The Roving Rudolph Mystery

Several months ago…it might have been sometime in July…I was driving  through my neighborhood when I spotted a large white wooden reindeer peeking out from behind a tree in someone’s yard. 

I’m sure you know the kind.  This is not the actual reindeer but it looked sort of like this…

Plain.  And white.

At the time, I assumed someone was getting a jump on their Christmas decorating, albeit a bit early, but hey, some people leave their Christmas lights up all year so why not put a Christmas reindeer out in the heat of summer?  Whatever floats your boat, right?

The next time I drove down that street, I noticed the reindeer was in a different  yard.  “Hmmm…that’s odd,” I thought. 

A few days later, the reindeer had moved again and was  in yet another yard…several blocks down the street from where I had seen him last!

Then I noticed “Rudolph” had a red nose.  And then at some point, he started wearing clothes!  It would appear that every time he moves to a different yard, he is adorned with some type of apparel or “fashionable accessory.” 

Finally, a few weeks ago I decided to start taking pictures of Rudolph when I see him in a new location.

Here he is wearing a straw hat, a colorful tropical shirt, and a Tampa Bay Rays (our baseball team) bandana.  (Doesn’t he look like he’s on vacation?  But what better place to vacation than Florida before it’s time to head back to the North Pole to help Santa in a couple months?)

 

Here he is in another yard wearing furry white slippers (or gloves?) on his hind feet, pink and white striped socks on his front feet, “Groucho” glasses, and someone has added a Tampa Bay Rays flag.

 

Here he seems to have lost the furry slippers and the Tampa Bay Rays flag but he gained a red feather in his hat, a black Halloween flag (or cape?), orange garland, and a  University of Florida gator mascot sticker or decal on his side.

Last week, Rudolph appeared to be missing for a few days…or at least I wasn’t able to  spot him.  Perhaps he had traveled to one of the yards on one of the adjacent streets, I don’t know. 

But today he was back, wearing something blue and yellow and feathery on his head.  He’s starting to look a bit scary, don’t you think?

This Roving Rudolph is a mystery and certainly leaves me wondering several things like…

Who is the person with the sense of humor who started this? 

Who moves him?  When he has a layover in someone’s yard, does the homeowner move him to a different yard of their choice?

Or… does some unknown person come in the cover of darkness and move him from yard to yard? 

And will Rudolph disappear on Christmas Eve, never to be seen again?

If that happens, I’ll be sort of sad to see him go.  I’ve started to look forward to seeing if I can  find Rudolph  and spot his newest accessory every time I drive down this particular street.