Idaho Gem 2

 

I didn’t get a picture of this one, so you will just have to imagine.  Actually, I am glad that I didn’t get a picture, and you will be too.  I am getting ahead of myself…

Last week, Joseph and I were going for our morning walk.  This walk was a little different because it was garbage day, so we had to maneuver around garbage cans parked on the sidewalk.  In Boise, we don’t have a mandatory city garbage can (although we pay for one) so many people have just the open, lidless, round ones.  The up-side of this is that I can snoop inside people’s trash as I pass and see what everyone has been eating in my neighborhood (Pizza Hut and Pepsi both seem to be thriving…)

The down-side is the smell.  Sometimes, you pass a stinky one!

Well, on this day, I noticed that something was smelling REALLY ripe.  And I mean it was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad!!  What was it?  I pressed onwards.

Suddenly, I noticed that some animal seemed to be peeking out at me from the top of an open, barrel-like garbage can.  What??

I went closer. 

Oh, nope. 

That was a severed deer head.

A.  Severed. Deer. head.

What else?  You ask?

All four of his legs.

Sitting in a garbage can probably 6 inches full of blood.

Rotting.

On the sidewalk.

Now, I have nothing against hunting, my Dad hunted (in fact, he is hunting again this weekend.), and I grew up eating venison.  But come on!  Why would you just throw your deer head and legs into an open garbage can and drag it to the curb?  Couldn’t you at least wrap it up in a bag or something?  Or put a lid on it?  And let me tell you, this carcass was NOT fresh.

I knew that this neighbor had had a successful hunt, because a few weeks ago, he was washing out the bloody bed of his pickup truck.  Into my gutter. 

Blood in my gutter.  Gag.

Why didn’t he get rid of the parts then?  Hard to say.  I guess that he is just that classy.  What a gem.

I waved to the millions of flies buzzing around, held my breath, and high-tailed it home.

Idaho, Idaho, Idaho.