Sunday, October 25, 2009

Warning: Slow Moving Porcupines May End Up In Your Tires

Last Tuesday night I was driving to Jen's house in Goldendale and came across a slow moving porcupine in the middle of the road. I saw it at the last minute and, of course, ran over it! The big guy might have already been dead or just trying to make it to the other side of the road & I interrupted his travels.

I screamed, not only because of the loud noise and thumps the collision caused, but I am one of those people who will stop for a chipmunk while they decide which way they'd like to go on the street and which tree is the best. Seeing flat animals makes me sad for the animal's family that's left behind at home. So, hitting a porcupine was one of those sad moments for me.

It was dark when I arrived at Jen's and no way to really check the car out to see if there was any damage. The next morning, Jen and I looked out and there were all these quills sticking out of my two right tires! Of course, we're both wondering if the quills will make the tires go flat. Pulling a few of them out I found out how sharp they are. The quills have barbs on them and were quite stuck into the rubber! I ended up pulling most of them out, but left a few of the "evidence" in place to show David when I got home.

On leaving Goldendale, I looked for signs of the porcupine and there was nothing on the road where the incident had occured. I wonder if the big guy walked off, saying "ha, can't hurt me...take that!" or if another animal had come along and scooped him off the road as a late evening snack.

I have the pulled out quills in a safe place (a baby food jar) to share with kids. I wish I had the full quills so I could use it when I read the book "Prickles"....a sweet book about a porcupine that doesn't have any friends because he's grumpy! But I wasn't about to stop and ask the prickly guy if I could have some of his quills for a teaching project. Life in the fast lane....not so fast when you're a porcupine!

3 comments:

Jamie said...

Hi, Kerri--
I love a happy ending...I'm going with the little guy getting up and shaking it off! Cute.

Thanks for visiting my site. Hope to see you back. By the way, I am a former teacher and substituted for 3 years. I think there is a special place in heaven for good and caring substitutes. Keep up the good work!

mholgate said...

Wow, glad to hear you are ok! It could have been worse.

This week Tuesday is my best morning. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I have my kiddos, but we could figure something out.

As for my blog design, I cheat by using a background from thecutestblogontheblock.com and then I go in and change my color backgrounds to match her template. Easy peasy!

Have a great week!
-Melissa

Jebena said...

Ummm --- Kerri, Please tell me you aren't going to tell the kids at school just how you really came across the quails...I'm lol as I think of the super-sensitive who is just going to freak out, sob and cry....wait, that kid was me!!!

BTW: I love your blog and the fact that you've listed a whole community of coffee addicts, I mean coffee lovers that I can link onto!!! Two sips and KUDOS to you!