Introducing the deer count

When I first started at The Star in June this year I decided to do something just for my own amusement. You see, I currently live over 45 minutes from Shelby in little 'ole Polk County. It's a surprisingly long drive to get to and from work everyday. Well, in order to get to work I have to take two back roads from my home in Polk County to get to Interstate 74 which takes me all the way to Shelby. This is where I decided to have my fun.

These two roads are known around Polk County to be filled with deer at night. Usually if you watch closely enough you can see at least 1 deer every time you drive through the area after dark. So, as a joke, I started keeping track of exactly how many deer I've seen since I started working at The Star. Since June when I started to today, October 1, I've seen a total of 73 deer. That number is not inflated folks, 73 deer. There is even one field that I drive by every night that almost always has at least one deer standing in it.

My biggest fear is that I'll be driving home one night and one of these guys will get mesmerized by my headlights and just stand in the road. I can just hear legend among the deer now...

"Hey Jackie, did you hear about Steve?"

"No Alex, what happened?"

"Man, he tried to cross the road the other night and he didn't make it..."

"Awww man! What happened?"

"He stopped and look at the bright light man. Whatever you do, don't stop and look at the light!"

That's my joke for the day.