Sometimes I Wonder.....

Sometimes I wonder if the bucks in the forest spend as much time thinking about me as I do about them?

Sometimes I wonder, why do the fish pick Barb's jig when mine is just feet away?

Sometimes I wonder, what the dogs dream about?

Sometimes I wonder, does Dino really need his scooter? Or is it just a ploy for sympathy?

Sometimes I wonder how much wood could a woodchuck chuck could if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

These, and others, are they mysteries of life that keep me up at night. 

Deer hunting has been going good. The bucks are not chasing does yet, but they will be soon! I still enjoy just sitting there and watching Mother Natures wonders. The squirrels, the birds and of course the deer. Oh, I forgot the turkeys. Out flock is over 50 birds right now and are just obnoxious! There is one hen in the flock that we call "Hop a long" as she only has one leg. What happened to her is one of the mysteries I mentioned above. She is always the last one in the flock, sometimes 50 yards or better behind; hopping on her one leg trying to keep up. 

While all the other turkey's stand on one foot to scratch the ground, she scratches and hops at the same time. To turn, she has to completely stop and turn in one place, she cannot turn while moving forward. I thought about making a video to show you, but it is just too sad. I have thought about putting her out of her misery, but she is getting along these past few weeks and who am I to say she is in misery? I saw her jump up on the water tank the other day and drink so she seems to be getting along well, just a little slower than the rest. Which, I am afraid, will make her easy prey for a coyote. 

Every time I look at a picture from that camera, I am reminded that I need to fix the time and date on it. It is a month and 10 hours off. 

I wrote the above earlier in the week before I got the news that our good friend Mike had passed away. Many of you know Mike from our Florida adventures. We first met Mike and Liz in 2016 during our first Alaska adventure. Guess where? A brewery of course!

Subsequently, we got together with them each time we went to Florida. We have stayed in their driveway several times, happy hours in their garage, numerous breweries and distilleries visited. 

This is the same Mike who treated us to a guided fishing trip on the Withlacoochee River. This is the same Mike who had these wine bottles made for us for our 38th anniversary. 

Even when we weren't in Florida, Mike and I would talk on an almost weekly basis keeping up with each other's lives. I could go on and on, but what's the point, he is gone and his passing leaves a hole in our hearts. Saying our thoughts and prayers go out to Liz rings hollow as they were each other's worlds and adored each other like none other. 

I thought about rewriting the beginning of this post as it seemed too lighthearted for such a somber week, but Mike had such a great sense of humor, he would have not wanted me to change a thing. 

The rest of the week was somber as we continued to work on the camper and garage. Barb got the stairs done in the camper; a slow and tedious job but they turned out great!

For my part, I got the steel installed on the front of the garage and got the lights installed! I just have the east side of the trailer port. Then I am about as far as I can get on the outside for a while. Here is the goofy/frustrating part of where I bought the steel from. I bought the side steel some J trim in red, the roof, some J trim and the facia in charcoal. A few weeks later when I went to order the soffit, they said that that company does not make soffit in charcoal! So, now Barb is looking for F channel and soffit from somewhere else that either exactly matches the charcoal or compliments the two other colors. 

We don't get a lot of time to work; getting up at 4:30 each morning to go deer hunting then going out to the stand each afternoon really limits the time I get to work. It is my daily therapy where I relax and reflect on how lucky we are to live and love the way we do. 

We had neighbors Jim and Carmen over one night for a bourbon tasting. It was all fun and games until Jim hit the wall and laid his head down and went night night. 

Bingo night with Dan and Bonnie was also fun, but alas, we were not winners.

The "fun" continued with a morning of concrete work with Kevin in Pringle where we poured an apron at the Fire Hall and a couple of sidewalks at the Community Center. Nothing like pouring concrete when the temps are in the 20's!

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Forrest and Lily made the 6-hour drive from Tennessee to visit Jessica and family. Lily and Kendall went trick or treating and Dylan had a special birthday as he turned 16 and got his first car!

My first car looked nothing like that! I believe mine was an early 70's Ford Galaxy 500. 

Who knows what fun is in store for us this week, more project work I suppose. It reminds me of those Progressive Insurance commercials about not turning into your parents where the guy says something like "Raking leaves is something you have to do not get to do. we kinda look forward to working on our projects, which apparently, we are not supposed to do!