Sunday Drive

Yesterday was such a scrumptious day. I thought I might start doing a weekly 'Sunday Drive' wherein I post the bounty of my day's travels. I love a road trip, even if it's only an hour away. You can always find new ways of getting to the same place. Revisiting familiar routes can reveal equally suprising subjects. Snowflake and I headed North to the cottage. We took the scenic route, hugging a mighty logging river of yore. The current has blasted the ice away in sunny, wide open spots. The first turnaround was extremely close to the river. I scampered down the rocks in my faithful Keens, slipping but catching myself quickly, avoiding a somersault into the chilly drink. I snapped a few pictures. I looked down at my feet and there lay two legs of a deer, centered in their own furry nest. I felt thankful that I didn't trounce right on through it, ruining my shoes by getting some CWD on them or falling face first and getting a good big snort of some Blasto up my schnoz. It was odd, there was no body, no head and then I looked into the river. There, perched perfectly on a rock about four feet from the shore, was the ribcage and spine, picked clean but still intact. A delightful din-din for a few Bald Eagles, buzzards or Timberwolves. I wanted to get closer, but visions of the icy bank giving way and falling to my death as Snowflake looked on in cozy amazement from the still running Saab stopped me. I could imagine him smiling and waving, mouthing "Hi Mamma" as I floated South unconscious. My coworker thinks this is where lazy assholes dump carcasses because they don't own their own land and have no where else to dispose of them. (Someone actually disposed of one by putting it in the donation bin at The Salvation Army. Now the parking lot is gated.) Interesting theory, since the head seemed to be missing and these legs appear to be from the front lower half. It's weird that it would have gotten perched 'just so' on that rock. There's an eerie sculptural elegance in the postioning and the natural elements surrounding it. Heading further north, actual live deer sprinted across the road. These deer are completely different from the brazen 'city' deer of my parents neighborhood. These deer run at the creak of a car door opening. I braked for Quail. Closer to the cottage I spied a Sugar Bush, all set for the Spring sap run. The old buckets are long gone. Progress finds a cheaper, more efficient solution. Seeing blue bags or PVC tubes attached to the maples takes away the charm of the season. Although there's something kind of Christo about it. Like, colostomy bags for every tree. Humankind is bleeding nature dry and just tossing it off of a cliff, as if no one will notice. There will be hell to pay, but not on this Sunday.