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"High diddle diddle, The cat played the fiddle, [The deer jumped over the Metro]" - Date with fate post 90
This entry was posted on 1/18/2012 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
Here is yet another tale I searched for in my scribblings and came up empty. It never ceases to intrigue me how a particular memory can become so deeply ensconsed in one's psyche. So ensconsed in fact, that the person believes the occurrence surely must be written down some where. But in my case, a search of my humble scripts is to no avail.
My little fleet of two Geo Metros took me through an era of thousands of miles of commuting to college, living in the country, and working quirky hours at yet even quirkier jobs.
Back when I was a kid we did not see many deer in the course of our daily rural toils. I left for the Army for three years, then wife and I moved to Texas for another ten years and low and behold..., on our return to the great Midwest, deer had become ubiquitous. There were so many deer, the culture had become permeated with nuances warning the many citizens about the romping critters. Like everyone else, when ever behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, the thought did indeed waft around my noggin regarding said frolickng deer.
We had been back in Wisconsin almost 10 years and it must have been the late 1990s. We had moved 40 miles out of Madison to a rural house in the middle of Green County. It goes without too much arithmatic, we commuted tens of thousands of miles over the years while we lived in that rural setting. But..., no deer threatened our travels.
One day I was on a stretch of Highway 92 as I cut cross country from Janesville to New Glarus - there is no good way to make that journey. There is a section of 92 that goes through a marsh of sorts. I was tired. My mom was fading on us and I had to make frequent pilgrimages to Janesville to check on her. On the way home one day, I putzed along at 50 miles per hour contemplating our situation as Mom's age and health deteriorated.
Out of the marsh wandered an old and rather large deer. I caught him in my eye to the right..., boom! He disappeared under my tiny Metro. "Fludump," the car bounced over the beast. He got up and hobbled back into the marsh.
Distraught, I shook off my surprise and stopped the little Geo to assess the damage. To my stunned amazement, the only damage was the black plastic front bumper. It was broken clean in half.
I tied up the two pieces of the bumper and headed home to tell my tale. After I relayed the tale to Heide she smiled and reminded me how lucky I was.
A couple days later a package wrapped neatly with Christmas paper and a bow on top, sat on the kitchen table. A card suggested I open my off-season present with dispatch. Inside, I found a roll of black duck tape.
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A couple years after the first deer encounter, my schedule had notched up exponentially. The little blue Metro still answered the call to duty - front bumper neatly taped back in place with..., black duct tape.
I was on my way home from the west side of Madison via Highway 69. I can't even remember now what was so damn important; perhaps, I was hurrying to get back for an ambulance shift. I had just a half mile from the four-way stop in the little berg of Paoli just south of Verona. At that point there was at the time and probably still is a good stand of brush and trees at the edge of the village. Within a half mile of the intersection I still had the little car up to 75 miles per hour.
To my left entered a streak. It was just barely discernable as a..., racing deer. In the micro-seconds the event took place, a quick assessment by my pea brain ascertained the frenzied beast would plow into my little car at the driver's door with its head smashing into the window.
I closed my eyes in anticipation of..., death. I envisioned the beast thrashing around in my front seat kicking me to death as we both careened into one of the old hickory trees along the road.
Nothing happened. There was silence except for the whining little engine. I opened my eyes in time to catch a glimpse of the white tale of the deer in the right door mirror. The creature had made the perfect jump over the small car and was just making another bound over the wire fence along the road.
"All judges award scores of 9s, except the Russian judge of course," I thought to myself and smiled.
I looked in the rearview mirror and a middle-aged woman in a Cadillac pulled up behind me at the intersection. It took all my effort to resist hopping out of the car and going back to beg her to follow me home and be my witness.
No one would ever believe this!
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Anthony "Tony" Raymond Wasielewski, 50, Ladysmith, Wisconsin, died at his home on Sunday, October 7, 2007. He was recovering from injuries he sustained in an improvised explosive device attack on May 15, 2007, in Ramadi, Iraq. Wasielewski was a member of C Company, 397th Engineer Battalion, based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Two other soldiers from the unit were also injured in the attack.
The Web site ladysmithnews.com said Wasielewski was born on December 17, 1956, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He married Carol Lynn Romano in 1990. Wasielewski had served over 20 years in the Army Reserves. He had also served in Afganistan. The Web site went on to say that in civilian life, "Tony worked for Weather Shield Manufacturing in Ladysmith. He had also served as a volunteer firefighter; belonged to bowling leagues; and, had been made an honorary member of the Wisconsin Bikers Association." Family gave him the nickname, "Rambo of the Flambeau."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Wasielewski's Reserve unit was reactivated in July 2006. Although he was eligible for retirement, he elected to go with his unit to Iraq. He had spent a year in Afghanistan in 2004 through 2005. When he was growing up he attended South Division High School in Milwaukee. As a young man he had played guitar and belonged to a band. Back when he met his wife he was working as a roofer. He was remembered as being a creative guy as he loved oil painting and charcoal sketching. The Journal Sentinel went on to say, "He also became an avid fisherman who enjoyed catching bass on the Flambeau River."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went on to explain that Wasielewski suffered severe back injuries in the Iraq bombing; after surgery in Germany, was spent several months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and then at a Veterans Administration hospital in Minnesota. He was able to be at Volk Field in Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, to meet his Reserve unit's return from Iraq.
The Web site weau.com related the severity of Wasielewski's wounds, noting he was recovering from a spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, broken back, and hearing loss, all a result of when his vehicle was hit by the roadside bomb in Iraq.
The Barron News-Shield out of Barron, Wisconsin, emphasized that as an Army Engineer, Wasielewski was, "highly adept at the most dangerous job in Iraq, finding bombs."
At the time of his death Sergeant First Class Anthony Wasielewski was survived by his wife Carol; his mother Jean; son Chris Cummings; two brothers Jeff Martin and Dale (Mariellen) Martin; his sister Jody (Jim) Yerkes; his uncle Ronald Wasielewski; and, nieces and nephews. He is also survived by Carol’s family including son Daniel Scherbert; grandparents John and Verna Pierce; father and mother-in-law Nicholas and Judith Romano; two sisters-in-law Jody Romano and Susan Romano; and, nieces and nephews. Wasielewski was also survived by his cat, Sarge.
Sergeant First Class Anthony Wasielewski was laid to rest with full military honors at Riverside Cemetery, in Ladysmith. He is the 106th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that either died in Iraq, or died due to injuries sustained there since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
104,602 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,487 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1875 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
985 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,226 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
15,204 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
37 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
151 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
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