Shoot The Deer!

So, last Saturday evening...we are driving back from Cascade to the farm and Lee & I are saying to each other how great it is that our van is still running so well. Has close to 130,000 miles and yet no problems. It has been paid off for 4 years and our insurance on it was a meager $25/month. We were boastfully saying how lucky we were that we've never gotten into an accident, especially a deer since Mom had just run into a deer the day before on her way to Anamosa. But, not us.

Lee reminded me how his expert driving skills & near-perfect driving record were, for the most part, the main reasons why the van had survived this long! Plus, while I may have asked several times if we could get a new fancier model...like say the Dietrich's and their foreign luxury van. Lee always politely reminded me that none of his hard-working money would ever go to some foreign, sissy country. Plus, the van worked fine and was paid off. We would keep it until it died.

Well, on Sunday morning..Oct. 19th around 8:30am just west of Wyoming, Iowa....Lee was driving--thank goodness, or this whole mess may have been a bit blamed on my driving skills?!?!--anyway, a big Buck deer jumped out of the ditch on the left-side of the road and ran right into our van! Stupid animal! We were all fine. But the van is a mess.

After getting out and surveying the damage...Lee gets back in and says..."Darn it. We were just saying last night how great it is that our van still works!" I said, "Yeah, too bad. Can we get a Suburban?" He said Yes!!!! Soooo, the entire ride home I'm super excited about getting a big SUV and pissing some liberals off! I want to get an awesome bumper sticker like...."My SUV & I Love Warm Temps!" Do you get it? Help me here..I need something funny about global warming. This is actually just as important as finding the right SUV!?!

So, we get about 2 miles from our house and Lee says...."You know. The van is still drivable. Don't roll down the driver window, and don't drive in the rain because there are wires showing, and don't open the driver door too much. But, we could just drive it around like this until next summer and look for a SUV then." What did this remind me of??? How about every Saturday morning when Mom promised to take me shopping, but at the last minute said she had book work to do. Or we would go to CR and she'd drive to the fabric store saying she could sew me an outfit cheaper than buying one at the mall.

So, I told him I felt like trailer trash driving it around and I wanted a new SUV. He's in no hurry to go car shopping, but does agree that the end of the year is always a good time to buy a vehicle. It will be used, of course, but I'm excited to go looking!! The 2nd photo is off the deer Poop on the door! Notice how we can't wash off all the dirt from the gravel roads in Iowa! I don't even care--the dirt kind of hides the smashed in areas! God Bless & Safe Driving!!