2014 ended weirdly! More on that later.
My family had a nice holiday season. The usual food, family and gifts and an unusual amount of time off from work. For me. That was nice. My wife didn't take any time off. It was oddly busy in her office...or she was OD'd on family time. :)
About the weirdness. Christmas Day we cooked and then took the food to my father-in-law's house. When we returned in the evening a bird had staked a claim to our front porch. It was determined that we would not pass. We couldn't get to the door. Reluctantly, I armed myself with a snow shovel to discourage the bird. After one solid, mid-air whack, it decided to take up residence across the street.
Two nights later as I drove my son home from work, a depressed racoon threw itself under my car. I took evasive action to avoid the critter, but he guessed my move and went in the same direction. It was my first confirmed road kill. (One night in a very heavy rain I hit something small--maybe a turtle or a rock, I couldn't find anything.)
I felt really guilty...about both incidents. And I waited for a 3rd. I put out a general warning to wildlife in the area to avoid me and I was especially cautious until New Year's. Hopefully enough time has passed now that a third incident is not coming.
I have a clean slate. Happy 2015!!!
I wish you and the wildlife in your general vicinity better luck in 2015 :)
ReplyDeleteSo far, so good! Maggie is the only animal to cross my path this year. I guess that's lucky??? :)
DeleteHappy new year ! <3
ReplyDeleteFollow me, i follow back :)
http://kasjaa.blogspot.com/
I would have to get to know you first!
DeleteWeird, 2 incidents with small critters in such short span of time. I ran over a raccoon or opossum once. Not fun. Glad nobody else was hurt though.
ReplyDeleteThe raccoon incident gave me a chance to talk with my son about not taking a drastic, dangerous action (that might injure a human) to avoid hitting an animal.
DeleteNew beginnings for a new year! I hope your first week is going well?
ReplyDeleteThanks you my friend! During the first week I had to shovel snow, scrap ice and I lost a crown. Minor stuff, so things are going well. :)
Deleteoh no... but anyhow, happy new year. hope it'll be a peaceful one for you xoxo
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Recent years have had themes for me. I'm hoping this year's theme will be peace, for all of us.
DeleteI'm glad you had a good Christmas holiday, Rick. It doesn't sound like the wildlife in your area can make the same claim. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristie! Thankfully the wildlife and I are back to simply eyeing each other from afar.
DeleteOh no, that's so sad about the raccoon! :( Very odd about the bird though. Is it possible it had a nest nearby it was protecting?
ReplyDeleteI thought that too--about the nest. But I couldn't find one. Maybe it wanted to start a nest? For several years, every spring a pair of mourning doves had a nest on top of a cabinet on our porch. They didn't come back after my wife put a few decorations up there.
Deleteroad kills are always sad... but i guess you can't avoid them.. both them and you just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time... but glad it's not a moose or something bigger that would damange the car!
ReplyDeleteYou are right! That highway was littered with deer this fall--their population is at a all time high here. Well, it was.
DeleteI've missed your entertaining stories. Roadkill stories are both sad and funny. I may have killed a couple of stray cats (less than 5) in my entire driving lifetime. We have a lot of that here in the Philippines--cats. I've been away from my blog and the blogging world, altogether but I'm back. I said, I need to visit RIC. Haha!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! I was thinking about you last week--I flossed out crown. But there's also a Crickette store near my house, so it's normal for me to be reminded of you. :)
DeleteI like the way you described the raccoon being depressed and throwing itself onto death path. We seldom have road kills here maybe coz we are such a concrete jungle. The 3 worst roadkills I witnessed here would be those of 1 cat, 1 kitten and a husky dog. I cried at all 3 incidents. And then when we went to NZ for a holiday and drove a campervan, i grew immuned to road kills. And in fact to keep ourselves awake from driving through the night, hub and I played a game of guess what animal that is. So sadistic.
ReplyDeleteI tired to miss the raccoon, but he said, "Oh no you don't!" and jumped right back in front of me. My KH gets upset too by the road kills, so I don't tell her when I see something on the side of the road.
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