All night

We almost hit a deer last week. Not just any old deer, but a big ‘ol buck with huge antlers. We were driving on a section of road where deer are frequently sighted. The deer crossed quite a ways in front of us and I said to the babes, “Hey look, there’s a deer.” It was funny because we were just talking about another time when three little deer had crossed in front of us in the same place. So I’m zooming along at 45 mph and we are still discussing the deer when out of the corner of my left eye, I see the deer coming up again, and it crossed in front of us, but this time it was MUCH closer. I slammed my foot on the brakes and was horrified when we merely coasted. It was like we were just gently slowing down for a stop light. Now, I realize that it takes a giant truck a bit of time to actually slow down, but this was ridiculous. I was thinking “Shoot! We are going to hit that animal!”

You know how it is when deer are confronted with a car. There’s a reason there’s the saying “like a deer in headlights.” That crazy thing got partly across then decided to go back and forth a few times, meaning that it was right in my path for much longer time than I was comfortable with, especially given the abyssmal functioning of the brakes.

We finally came to a stop within 3-4 feet of the deer. Okay, maybe it’s wasn’t that close, but it sure FELT that close! Man, my heart was pounding like crazy! I kept thinking that either I was terrible at slamming on the brakes, or something was not right. The seatbelts didn’t even lock up and we definitely didn’t jerk forward at all. Given the force with which I stomped on the brakes, we should have felt a jolt.

I mention it to hubs and he thought it would be wise to have the brakes inspected. He took the truck in today. When the mechanic looked at the brakes he was like, “Oh, well, your rear brakes are locked open.” In non-mechanic speak, that means “the rear brakes don’t work”.

Eeep! How long have I been driving my crew around in a car with non-functional rear brakes? Goodness gracious! All I have to say is that clearly, our guardian angels have been at work, making sure we stayed out of harm’s way. So now we have new rear brakes and I feel much safer.

All night, all day
Angels watching over me, my Lord.
All night, all day
Angels watching over me!