By Dawn Jefferies
WSLS10 Anchor/Reporter
Published: April 11, 2008

I’ve been running into my new neighbors for the last few weeks. Funny, I never knew about them until I started doing mornings.

They scare me every time as they stand on the side of the road in the middle of the night when most people are sleeping. I pull around the corner and there they are-- usually in the very same place or close to it-- every morning. I look them in their eyes, unsure of what they are going to do. I worry they will come at me. One would bother me but there’s usually four, at least that I can see.

Of course I’m talking about deer. They’re beautiful, seeing them in the middle of a field is one of the benefits of living in Southwest Virginia as opposed to a busy city.

I remember walking outside Christmas morning a few years ago to find a deer in our front yard. I wished our nieces and nephews who were visiting were awake so I could have told them it was one of Santa’s reindeer coming back for a visit.

But there is, of course, a downside. We see it on the roads often. At the station we’ve seen the damage they can do to cars. I passed a car once that had just an encounter with a deer. Just a couple weeks ago, two ran out in the road as I drove on a busy, main street in Christiansburg. It was like the cars we were in were a maze they were trying to get out of. Fortunately, the deer found their way out without smashing into me or any other car.

As for driving before the sun comes up, I hope the deer and I continue to be neighbors who keep their distance.