On any given day, I love where I live. I love my house, I love the 'woodedness' of the area, I love where I take my morning walks , and I *sort* of love the local wildlife. I find the chipmunks and birds to be quite endearing. The wild turkeys are pretty funny to watch when they jog across the road; heck, even "fox guy" can be pretty darn cute while playing with his babies. While I embrace these critters, there are two species of God's Creatures that I am still a bit "oogied-out" by: non-migratory Canadian geese and deer.
While on a walk last Fall, I happened upon a large group of geese by the shoulder of the road. I did my best to avoid them, and jutted out into the road a bit. As I passed by, their "leader" made this throaty growling/hissing noise at me. While I was grateful that they didn't have sharp teeth, I was freaked out anyway. I scurried out of there pretty quick. As far as deer go, my issue is more along the paranoia level. I have envisioned them with glowing red eyes, and an insatiable taste for human blood. Yes, it's weird, but that's my hang -up....
Little did I know that when I headed out this morning, I'd get to meet both of my "nature nightmares" head-on....
After yesterday's muggy strangeness, I was excited to get back outside for a good 'ol hike. I was wandering through a subdivision , thinking my thoughts, when I noticed a large group of geese. As I have in the past, I started moving towards the center of the street. It was pretty obvious (it is always pretty darn obvious with these guys) who the "fearless" leader was. I glanced at the fellow out of the corner of my eye. Darn it if he didn't start marching his posse across the street, straight at me! As I was mentally preparing myself for the bevy of oncoming poultry, a car sped by and caused them to retreat back into the ditch. Whheewww....one bullet dodged!
A few minutes after that encounter, I was strolling down a main road, which is flanked by woods. Sadly, I came upon a baby spotted deer in this area earlier in the week that had been killed. I heard a bit of stirring in the woods, and saw two deer grazing away. I looked at them....they looked at me. Usually, these sort of exchanges end with just that- a good visual "appraisal" of one another. Well, today, the planets must have been aligned funny because one of the deer emerged from the woods, and started walking parallel to me (in the bike lane, no less), on the other side of the street. I could not believe that this was happening, and looked over my shoulder a second time; yep, still being followed. I turned around for the third time; yep, still being followed. By the time I turned around for the third time, I was booking pretty quick; so was my "friend". In utter disbelief, I started to walk down a driveway, in case the "deer guy" would be relentless in his pursuit. Thankfully, a pick-up truck came up behind the deer, and the deer scurried back into the woods.... I'm not a betting woman, but what are the odds of this happening?!?!?!
So.....I got home and relayed my most (un)excellent adventure to my husband. He has always found it pretty amusing that I am wigged-out by "sweet deer"; the guy didn't make fun of me this time. After today's hijinks, I think I should have a T-Shirt made for my walks, which says "Team Animals" on it. I'll bet that if they knew I was a vegetarian and an animal rights supporter, that they would find a more 'deserving' human to stalk....
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