Buck Pole

The bucks are hanging at Mill Creek in Dexter, an annual fall ritual celebrating the hunt and the harvest and the bounty from the land. No deer hunting for us this year- instead we went duck hunting on one of the small lakes near Chelsea. Not a single bird flew in the cold drizzle. To make matters worse, a couple of days later we came down with a most unholy case of poison ivy. We must have hunkered down in the wrong clump of bushes. Usually, we see the plant long before we get near it (the oily green leaves of three are forever imbedded in our memory after a Salmon River rafting trip in 2002 caused an outbreak serious enough for a visit to the emergency room), but the fauna was little more than brown leaves and bare twigs. This reaction may not be the worst we've suffered, but it still merited two steriod injections to the rump (which hurt like a sonofabitch) and enough methylpredisolone pills to last Barry Bonds for a month.

Back to the Dexter deer pole: LOTS of nice bucks this year. Despite the fact that 350,000 people live in Washtenaw County, there remains enough farm land and wood thickets to support a healthy herd. Perhaps too healthy- the county ranks as one of the highest in the state in deer vs. car collisions (averaging 1,400 road kills per year). We've had our share of close calls, but knock on wood, no accidents since moving here. Since we hit two in one year in another state, hopefully we've filled our road kill quota for life.


Look at this old boy, the largest of the bunch. He may just be an eight point, but as thick as his antlers are, this grandaddy buck clearly has been around for awhile.

Speaking of being around for awhile, our 20 year high school reunion is happening this weekend. For the last several weeks, we pondered going, but ultimately decided against it. The many reasons included: 1) We regularly see many friends from back in the day. 2) The few people (and we mean few) we would like to see probably will not attend as they moved out-of-state long ago and are not the type to return for a class reunion. 3) We have little desire to play nice to the skilletheads and ding dongs we've known since grade school who will attend en masse. 4) The occasion will be the equivalent of going to a bad wedding reception, with cheesy DJ music and people getting sloppy drunk, except this event costs $170 per couple. 5) We have no desire to engage in multiple awkward conversations that go no further than asking (and answering), "So what are you doing these days?"

This young buck won the prize for Most Abnormal Antlers. It's one of the most atypical sets we've ever seen- both antlers protrube from the left side before twisting upward. A large bony knob sits above the right eye, so big it almost forces his right eye shut. It's probably a good thing this guy was removed from the gene pool, lest his bad seed gets passed along. And it's probably a good thing we'll miss our 20 year reunion, lest we have to witness all the bad seeds we grew up with showing pictures of their offspring.

Dexter buck pole + missing our high school reunion. We have reached a new zenith. This has to be one of the most absurd postings ever written in the history of RR blogging.

Have a nice Thanksgiving and we'll be back soon, broadcasting from our perch above the epicenter of the random and absurd.