I was driving home from my critique group tonight, when

THUD!

Something made a powerful noise on my left side.  I pulled over as soon as I could (had to cross a lane of traffic) and grabbed my cell phone.  I called DH who I thought was probably still at the fire station (he had had a meeting there earlier.) He didn't sound too happy, when I said, "I hit something!" then jabbered on about where I was.  I guess I wasn't clear about where I was, but he found me soon enough.

In the dark, we could see that my side mirror was gone and the housing bent in towards the window. DH also noticed a dent in the rear door. What we didn't see, until we got in town, under the light, that there were some damage all along the left side.  Also, we saw plenty of little specks and spatters of blood.  Then, finally, way at the back, one deer hair.

I know, it seems obvious that I must have hit a deer (actually, it hit me.) But, I hadn't seen a thing, so I really didn't know.  I thought maybe I hit a sign, but I hadn't heard a metallic scrape.  The thought that I hit a person flitted through my mind, so I was really glad to see the deer hair.

I filed my crash report online, and it asked for a specific location.  I wanted to make sure I was specific and actually in our county (very near the county line) so I drove back.  That's when I discovered the window doesn't go all the way up any more.  And, of course, rain is forcasted this week. 

When I drove back to the site, I remembered that the police officer had said that the deer was long gone, because it certainly didn't die with that little of damage to our car.  So, I was a little surprised when a dead deer appeared in my lane!

Oh, deer. Oh, dear.  I had hoped it had hobbled off down the hill.