Thanksgiving Weekend

So, I was just sitting here watching TV on a Sunday night, and the ticking clock came on to announce that it was time for 60 Minutes (or, "60 Incriminating Minutes", as we used to call it in my family).

And then I remembered that it was a Thanksgiving Sunday, fifteen years ago, that I was watching 60 Minutes in California, where I had attended a funeral for a family member the day before.

Fifteen years.  Fifteen years!  Where on earth does the time go?

That family member has been dead for fifteen years now, and I'm still here. And I've been through so many incredible changes over the past fifteen years, well ... but here I am.  Still going.

Where were you fifteen years ago?  Enquiring minds want to know. 

Faux Pas

So, last night after dinner, I scooped the litterboxes and then set the bag out on the porch so I could take it to the garbage can this morning.

This morning, I went out on the porch and ... no bag. What the heck?! Where did the poop bag go? Did an animal drag it off? But ... why?

And then I remembered. The local Cub Scout food drive. People were supposed to put bags of donated food out on their porches for collection ... last. night.

DEAR CUB SCOUT PACK 243 I AM SO, SO SORRY I SWEAR TO GOD IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I FORGOT ABOUT THE FOOD DRIVE I DIDN'T MEAN TO DONATE POOP.

Oh lord.

On not jumping to conclusions.

I was not happy to see bow hunters in the park next door yesterday.

I have nothing against hunting in general, but hunting is not allowed in town parks, and most CERTAINLY not fifty yards from a house (mine).  I got a shot of the license plate and will send it to the game warden; confronting armed men is not generally a real good idea.

So imagine how not-happy I was this morning when I was cooking up my Sunday morning breakfast and looked out the kitchen window to see a cop and a hunter dragging a doe across my backyard.

What. The. Actual.  F*ck.  I figured that the hunter had jacked the deer and the cop had caught him at it.  In my backyard!  Oh, I was loaded for bear.   But I composed myself, waited until they were out by the road, and went to talk to them.

"Hey, guys," I said. "What happened here?"

The hunter explained that he was on his way to bow hunt when the car ahead of him, up on the main road not far from my house, hit the deer and kept right on going.  (I have no idea how; hitting a deer generally causes a LOT of damage to the vehicle.)  The deer, severely injured, managed to drag itself into the brush.  The hunter, wanting to put the deer out of its pain (and possibly fill his freezer for the winter, let's be honest), grabbed his bow from his truck and started tracking it. He finally managed to put the deer down in the brush on my rear property line, then called law enforcement to explain the situation.  (Hunting within a thousand yards of a house in this town results in massive fines, loss of hunting licenses, and surrender of firearms.)  The cop came out to assay the situation, and, after determining that the hunter's story was true, filed the necessary paperwork so that the man could harvest the doe.

So here's a situation where I was glad to have a hunter on my property, putting that poor deer down. Those yahoos from yesterday, however ... well, I hope they get their due courtesy of the game warden.

And in other news ... look how big the Foster Campers are getting!

Ain't they sweet?

Recently Read

Yep, that's right - I've been away for weeks, and all you're getting is a lousy "Recently Read" post.  My apologies!  I'm doing okay, if exTREMEly busy,  and counting the days until my 6-month work eval, at which point I can transfer out of my current position and into another office while still keeping my accrued PTO, etc.  Am I going to be out of there like a shot? OH YES I AM.  haha.


1.  Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean - Keilloresque short stories.  Charming, if a little too cutesy.

2.  News of the World by Paulette Jiles - Novel about a traveling "news reader" in the 1870s.  I liked some of her previous novels, but I didn't like the narrative style of this one and didn't get very far.  I might try it again at some point, though.

3.  Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie - Novel about a woman coming to terms with her turbulent childhood.  Okay.

4.  Growing up in Cooper Country - edited by Louis C. Jones - Boyhood memoirs from two men who grew up in upstate New York in the late 1700s/early 1800s.  Very interesting.

5.  Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch - Novel about a boy on a whaling expedition in the 1800s.  Very interesting and well-written, but bad things happen, and I just wasn't in a place emotionally to deal with it at the time I read it, so I quit about 80 pages from the end.  Still a good read, even if I couldn't make it to the end.

6.  Chickens in the Road by Suzanne McMinn - Account of a novice who bought a farm.  Good.

7.  Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.  Short stories.  Good, of course.

8.  Burn Down the Ground by Kambri Crews - Memoir of growing up with deaf parents in rural Texas.  Engaging.

9.  Walking to Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel - Account of a young man who, after graduating from college, walked across America.  Interesting.

10.  A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska - The Story of Hannah Breece edited by Jane Jacobs.  Hmmm ... a memoir about (a) frontier Alaska and (b) schoolteaching?  OH YEAH.

11.  All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot - An old favorite, memoirs of a veterinarian in England in the thirties.

12.  Poor Cow by Nell Dunn - I guess this novel, about an unwed teen mother with a thief for a boyfriend, caused quite a stir when it was published it in the 60s.  I found it interesting but rather tame by today's standards.  How times change!

13.  The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard - I don't know why I pick up murder mysteries - I just don't enjoy the genre.  Still, I made it all the way through this one, so that says something.

14.  Little Green by Loretta Stinson - Novel about a rootless young woman who gets involved with a bad man.  Really, really good.

15.  The Growing Seasons by Samuel Hynes - Memoir about growing up in the thirties.  I'm a sucker for books about growing up in the Depression, and this was a good one.

16.  A Ticket to Ride by Paula McLain - Novel about a young woman growing up in the seventies.  I grew up in the seventies, too!  haha.  I liked this one.

17.  If The Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss - Novel about a small Appalachian community in the seventies.  Okay.

18.  Trauma Junkie:  Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse by Janice Hudson.  Good!

19.  Leaving Wayne by Danny Clune - Memoir about a man who grew up in this area in the 50s and 60s.  He mentions lots of places (and people!) I know, so it was an interesting read.  Good.