The old mill
“And, now we have cities of 20 million that are environmentally sustainable.” “Rural people are never innovators; the great innovations are always made in the cities.” So says the host of a new podcast called American Innovations. The first claim is over-the-top grandiose and utterly indefensible, only by the credulous to be accepted without question and as fact. The second is embraced by someone who celebrates the peripatetic life, the empty life of the consumer, the illusive mastery over the natural, the machine.
To the host and his ilk, I offer no defense; their ears and minds are closed.
Last weekend we had just pulled onto our road and headed out to meet friends at their nearby farm. We had rounded the curve below our property and passed the old mill, when we came upon a scene that was just unfolding. We were a few hundred yards down the road before we realized what had happened. A car with a crumpled front end was parked in front of the mill. A woman was sitting in the driver’s seat, red-faced and sobbing. A deer, gasping and unable to stand, lay on the other side of the road. We slowed and turned around.
Cindy immediately approached the driver. She had been on the way home from work when a deer appeared seemingly from nowhere and leapt in front of her older van. The woman was far more upset by the injured deer than by the damaged car. I, meanwhile, approached the large doe. She held her head upright, but blood trickled from her mouth and she was dying, slowly. Somewhere, in the nearby woods, would be a fawn. We could only hope that it had been born early enough to now be able to forage on its own. We discussed what to do. Cindy stayed with the distraught driver while she called her husband, and I headed back up the road.
After first checking with a neighbor for a rifle, I returned with my own .30-30. It took two shots to make sure the doe was dead — an act of mercy that was captured on a cellphone by a spectator in a Prius, for what purposes one can only speculate.
Once the van driver’s husband arrived, we left for our scheduled appointment, the rifle behind the seat of the farm truck. At our friends’, we helped them review plans for a cattle chute. We walked around afterwards, admiring the growing gardens and the newly built brick raised beds as we caught up on the day’s news.
We passed the old mill on our return home. The van was being loaded onto a tow truck. The deer was now hanging from a makeshift hoist on a tractor in our nearest neighbor’s yard, already eviscerated and in the process of being skinned.
Back on the farm, we tended the livestock and enjoyed a satisfying dinner, then sat on the back deck and watched the night deepen over the ridge.
Random accidents, things for which one is unable to plan. I’m thinking a lot about unplanned events today. My sister’s step granddaughter was at a birthday party yesterday with her three month old baby and a freak gust of wind knocked down a branch off there tree she was standing under and hit her and her son. he was knocked to the ground, hit his little three month old head hard, and is expected to die today. On Mother’s Day. I’m sorry, I feel so devastated for this poor, young mother, and this story somehow reminded me of it, the unpredictability of the universe. I know I’m being a downer, I’m so sorry. At least they got some meat out of it. Life goes on.
Your story reminded me of the things the men had to kill on our farm when I was a child in the state of Washington. The family of skunks that took up residence under our house, for instance. My Dad and uncle sat, resting their rifles on the chopping block by the woodshed, waiting for that skunk family to come out late at night. They got them all, but you should have smelled our house for days after!
Musings of an older woman in a young century…
Thanks for sharing, what a heartbreaking story. That young mother will be forever reminded of her loss each year.
Heather,
My thoughts go out to you and the young woman suffering the loss of her child. You don’t need to apologize for being down. Your pain is understandable and I’m sure everyone who read your touching note understands why you feel the way you do. Death, especially of our children is one of the worst pains we can suffer. A cruel blow indeed to have occurred on Mother’s Day. I hope that life brings her strength to overcome such a devastating loss.
Thank you, Jody, for your loving, understanding comment. Little Xavier died yesterday, at least he didn’t suffer for very long. We are praying for his family.
…captured on a cellphone by a spectator in a Prius, for what purposes one can only speculate.
One would hope the cellphone videographer has no hostile intent. A co-worker was recently involved in an incident that was “caught on tape” by a bystander with a phone. And it is not a clear cut case by any means, but the existence of the video took matters to a different place. This guy is transferring a pit bull for a friend. The dog is not cooperating and ‘this guy’ decides to put the pit bull in the trunk. The pit bull is not having it, and the trunk placement is recorded by an onlooker. Onlooker calls the police… ‘this guy’ is subsequently pulled over, dash cam on squad car films the trunk opening to release the dog.
Now, there are disputes about details of the animal’s treatment, about words exchanged. As the law was brought to the scene the matter ended up in court. I was not involved in the proceedings, and have only one side of the story to share – but from facts that I can substantiate it appears the existence of the video alone had an outsized affect on the outcome.
I think you did the right thing(s) – and not just in dispatching a severely wounded animal. Assisting the other victim, and helping the neighbors harvest the deer. Am just hopeful no one else has a narrative they want to spew with some cell phone video.
Well, you pretty much highlighted my suspicion. Everyone seems to think they are going to get their ten minutes of fame filming someone misbehaving. In some ways it is a bit Stalin-istic, this urge to inform on our fellow citizens.