We've heard the expression, “Don’t beat a dead horse.” I wonder if that applies to possums and coons and other such varmints.
Yesterday, I joined the ranks of the Roadkill Club –- if one exists.
My husband will tell you I have this innate ability to kill small animals. I can just be driving along and a squirrel will be along the side of the road and I'll call out, "Move, squirrel!" Without fail, it moves under my tire instead of in the direction of the ditch. Birds are the same way. It's like no one is coming for miles and they pick the moment I am cresting the hill to swoop down for a piece of carcass on the road. Thump! Stupid birds.
Yesterday I was up around 5 a.m. because I had to head up to the Rhinelander area for a conference. I had to pick someone up in town first. When I was gassing up and getting my coffee, I noticed the only other folks up at that hour were truck drivers and duck hunters. I hope those hunters were as successful as I was in the "kill" department.
We were driving along on the 4-lane stretch of Highway 54. I am in the left lane. It is still very dark out. Suddenly there is this huge animal lying in the road. I didn't even have time to brake and I couldn't have swerved because there were vehicles to my right. So I just had to go over it, but it was a gigantic "bump" my car did not enjoy.
I'm guessing some big ol' semi killed it and was able to go over it since their undercarriage is much higher off the ground than mine. When I got to my destination, I looked over the Honda's front end. I saw that there was some minor damage on the car. Some rubber thing is hanging from the front and some plastic part is broken and some paint is scraped off. I took it to the car wash this morning to get rid of any blood and guts and hair. Hungry yet?
I'm still at a loss as to what it was. It was too dark-colored to be a deer. But it just seemed too big to be a possum or a raccoon or a skunk. I mean those animals wouldn't cause such damage, would they?
When I called Jim about it and he asked what kind of animal it was, all I could say was, "It was a dead one."
So while I didn't beat a dead horse, I certainly beat a dead something. I wonder if it will still be there when we drive to work tomorrow ... or if it will be one of those roadkill pancakes we often see. Now is anyone hungry for lunch?
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3 comments:
I vividly remember cresting the hill on Hwy 35 between Luck & Frederic with a friend one night & we drove over a dead deer. Crunch! We could hear the bones in the deer being crushed under the car. We too, were unable to swerve as the highway has two lanes going up the hill (passing lane) & there was a car in the other lane. Thankfully, cars back in the 70's were built tougher & heavier than now, so there was no damage, except to our pysche... I think I had nightmares about bones crunching in the night. Rayna
Timber wolf, bear, could it have been that big?? Our reaction when we see something is to serve, but I'm really glad u didn't or u and your car could be worse off. Hopefully, someone was daring enuf to move it if they had a shovel along!! But what if it wasn't dead? I wouldn't dare move it.
I really like your new blog picture with your new hat - it's cute!! Good thing u got your new hat at "Wild Woman's Vintage clothing" and not at "Wild Things Fur" or u would have more wild life after u!
I'm starting to think it was a turkey on steroids or perhaps a black garbage bag filled with 3 or 4 bowling balls!
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