Why we visit the eye doctor

Aisling had her annual optometrist appointment today -- her prescription has changed every year for the past four years -- and so she and I set off for his office, which is about forty minutes away.

This is always a pleasant trip, because it involves no interstates, just state roads that meander through the countryside. The corn and soybean fields were particularly lush-looking today, after Monday's soaking rain, and the cows were placid and the horses were serene and the llamas at the llama farm we passed were just as haughty and unsociable-looking as they always are.

We happened to see some undomesticated livestock today, too. While we were driving up and down on a hilly, curvy road, I saw several deer prancing through a corn field to the north, headed to a soybean field to the south, right across the road in front of us, close enough to be thrilling, but not close enough to, say, total the car.

They were fat and frisky from feeding on fresh produce and the first one, a big stag, leaped across the road in fine form, his antlers worn proudly on his head.

"Look, Aisling! Deer!" I said excitedly. A doe followed the buck, bounding just as exuberantly; a second doe hesitated briefly and then jumped across the road in a frantic scramble.

"Where? Where?" said Aisling, swiveling her head back and forth like a tether ball on a pole.

"There! They just crossed the road! They're running up the hill!"

"Where? Where?"

"THERE!" I shouted, pointing.

"Oh, there! Yes! I see them! Wow, four deer! That's pretty cool!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that the fourth deer was actually a tractor.

Her new prescription will be in in ten days.