February 3, 2003
Woke up with a bit of a headache. Kathy bought some of that Trader Joe’s $2 cabernet wine. Evidently there has been a glut of grapes and the wineries are selling off all the surplus dirt cheap. Had two glasses last night with spaghetti. Watched the “Sopranos” on HBO. They’re rerunning all the episodes in random order, I think. Laughed and laughed. It really is a black comedy, a (God)Father Knows Best with guns. Tony’s mama is a total hoot. Exactly like certain mothers I know, except it’s funnier when they’re in the mafia (as opposed to being in your house).

Went in to office at seven. Much consternation over comments made here. I’ve had several conversations about “the bubble” remark. Makes people uncomfortable, but that’s okay, it’s the truth.

Took my Ranger down to Tobias at 11:30. I hit a deer last year and ever since my turn signals have been screwed up. Dome light also clicks on at will and stays on as I drive down the road at night lit up like a perp in a crack house raid. I always thought hitting a deer was an idiot endeavor, because I’m such a good driver. I just knew I could swerve and miss them. But my conceit was short lived when I was coming back from a speech in Payson in the pre-dawn darkness at about seventy. All I saw was a strobe light sideview of a doe and then it was over. Maybe I had a quarter of a second to respond. Bang! Over. Dead. The body shop appraiser told me I was lucky. When the deer are bucks, or worse, elk, they have a tendency to jump and then they come into your lap, antlers first. I was reading an article on the Hell’s Angels and they were all saying that is what they are most afraid of. Not the Mongols, the Bandidos, the Dirty Dozen or other rival gangs, but deer! “They’re through you before you can even react,” the grizzled outlaw said, shaking his head. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I was on a bike. One thing’s for certain, I wouldn’t be writing this.

Anyway, at 11:30 I took the truck down to Tobias for them to fix it, then I walked home. Felt good to be out, birds chirping, horses looking fat and sassy. Checked up on my last hen. She’s fading a bit, squatted down in the corner of the chicken house. Peeled her a banana and took it out to her. I think that cheered her up.

“A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.”
—Anatole France