Deer Me!

About forty-five minutes of highway lie between my sister and I.  In order to get to stores or visit me she must traverse those miles.  It is quite a pretty drive, as about 30 minutes of it is just hills and desert with no homes to mar the view.  You will see various wildlife as you drive especially in the morning or evening hours.  Coyotes, desert long tailed mice, rattlesnakes, rabbits, jackrabbits, and roadrunners are most often seen.  

I have a friend from Pennsylvania who married an AZ boy and when they moved here she was so excited to see a roadrunner in real life.  When she finally got to see one she was quite disappointed as she had been misled by the Looney Tune cartoon, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.  She thought that roadrunners were six feet tall much like an ostrich.  Sadly for her they are only about a foot tall.  Despite their small size, they do take on rattlesnakes from time to time which is pretty impressive.

Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

Roadrunner enjoying a mid-morning snack

   One fine morning, Ashlee was on her way to see me as we were headed to Tucson, AZ for some thrifting fun.  She was admiring the scenery when she noticed a few deer on the side of the road.  Then she noticed a deer or two on the other side of the road.  Suddenly the deer on the left side decided he wanted to join his brothers on the right and didn't want to wait for the pesky car going 60mph to get out of the way.  Ashlee saw him coming and slammed on the brakes.  Despite her best efforts she was hit by a deer.

Desert deer watching the mayhem

After the collision, Ashlee was very shaken up but the deer continued on his way to his friends.  She believes that despite the damage to her car the deer was fine.

What do you see? A few scratches? 

Nope.  Those there are deer hairs.  Poor thing probably has a bald patch.

Poor car did get some scratches though.

Ashlee could talk of nothing else all day; of course, it's not every day you get hit by a deer!