What Started Our Remodelling Project

Some one who read yesterday's post wondered about the reference I made to a deer incident, and it is a strange enough story I thought it would be fun to post the letter I sent to family and friends back when it happened in November of '06. Here it is:

"Yep, the strange rumor you heard as church was letting out this morning is true. Our neighbor, Barb, came down to the church and found Mike to tell him that witnesses had seen a deer jump through one section of our big picture window, bungle around inside the house for a few minutes, and then jump back out through another section of the same window. She wanted to catch us before we came home to all that bloody mess and had to play CSI to figure out what had happened. Apparently, the people who saw this were driving by. They saw it go in, went down to the intersection and turned around, and saw it come out as they arrived back at our house. They went check on us, and finding us gone, called the police and began knocking on neighbor's doors. The guy two doors north of us was home, and he told them he would keep an eye on the house until we returned. Then Barb, who lives between us, came home from the store, and she said she knew exactly where we'd be. So she drove to the church.

The police never did find the deer, by the way. They received a report of a badly wounded six point buck in the courtyard of Carle Arbours (about a mile south of us), but by the time the deputy got there, it was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, we rushed home. Grant and Traci followed, since our plan had been to meet for lunch at Culver's. The house was just a mess, with glass and blood-lots and lots of blood-everywhere. He apparently thought he could get out the back sliding-glass door, because there was a lot of blood and some hoof-scrapes on the glass, but he didn't break it, which is good, because he just would have been trapped in the sun porch. He knocked most of the furniture over in the dining area and pushed the table up against the wall by the garage door. When he turned around and ran back out, he must have launched himself from the piano bench, because there was a hoof mark and a lot of blood on the Sunday paper that was laying on the bench.

The Halls came by as we were inspecting the damage, and very kindly went and got us Subway sandwiches, since we really couldn't make use of the kitchen at that point. Then Robin arrived to do her laundry. So, Mike and I, Grant and Traci, and Robin, started dealing with the mess. Traci took Mike in her truck to Lowe's to get plywood; Robin scrubbed and mopped the blood up in the kitchen, Grant and I put on leather work gloves and began picking up glass. Our neighbor lent us their shop vac. We all worked full tilt for 3 solid hours. and in the end the house was livable, believe it or not.

Really, it could have been much worse. I have to admit that my first concern had been for our new leather couch that sits in front of the window, but it was only slightly scratched despite being absolutely covered in glass shards. Though there is some blood on the living room carpet, most of it was in the kitchen where the floor is tile. And the piano bench was protected by the newspaper. I was able to get the blood off the couch with the cleaner that came with it when we bought it, and the blood on the piano, walls, floor, tablecloth, sliding-glass door, etc. could all be washed off. There was some music piled by the piano that will always be blood stained, and of course the two big windows will have to be replaced ASAP, and that will be expensive. Insurance will help.

I'm glad I wasn't home when it happened! And our fierce attack-kitties were no help, cowering under Robin's bed for hours after the event. Last time I depend on them to guard the house while we're gone! Anyway, once the windows are replaced and the carpet cleaned it will all fade into a very surreal memory. Robin used to call these kinds of events "Adventures With Robin"....so here's the new chapter , Robin!"

It turned out, when all was said and done, the deer caused about $6,000 dollars in damage to the house, and the carpet had to be completely replaced, since the glass shards were never going to be completely out of it, along with an entire new picture window system. We don't live on the edge of town, so everyone is kind of amazed by the whole incident, but our insurance company was great, and we got it all covered. They even credited us with the clean up, thus eliminating the deductible.

So, that's the story.