Car Update

The claims adjuster will be out tomorrow. Either 7:30-9:30 AM as I requested, or 2:30 like my dad thought the recorded message said when they called the home phone despite my request to only call my cell and talk to me. Whatever. I'm not waiting around. Rich will be here to handle him/her whenever it is. I'll be working in the cold car, the one that still has lights and steering and no big gaping holes and blue and brown puddles underneath.

My friend Lynn called me on her way home from work: "I saw where you hit your deer!" She didn't see the deer, just the debris from the car. It seems it's a notorious deer crossing corridor. She knows personally of two other car-deer accidents within feet of the site.

She had her own tale, one we could feel free to laugh at because it didn't involve her truck, just her neighborhood. About 6 miles south of Grantsburg, WI, along Hwy. 87 near the Fish Lake Wildlife Refuge, sombody hit a deer that then laid on the shoulder of the road and froze. With the next snowfall, the plow came along with enough speed to kick up the carcass and toss it into the snow piled in the ditch - standing up! So there it stands, a bit battered and bent, but if you don't look close, looking ready to step out and attack another car.

Motorists beware.

Bambi 1, Hyundai 1

I think that's the proper way to report the score when they're both casualties.

It was dark, and after carefully navigating snowy roads all day, I'm driving home on now-dry pavement and Bambi jumps out of nowhere and attacks my car. Ironic, huh? I guess I'm lucky that the power steering didn't go out until about 4 blocks from home, when I turned off the highway into town. There was no traffic nearby, so an extra-slow turn didn't cause any more problems, and after that I crawled the rest of the way. I had to jockey the car back and forth to back it in to the driveway. I figure it'll have to be towed to a repair shop from there, after the insurance company has its say.

Naturally this is just after the tranny rebuild, front end alignment and four new tires. I'm really hoping it doesn't get totaled. The wrinkled side panel obstructs the passenger door from opening, the hood is crumpled, there are pieces of the bumper in the back of the car, the light assembly is a gaping black hole, and obviously some internal damage. It's an '07, but with 192,000+ miles. Those blue book boys don't realize that those puppies are good for 400,000 miles with minimal repairs.

The insurance people totaled out a high mileage Geo Metro on me with front end damage years back, but the price of repairs was equal to the insurance payout, so I got it fixed and put another couple hundred thou on it. Loved the 3-cylinder engine with the 48-50 MPG that baby got. Mostly I love Hyundais, but this was back when I was looking for even better economy. When those were discontinued, I went back to Hyundais.

My last car-deer incident was several years ago, and that time the score was Hyundai 2, Bambi 0. A headlight needed replacing and I had venison for the freezer. Back then I found out that one doesn't need to wait two hours for the highway patrol to come by and verify the roadkill if one plans butcher the deer one's self. That's only if you want to take it to a "real" butcher, and need proof you haven't been poaching. Of course, I found that out after waiting those two hours. This time I found out from the local sheriff's office that they no longer write up car-deer incidents. One less headache, anyway.

Tomorrow I find out what the insurance company says, and meanwhile get to drive the Buick with the heater problem. It's a bit warmer out now, so it might not be too bad. Wish me luck, and an early spring.

Now let's see if the adrenaline level is down enough I can get some sleep tonight.