The pheasant that almost got my new truck

No my truck isn’t new. In fact, it is closer to 10 years old than it is to new. It’s still probably the newest truck we have ever owned — except the old red Ford, which Rick bought when it was only two years old, but that was before we were married. We still have that old Ford; we drove it for the better part of 30 years before we finally parked it. I know it could still run, it just needs a new clutch, but I digress. 

Our new truck, a 2009 Chevy Silverado, has more bells and whistles than I have ever had in a vehicle. I enjoy driving it, but it is going to need a new windshield soon because during the roadwork between Basin and Greybull last fall, I caught a rock flying from someone else’s tire in the middle of the windshield. We had a chip repair guy look at it and were told it couldn’t be repaired. But I really don’t want to change the windshield until they get the chip seal on that stretch between Greybull and Basin in the spring. But again I digress — a pheasant almost forced the issue on our way to church a few weeks ago. 

We were just going around 2-mile corner, that tight corner almost to Burlington, when all of a sudden there was a pheasant right in front of us! I hit the brakes, it missed the windshield, but its tail twanged the antenna and made it dance for quite a while. It was probably the closest I have come to having a bird come through a windshield. 

I had one center my grill once at almost exactly the same place when I was driving the old ’65 El Camino back from Burlington after teaching Vacation Bible School. I had the radio cranking and the windows rolled down, and was probably hitting about the maximum one can take that corner at when the pheasant came up out of the weeds on the westside of the highway and smacked dead center in the grill. I am glad it was an old vehicle. It did very little damage other than breaking the Chevrolet emblem in the center of the grill. Had that one been a little higher and it would have hit the center of the windshield and I would have been driving home very slowly. 

It just goes to show that pheasants — in fact, any wildlife — can be dangerous to vehicles, new or old. 

I know this column is rather rambling, but what can I say. Some days, I am amazing and surprise myself; and some days, I hold my cell phone to my left ear while talking to someone on the headset that is in my right ear. 

Keep smiling and stay warm. 

Fruit Whip
(A light fruit desert that isn’t overly sweet)

1 cup pureed fruit

Dash of salt 

Sugar to taste

1 egg white

Combine fruit pulp and salt. Sweeten to taste. Add egg white, whip about 30 minutes, or until mixture holds its shape. Chill. Pile lightly in serving dishes.