Roadkill

Reason #753 why I am ready to end this daily one hour commute of mine: Dead animals.

The first rule of driving my dad taught me 13 long years ago was, "DO NOT under any circumstances EVER swerve for animals-especially birds! They will get out of the way for you!" About 7 years after that lesson I killed a baby bird that failed to move out of the path of my Cavalier. I was sad for the rest of the day. I was even scared to look in the grill of my car 'cause I was afraid I'd see feathers.

Next, something I neglected to mention a few weeks ago when it happened... I was driving to work around 6 am and was only about 5 minutes into my drive on the 490 when a bird committed suicide on my windshield. Seriously. It flew right smack in front of my eyes and thankfully quickly fell off. I screamed like I haven't screamed in quite a while. That shit'll scare you half to death in the wee hours of the morning! Now whenever I see birds swooping across the interstate I cringe. I couldn't bear to hear that noise of a bird hitting my window ever again!

Finally, yesterday, which is the main reason for this post... Less that 5 minutes on the 490 I saw a dead deer in the middle of the highway. Blood everywhere and body parts scattered. Not something I ever cared to see. About 2 minutes after that I notice the car in front of me swerve and witnessed it barely miss hitting two fawn that were crossing the road. One of the fawn made it's way to the other side of the road, but the other must've got scared. It quickly turned around and fell on the hash marks in the middle of the road. I screamed (probably louder that when the bird hit my windshield). Luckily, it quickly got back on it's feet and headed in the direction from which it came.

The man in the car that nearly hit the deer and I were the only witnesses to this. Thankfully there's not many cars on the road at 6:30 am on a Saturday. He must've been shaken up as much as I was though, 'cause we both spent the rest of the drive on the 490 going about 50 mph. After thinking about that baby deer I had tears in my eyes, 'cause I worried that I'd see it dead on my way home. There's a ridiculous amount of dead animals on the shoulder of the interstate, and I can't take it!

I never used to care much, but I just think it's sad. Especially when the baby ones die. Unfortunately, on my way home, I did see a dead baby deer on the side of the road. Obviously, I don't know if it was the same one from the morning, but it doesn't really matter. I was still sad just the same.... What can I say, I'm getting pathetic in my old age!

So, be careful out there! I'm not advising swerving out of the way of swooping birds, or prancing deer, but watch out nonetheless.