All in One Night

Tuesday was quite a night for our family!

It all began after school, when we loaded into the car and made the 45-minute drive to Round Valley High School in Springerville-Eagar for Dylan's baseball game. It was a good game, which the Tigers won 13-12.  (The Tigers is Dylan's team.)  Dylan played right field and made some great plays, as well as making one of the runs.
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24 May 2011: Dylan's eye swollen shut after we returned home from the game.

The trouble started during the final inning, when Dylan was pulled out so someone else could play right field.  That's when Dylan and a teammate decided to play catch behind the dugout.  They were too close to each other to be throwing as hard as they were.  Next thing I knew, Dylan was walking across the bleachers toward me with his hand over one eye.  He hardly seemed distressed, so I was shocked when he revealed his eye swollen closed, with a lump the size of a golf ball!
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25 May 2011: Dylan's eye began to reopen the next day, but it was turning black and purple.

He has quite a shiner, even today, 4 days later!
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Luckily there was a mother from the opposing team who had one of those chemical ice bags, which she kindly donated to us, so we were able to ice Dylan's eye for the ride home.  And what a ride that was!
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Here in the White Mountains, we live in elk country.  And during this time of year, elk are bountiful throughout the woods and meadows and alongside the roadways.  Often an entire herd of elk will block the highway, causing motorists to cool their heels while waiting for the herd to get in the mood to move on.

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By the time we left Eagar, it was 8:00 and nearly full dark.  As we drove through Apache National Forest and crossed into the White Mountain Apache Reservation, we were watching and hoping to catch a glimpse of some elk along our way. 

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Finally, Ed saw a beautiful young cow elk standing by the edge of the highway and began to slow down for a better look.  As he opened his mouth to say, "Look, honey, there's an elk," the skittish creature got spooked and bolted.  Not away from us, no.  She headed straight for the front of our car, thinking she could beat us across the road! 

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All I know is, one minute there was darkened empty highway stretching ahead of us, and the next there was this magnificent creature just 5 feet in front of me, leaping in the glare of our headlights!  The elk in the photo above, which I found online, is actually a calf, but her pose is exactly like that of the cow as she leapt in front of our little car.

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In a split second I marveled at her size, her beauty, her strength, her agility.  She was so huge I could see her knees above the hood of the car.  Her back was taller than the roof.  The muscles under her smooth brown flanks flexed powerfully.  For the briefest moment I thought, I hoped, she would outmaneuver us.  I braced myself and held my breath. 

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She almost made it.  Ed thought he could turn the car to the right and get around behind her, but it was too late.  We clipped her left rear flank and spun her around.  She hit the driver side of the car, then she raced off into the night.
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The damages: she smashed the headlight (I saw glass shards and fur flying);

then she spun around and crashed into the fender, tearing off the whole rearview mirror;

she also hit the driver door with enough force to dislodge the window glass,

which now cannot be raised or lowered.  The cost of repair will be over $4,000!

Thank goodness for auto insurance!

We pulled over right away.  In the backseat, Caryl (Ed's 75-year-old mom) and Dylan were both fine, just a bit shaken up.  Ed and I jumped out and began to look for the elk.  We expected to find her lying in or near the road, badly injured. 

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A man in a truck behind us also pulled over.  He had a flashlight, so he and Ed searched the highway on both sides for about a mile both east and west of where we hit the elk.  They never found her.  Ed thinks she got over the fence on adrenaline and then went somewhere to die or be eaten by coyotes.  He's sure we at least broke her leg, which would leave her helpless.

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I prefer to believe we just banged her up, but left her able to go somewhere safe to nurse her wounds until they heal.  Hopefully she'll be wiser the next time a car passes by!

In retrospect, we realize how lucky we are.  It doesn't happen often, thankfully, but occasionally an unlucky motorist in our area is killed by a run-in with an elk.  If Ed hadn't already seen our elk and started to slow, and then been prepared by seeing her bolt for us, we would have hit her straight on.  She would have come right through the windshield of our tiny car.  At the very least, we would have been seriously injured, and likely killed.  We feel strongly that Heavenly Father sent the Spirit to direct events so that we were all spared that night.  I'm so grateful to be so blessed!

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28 May 2011: Dylan shows off a clay target with one perfect hole and the bullet he shot through it.

Ed says that never happens.  The targets are made to shatter on impact!

Meanwhile, Dylan is doing fine.  You can see in the picture above that his black eye is starting to fade.  He and Ed had a good time shooting clay targets this morning out at the cinder pits.

One week before the baseball incident, Dylan put on a great show during the spring concert.  When his orchestra teacher (on cello, above) lost both her bass players, she moved Dylan from cello to bass.  He was really, really good!  His teacher says he's found his true calling, that he made the transition to his new instrument as if he's always been playing it.  As for Dylan, he loves it!

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Mary with her first period English class on the next-to-last day of school. 

(7 of 9 students were non-native English speakers this semester!)

As for me, school is out!  What more can I say?  I look forward to a wonderful summer and wish you the same!