This afternoon I pulled out my calendar for the next three weeks after my daughter-in-law asked me if we were going to make apple pies again like we did last year.
She almost fell off her chair when she saw my self made 27” X 34” calendar.
Also, on the calendar are “to do” lists and things that need to be accomplished this month. Before Christmas arrives, I have 20+ people I need to feed for Thanksgiving, refinish my naked walls in the bathroom, mudroom and entryway, decorate the house, buy gifts, celebrate three birthdays, maintain my blogs and mlive.com, the usual work week, speak at a Women’s Christmas Tea on the east side of the state, preserve my date nights with Farmer, be the “fun” grammie and be ready to rock the new wigglie that is due a day before Christmas. My life is a highly orchestrated, well-oiled machine.
So, there is no room for sickness, distractions, or breakdowns (physical or emotional – that will have to wait until after the first of the year).
Having dinner cooked for me today was such a treat. Daughter-in-law #3’s brother-in-law (confused yet?) cooked us all an authentic Asian meal. We had stir fry beef and veggies, rice, fish with some wonderful sauce and homemade spring rolls. I thought this is a nice way to start the week. I went to church this morning and then came home to my personal chef. We had extra around the table today which was a nice treat, 21 all together. It was like Thanksgiving rehearsal without the turkey.
After dinner we watched the video of Son #1 stalking the buck.
Farmer and I spotted a buck and two does out our back window last Friday. Farmer called Son #1 and he got his hunting duds on and came over. “Kodak moment” I thought and set up the camera on a tri-pod on the counter in the office aiming out the window.
From the window we watched him belly crawl through the cut corn field. He made his way out to a low area that was full of weeds where the deer were laying down. It took him a good 45 minutes to make it to the weeds.
From there he crept to the east, moving ever so slowly and then he would stand still like a statue for minutes. I thought “How can he do that?” If I tried to stand still that long I would have fallen over, sneezed or had an itch that could not be denied. I would never have been able to do it.
Finally, a doe pops up and starts feeding. Within a minute or two she realized something was up. She jerked her head this way and that, looked around and stomped her feet. Son #1 held his ground and didn’t move. A couple minutes later doe #2 stood up and son was on his feet, bow back, as still as Lot’s wife, waiting for the buck. The does bounded off to the east and then. . . nothing. He waited. He waited some more and then out of the corner of his eye he saw the buck at the other side of the hill going over the ridge. Apparently, the buck was not with the does. He had clear shots of the does but didn’t take them.
When he returned from the field he peeled off layer after sweaty layer and regaled us with the story. “Yep, I saw the ears of the doe as I got to the edge of the weeds. When she got up to feed she looked right at me. When she put her head down I moved my bow in front of my face and when she looked up, she noticed something wasn’t the same as before. That’s when she started jerking her head around. After the second doe jumped up I just waited. I saw the two does and was hoping the buck was there, too. But he either was never with them or slinked through the weeds before running off.”
One other milestone this week – “The Pool is Closed”! And we only had snow one time before the cover was on.
Today Gooey (my 3 year old wigglie) saw the cover on the pool and asked if he could go out and jump on it. To him it looked like a big trampoline.
So, it’s been a full, blessed week. Think I need to look for some leftovers and watch the video one more time. Yep, a Personal Chef and Michigan Outdoors all in one week.
