Christy O said...

We were on AB just north of Nuclear Road - about 20 feet or so north of it, by where that house burned down and they haven't rebuilt. Deer still there on the west side of the road. Thankfully August was OK in your deer/car meeting!!!!!

JJ said...

So glad to hear you are all ok. Are you reporting it with insurance? Would it be worth it to get it all repaired? Man oh man, the timing of everything. huh? Good thing one of the boys weren't driving with their temps.