Reverend Ref +

ONE YEAR

This week marks my (our) first year in Montana. Sunday, July 10, will mark the one year anniversary of my first service here in SW MT. It hardly seems like a year, but it also seems like alot longer than a year.

That's a good thing, for those of you wondering. Good in that we feel so much at home here it's like we've always been here. I'm pleased for that.

I celebrated the ocassion in the proper Montana fashion. No, I didn't get drunk (although I was out at the Mill Creek and Stockman last night, but that's work -- remember??).

Anyway -- coming home from VC after seeing "The Canterville Ghost" at the Opera House on Tuesday, Mrs. Ref and I were somewhere between Ramshorn Creek and the cemetary when I whacked a deer. Other than the bird with AKMA, this was the first animal I have hit since being here.

There I was, minding my own business, when this Doe-With-A-Death-Wish appeared out of nowhere. I remember seeing her head in the lower left of the windshield. I turned left and managed to sideswipe the DWADW so that the only damage was a small dent in the left front quarter panel and the removal of my passenger-side mirror.

I have decided that deer are the stupidest animals on the face of the planet. You might argue for sheep, but sheep don't actively look to kill themselves. I relayed this story to a patron at the Stockman, and he told me about the time he was driving in the winter. "I was doing about 30 because it was really bad. This deer appeared on the road. I slowed down to about 15 or 20, and the darn thing looked straight at the car and charged. It INTENTIONALLY ran into the car."

Yeah.

So everyone survived. Although I'm not sure about the status of the DWADW. Hopefully she escaped with a headache.

It's been a good year, all things considered.