From the mouths of children

I was driving P to a birthday party yesterday, at her day-care provider's house. On the way, we passed a house that I think does deer processing during hunting season. It's November, it's Vermont, it's crazy fat men mostly drunk wearing camo and hunter orange carrying fully loaded rifles around in the early morning hours. It's hunting season.

(A note; I have nothing against hunters; my dad is one and, while I suspect he does a lot of drinking at hunting camp based on the lists of supplies he used to have me get while driving through New Hampshire - they have duty-free booze & wine there - he also goes to a private club that is gated and the hunters are members and they're not sighting their guns off their front porch at 7:15 on a Saturday morning like a certain neighbor of ours does).

So, pretty much everywhere you look there are deer hanging out to "drip". Last week I was alarmed to be driving up on someone's tail and realizing that there was a freshly killed deer in the back of their truck. It can be gruesome. I much prefer my meat coming in plastic and styrofoam, la la la! No killing involved! But venison is rather tasty. We had some in chili last night.

Back to my story. I was driving P, she was sitting quietly in the backseat, storing up her energy for the ScreamFest that was the party, and we turned and drove past this house that we drive past every day that she goes to school. They had a deer hanging outside, way up from the peak of their garage, out the way of dogs and other wild carnivores. Very quietly, and not asking me, just kind of as a statement, P said: "What the hell is that deer doing?" She was not alarmed, she did not sound sad. Just wondered why there was a deer hanging from someone's house, upside down.

I, on the other hand, almost drove off the road, I was laughing so hard.

We later explained to her the hunting phenomenon, so now she's thinking that there are hunters that are going to get her teddy bear, or something else. She's not scared, just very matter-of-fact about it.

Wait until people start putting up fake deer to decorate for Christmas! Then she'll really be confused!