Middle of the Road

July is here.  The year is half over.  Winter is finally behind us and the hot summer weather has arrived.  (It may be hot, but I am doing my best NOT to complain after all the cold and snow we had).

A lot has been going on in the world news lately:  internationally (kidnappings, murder and, of course, soccer; Go TeamUSA!), nationally (Supreme Court anyone?) and locally (murder of a young man in the next town over who seemed to be the kind of kid I would want and hope my son to grow up to be...and that's what makes it so frightening). So, I could blather on about any of those things.  But to be quite honest, talking heads (or in most cases SHOUTING heads) give me a headache and I just turn them off and tune them out.  (Yes, every one's entitled to their own opinion and I have friends shouting on both sides of the fence.  It doesn't mean I have to listen or agree with either one of them.)  Why would I want to write or blog about that?

I have a more important question to ask:  Why was the deer in the middle of the road?

A.  It was auditioning for "The Leftovers" on HBO.  (Yes, I watched the first episode and I'm not sure what to think.  I read the book and it was a good enough read, but I'm not so sure about the series.  The same can be said for the 2nd season of "Under the Dome".  Liked the book and watched the first season last summer, but am not sure I will continue.  If it had been a cow in the middle of the road, I might have assumed it escaped from "Under the Dome" so that it wouldn't be sliced in half as the mysterious dome descended on the town.)

B.  It wasn't...I didn't get enough sleep and the deer was just some sort of bizarre hallucination.  (I still need more sleep, but I don't think I was hallucinating or dreaming.  Although with all the deer sightings I've had on my recent walks I kind of hope I have been dreaming.  There are way too many deer out and about in the mornings.  I didn't think deer were supposed to be so prevalent in suburbia, but then again I didn't think that so much development would be going on in the NJ area that would force the deer to find new places to forage.  Which COULD bring me to the topic of what's going to happen when the wooded area near my home is deforested and blasted away to ground level spewing Basalt dust that will do God knows what to the lungs of local residents and the children who play on the ball field directly across from it.  And now there I am standing on the soapbox that I said I would stay off of.)

C.  It was there just to freak me out on my early morning walk.  Which it did.  While I am used to seeing deer on my walks, especially early in the morning, it just stood there alone and stared at me.  I *think* I have seen the same deer before and in the same place.  But she (?) was always with two little ones.  Today she stood alone (which makes me wonder where the babies are).  I just passed her by; she stared at me as I went and I kept an eye on her too.  (A week or so earlier when she was in the same general vicinity with the two little ones, I had actually turned around and gone another way as I didn't want to startle the tiny ones or get Mama upset.  I may not have much insight into deer, but I know as a mom that I would protect my little ones from whatever I might perceive as a threat.)  Maybe she was trying to tell me that just a block or so ahead I would meet up with a fox.  A more unusual sight than a deer, I caught a glimpse of him (or her) with his pointy ears and fluffy tail.  Don't know how I would have reacted if I came face to face with him!

D.  A combination of all of the above.

The correct is most likely D.  Even with the sun rising early, I tend to go out slightly before dawn breaks and more and more often I am finding myself seeing wildlife that I would not have seen in the decade or so before.  (Of course a decade ago I wouldn't have even considered getting up at the hour I do to go for a walk.)  When I seriously walking I expected to see (and hear) a variety of birds (although I did not expect a roadblock of Canadian Geese whenever I went to the park), squirrels and chipmunks.  I wasn't surprised to come across an occasional raccoon (ducking down the sewer) or skunk (I definitely turn around and head in the other direction when I see one of them!) or opossum.  I wasn't expecting deer and so many of them.  But now they are a way of life.

So if you are like me and are enjoying the summer weather and taking advantage of the coolness of the morning to go for a walk, keep an eye out.  You never know who or what you might find in the middle of the road.