The Random Ramblings of Samm Diep

Oh Deer...

That's right. That's "deer" - not "dear."

Oh, and by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Back to my deerful evening...

Last night, around 1a.m., as I was on my way home, about two miles from the house, turning left onto Hampden from a (typically busy) South-bound Parker Road (link to aerial photo is obviously not updated because there's no snow in it), I noticed something on the side of the road.

You see, a few years ago, that intersection was changed so that the left-turners could just turn directly under Parker Road without having to interfere with Parker Road traffic. The West side of the street is still the very edge of Cherry Creek State Park but this is a bit of a short-cut to our house.

Anyway, if you check out the aerial photo, you'll notice a white car directly in the center of the photo. That's about where I was. As I approached Hampden, there was an enormous deer standing on the left side of the road. He must've escaped from the state park. As I slowed down to pass it, I gazed wondrously as it stared back at me. We were both deers in headlights. He only had one antler and he was taller than my car. I don't know for sure that it was a "he" but I hate calling it an "it."

I pulled over at the next stoplight to report it. I didn't want some drunken buffoon to mow him down when he decided to stroll back to the park. In the time that it took me to call it in, call Chisolm and excitedly tell him all about it, turn around to go back to take a photo, this deer had multiplied! When I got back to it to take this picture, there were about 15-20 of them. The big guy had invited his entire family and neighbors to join him.

The blurry photo doesn't do it justice but there were about three more crossing the road and another handful that didn't get in the shot. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was like a surreal Hitchcock movie. Crazy!

I called back to report the rest of them and they were pretty amazed too at the station and said someone was on their way to take care of it. I went to the grocery store and just couldn't resist driving by one more time. Within the 20 minutes it took me to buy five peach yogurts and return to the scene, they were all gone. In fact, there was no trace at all of hoof tracks or any sort of commotion. It's like they were never even there at all. I pulled out my camera to almost expect to see them all disappeared from my photo but their memory was still there and captured by my new camera.

When I arrived home, my mom had stopped by the house to deliver another deer. Vegas got this squeaky reindeer stocking for Christmas and within 45 minutes had removed most of the stuffing and chewed up the squeaker. It has since been on my mom's to-do list and she finally did it. We salvaged the stuffing but the squeaker no longer squeaked. Nonetheless, Vegas doesn't seem to mind.


Yes, our tree is STILL up. We're not taking it down until Tuesday. We put it up late this year and I'm trying to prolong Christmas for as long as I can...

Anyway, I have a new pool coach. He's the best EVER!!! Going to our friends' Robbie & Steph's wedding tomorrow. Well, it's not a real wedding. They're just having a small get-together at their place and making it official. Seems to be the way to go. They're just perfect for each other.

posted by Samm @ 1/12/2007 03:10:00 PM