Turkeys and a Deer

My morning commute is like going to Grandmother's house:  over the river and through the woods.  Yesterday, as I came around a bend, I had to slow down for a line of turkeys to cross the road.  The chicks were leading the way and 2 adults were bringing up the rear. (These are not the actual turkeys that I saw.  I think our chicks were a bit bigger.) Just off the road was a wire fence that I have seen quail go through, but even the turkey chicks were too big to fit through.  I stopped the car to see what the turkeys would do with humanity at such close range.  To my amazement, one of the adults and half the chicks flew over the fence!  I didn't realize that they could fly so young.  In my rear-view mirror I saw the other adult lead the rest of the chicks around the back of the car to the woods that they had just come from.

Every time I see turkeys, especially turkeys in the road, I think of Neil Wigley, a former music minister at ABC, now a pastor in Arkansas.  He is an avid hunter.  In fact, he is the only man I know to lead a worship service while wearing a ghillie suit.  (Okay, so it was on Camo Sunday, but quite a few guys would have been satisfied with a camouflage tie.)

A mile or so past the turkeys, there was more wildlife.  A deer ran across the road in front of us.  Quite a bit in front of us, I'm happy to say, as my car earned the nickname "Deerslayer" shortly after we purchased it.  On that occasion, we were headed to church for an evening youth function.  A young deer ran out of the woods beside us and crashed into the driver's side of the car.  The vehicle behind us was carrying all the boys that were staying at our house that weekend.  And of course, they were all carrying phones.  We were met in the parking lot by a crowd wanting to inspect the damage to the car.  Then there was Bro. Nick, our new music minister, who wanted to inspect the damage to the deer.  We took him to the scene where he loaded the deceased deer into the back of his pickup.  I learned that Bro. Nick is a very practical man.