Thursday, November 24, 2022

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I did it again. It wasn't the first time, and I am certain it won't be the last.  I don' know what I was thinking but when I realized what I did, I apologized to Barb immediately. I gave her a big hug and told her how sorry I was. 

What unthinkable act did I do? Did I leave the toilet seat up again? Or worse yet, did I drink the last beer?  To be honest, I rarely put the toilet seat up in the first place and we don't even like the same beer, so it wasn't either of those. But when Barb said came out of the bedroom yesterday and said, "I am mad at you", I knew I was in trouble. "What did I do?", I asked. "You were mean to me in my dream". This is not the first time I have done this, and it certainly will not be the last. I realized long ago that the best thing for me to do is to tell her I am sorry and give her the aforementioned hug.  Otherwise, there is no breakfast for Jim. 

Whew, dodged that bullet! 

With Christmas fast approaching I have been busy buying Christmas presents for Barb. For the first time ever, I am not panic shopping a day or two before Christmas. Not only is this saving me a lot of stress, but it is also saving me a lot of money. Whenever I panic shop, I tend to spend way too much and buy items she does not really want. I still spent more than I probably should have but she is really going to like her gifts this year!

I deer hunted almost every day this past week, watching the deer antics in the woods. This is mating season for deer so both the does and the bucks are going through their mating rituals. Sitting there watching them I could not help but notice the similarities between deer and humans the way the does dance around and tease the bucks and how the bucks walk around, like these two, acting all macho, puffing up and strutting around trying to impress the does. 

The bucks are constantly fighting each other to establish dominance. Some of these fights get pretty rough resulting in injury and even death. Like this guy who is such a hard fighter that he has broken off several tines on his antlers. 


Other fights are more playful like these two. It reminded me of the scene from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer where his nose cap fell off. 
And as many of you know the bucks will rub their antlers on trees to mark their territory. This does two things. It is a visual warning for other bucks to stay out of the area and it is also a scent indicator as bucks leave their scent on the tree so other bucks know who is in the area. 

The antlers of each buck are like fingerprints, no two are alike, varying in size, formation and color. Here are a few pictures of bucks I saw this week.
A little 6-point                                                         A nice 9-point

                          A tall 7-point                                     This guy is just growing his 7th and 8th points

A small spike

They don't get much smaller than this guy on the right

Then there was this big guy who is the boss of the woods. He was chasing a doe, got tired and laid down right in front of me!

I did manage to fill the freezer this week by harvesting a really nice buck. That picture is the last one in this post so those who want to skip it can do so. I just love sitting out in the woods!

Workwise, Barb and I continued to construct the workshop. It is probably 1/2 way done with all the lights in, insulation done and the OSB installed on the walls. One of the functions of this room will be for processing deer, I was able to put it to use this week!


Next up is steel siding on the walls and ceiling, then finish the electrical and the exterior siding. 

Being Thanksgiving, we wanted to wish everyone a...
 Happy Thanksgiving! 
We have so much to be thankful for; our health, our happiness, our family, our friends..... the list goes on.

Thanks to everyone who sent their email addresses to be added to our email list. It seems to be working just fine for those who were added but I did find another limitation. Blogger limits us to 10 people on our email list, so I added the first 10 people who responded. The other ones were denied by blogger. Ugh!

And finally, here is the picture of the deer I harvest this week. It is bittersweet, I am happy to have harvest such a nice buck and have the freezer full, but sad all at the same time. That is just part of the whole hunting process. 

42 comments:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Barb! Well that is one statement you will never hear from me. "You made me mad in my dream." Now that I look at that It should never even be muttered for so many reasons. Good job on the hunt.

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    1. So, you're saying that I make you happy when you dream about me? That is so wrong.

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  2. Is that the same guy who’s lying around? That’s a nice buck! Sorry to hear you are losing your ‘dreamboat’ status.

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  3. Happy Thanksgiving! Nice looking work shop, lots of hours of work will be made easier in there. Nice buck! I’ll bet it went a long way to topping up the freezer.

    Deb

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    1. I have already been spending a lot of time out there. So much, that Barb has checked on me a couple times.

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving to you both 🙂

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  5. You got a beauty! I enjoyed the photos of the deer in this post.

    The workshop is really coming along!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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    1. Each one of them are so unique and different. They change every year. Sometimes you can tell they are the same but from year to year, some others totally change.

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  6. Great pics/videos Jim…those are some beauty bucks! Congrats on the one you harvested…the mount would look good above your bed. 🤣 That will be so nice having the processing room. Bring some venison to Q! 😉

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    1. Genius! I will recommend it to Barb and let you know what she says.

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    1. Ha! I hope you enjoyed the holiday down there in Q as well.

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  8. I hope your Thanksgiving Day is a happy one. We don't have Thanksgiving here but our shops are certainly hammering the Black Friday idea (sales for a full week!). Go figure.
    Mxx

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    1. It seems like we have "Black Month" rather than "Balck Friday" as they are advertising things earlier and earlier.

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  9. Great blog. looks like a great week for you too. Nice score on the buck, and you're right, "a lot to be thankful for". Happy Thanksgiving.

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    1. Thanks, I hope you and Ed had a great Thanksgiving as well!

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  10. Yay email notifications are back! But booooo about the limitation. What the heck is with Blogger? So weird and counterproductive. Anyway, I'm glad I apparently made the cut! Happy Thanksgiving to you both!

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    1. Makes no sense at all. I think whoever makes the decisions at Blogger does not blog, and knows little or nothing about blogs at all.

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  11. At least the Buck you harvested was not the same one you pictured, according to the antlers...BOTH are good looking Bucks.

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    1. There are so many good deer around here, I hope to have many good years in the future.

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  12. Happy thanksgiving. It does look like the buck in the last picture laying down.

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    1. You do know your deer don't you! Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving!

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  13. Happy Thanksgiving. Nice buck

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  14. I'd be out there all day long watching the deer. Nice buck, but very sad. On another note, if you want Barb to be dream happy, you better have bought some NICE Christmas gifts. Maybe even a couple extra this year!!

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    1. Good call on the couple extra. I may need to pick a few more up since I was so mean to her!

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  15. Thank you! I hope you both had a very nice Thanksgiving!

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  16. Thanks for the warning! I was able to smoothly miss your final photo. Glad for you that you were able to fill your freezer. Love the photos and videos of the action. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I assume Dakota and Zoey had a nice Thanksgiving, as well, but I would never know!! Did Zoey watch the dog show?

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    1. We did watch the dog show when her cousin won! I think she had a little tear in her eye as she watched Winston receive his trophy and take his victory lap.

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  17. Congratulations on the buck, he's a beauty! Hope you two had a great Thanksgiving! Love the way the shop is coming along. Good for you for shopping early :)

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  18. you are so kind to apologize for what you have done in a dream (i had to read it twice)!! it is the best way to play it...i know first hand!!

    congrats on the buck, i had to look away...but you are a good guy so i forgive you!!!

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    1. Experience has taught me it is just best to apologize rather than to logically talk it through. Sometimes logic has no place in a conversation.

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  19. haha.. you are a smart man to apologize.

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  20. Yep, you guys should know better than to get mean in our dreams!! Beautiful bucks - what an amazing variety. Having that work space will sure be nice for the winter.

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