A Deer Affair

Growing up on a farm I have always had a bit of a love affair with animals and always had dogs, cats, kittens, calves and lambs I fed with a bottle and even a pet turkey.  But the one animal that was elusive to me was the deer but that wasn't for the effort of trying.

When I was just 9 or 10 years of age mom's side of the family had a gathering at a long time friend of her family's place.  Julius had been mom's bus driver back in the 1930-40's era and mom had stayed in contact with him. 

 Well, Julius had some deer in a large enclosure which I imagine was several acres in size.  As he was showing mom & I around the various enclosures we came to the deer.  I spied a young fawn somewhat hidden and I imagined I just ooed and awed over the baby...so much so that both mom & Julius told me if I could catch the fawn I could take it home.  I do remember thinking that that was so awesome and readily accepted the challenge. 

I'm sure that both mom & Julius were chuckling as they left me in the enclosure never dreaming that I would have the tenacity of getting close to the fawn let alone catch it.  But catch it is exactly what happened and I'm guessing it only took a short time as both mom & Julius came running at full speed to see what was the cause of my incessant yelling of "MOM!!!"

I haven't any idea what might have gone through their minds when they saw me holding this itty, bitty fawn in my arms but I can but imagine mom thinking to herself 'why did I ever say she could take the fawn home.'  Needless to say I soon became more than a bit unhappy as they both supported each other in telling me I could not really take the fawn home.  I remember the devastating blow their retraction dealt me and I was not happy camper on the drive home.

To try and satisfy me mom looked up the address to the State Department of Natural Resources and told me to write them and ask their opinion of my having a pet fawn...if they said yes we would go back and get the fawn from Julius. 

I wrote that letter to the DNR and anxiously awaited their response.  It did not take them long to respond but much to my chagrin the DNR sided with mom & Julius that a pet fawn wasn't the wisest choice.  Devastation...pure and simple...my young heart was broken. 

But, as in true youth fashion, I soon got over it and now years later while sorting through boxes of family pictures I came across the picture of me and the fawn.  Seeing that picture did not bring back any of the feelings of devastation.  Rather, it brought a smile to my face that mom had taken a moment and taken a picture of me and the fawn which became the start of my long lasting love affair with deer.

This morning as I was going to let the dogs out I spied a fawn in the neighbor's yard burrowed into the snow sleeping.  I was soon to discover that this was not the only deer in the neighboring backyards.  All told there were eight deer, several of them does and the rest were fawns and yearlings.  

I didn't seem to notice the 20 something degree weather standing outside in my pajamas with my camera as I waited to catch a picture or two of the deer.  It was a good 15 minutes outside as the deer cautiously weaved their way through the miniature highways they had made in the snow to get back to their sanctuary of the woods across the street. 

One just has to love their curious nature and the quizzical looks they give as they peer out from behind bushes and trees thinking that they can see you but you can't see them.

All in all it was truly a 'deer' way to start out my morning!!

Creature of Habit?

I know that I am not alone in this...everybody does it at some point or another and that is to put some item someplace you'll be sure to remember where you put it and then the hunt is on because you just cannot for the life of you remember where in the hell you put the item though you know you just had to have put it someplace where you were for sure to remember?  Whew!!  Sound familiar?!

The search was on...where is my ipod?  I had put it someplace and it was driving me nuts that I could not remember where.  I had wanted to take my ipod with to Montana as there were some areas where radio stations didn't come in real well or what did wasn't something I really wanted to listen to...cattle markets and auctions come to mind.  But...couldn't find the damned ipod.

I am somewhat of a creature of habit but not so much that there is one place and only once place for an item to be put.  There are always a few suspect places to look for an item like the vehicle keys, etc. and the same goes for the ipod...or so I thought.  Time was starting to dwindle on finding it before the big trip to Oz. 

But today I wasn't looking for it as I was picking up one of my bestest friends and we were going out for lunch.  As I was driving down to pick up PJ I started to put papers & junk from the front passenger seat into the back so he'd have some place to sit with a bit of comfort.  I had a couple of jumbo packs of gum from the trip out west and I decided instead of hiding them in the growing mess in the back seat I popped the glove box and tossed them in there and shut the door.  Or at least I tried to shut the door but the latch didn't catch and it popped back open.  Somehow one of the packs of gum had gotten stuck in one of the hinges and jammed the door so it wouldn't shut.  Crap!!  Not what I needed while driving or any other time for that matter.

I reached over and tried pulling the gum paper loose with no success.  I pulled and twisted and pushed and pulled and then gave a big jerk.  Bam!!  Crash!!  I had succeeded in pulling the gum paper loose but in the victory the glove box door unhinged and dropped down to the floor spewing out all of the contents.  What a mess!! 

But wait!  What's that I see??  Well I'll be damned!  So much for me professing to be somewhat of a creature of habit.  Much to my surprise there amongst the mess on the floor was my ipod.  Who knew that that ipod went to Montana with me.  I would never have thought of looking in there for it.  Break the damned glove box but find my elusive ipod!!  What dumb luck!!

Fortunately with only a bit of elbow grease I was able to get the glove box back on its hinges and was hurriedly stuffing all of the junk except the ipod back into it when PJ came out.  Needless to say he seemed to get a chuckle out of my dilemma but all's well that ends well and the elusive ipod has now been found and I am not going to let it out of my sight between now and when I head to Oz.

Now...where did I put my passport??

Got The Milk?

Ever have one of those days you probably should have just stayed in bed and forgot about running any errands?  Well, that's kind of like how my day has gone.  I'm one of those people who make a list of what I'm going to get before heading off on the errands.  Guess you could say I inherited the trait from mom...I am still finding a list here or a note there as I slowly go through the packed boxes from her condo among other things.  Just yesterday I came across a recipe for venison sausage in mom's hand writing and lo and behold there was an attached note in dad's hand writing with his tweeks to the recipe.  Mind you dad has been gone now almost 10 years so I was a bit tickled to find something in his hand writing. 

Dad wasn't exactly the letter writing kind of guy and also hated talking on the phone (probably because of his hearing difficulties).  So whenever I was hankering for a note from him when I was living in one of the numerous states I have throughout the years I'd just send him a self addressed, stamped envelope and a couple of pieces of paper...I always got a note back from him then...might not have said much but it was still a note and always said 'love, dad.'  Wish I'd saved those but when one is younger you just don't think about those things.

Anyways I got sidetracked here but that doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary...actually happens alot and more often as one gets older...guess it must mean I'm getting 'fuller of it' a bit more each day?!  LOL  Probably...mom told me the day I got my B.S. degree that finally I had a piece of paper to prove I was really "full of it!"  She was quite proud of her humor that day!!

So...back to the errands...there's a certain retail store here that has a 'spinner' of sorts where they can put tons of plastic bags on and, as they fill a bag, they can spin it to the next one.  Fairly efficient and handy but so damned easy to miss a bag and of course this is what I did this morning.  Now if it had been just an item or two and only cost a few $$ I doubt if I would have called them or taken the time to drive all the way back to the store but it just so happened to be the most expensive purchases of the day in that one bag.  Guess that will teach me to not make small talk with the clerk or b.s. as mom would have said.  Even so I hated having to drive back there but they were actually very good about it and the gal who waited on me in customer service tried (in her own way) to make me feel better saying "I do it all the time."  It was a nice try but somehow not very convincing coming from someone who was young enough to be my daughter. 

Anyways...with my expensive but light plastic bag in hand and my gallon of milk off to the post office I went on the other errand I forgot to do which was mail the birthday card that I left in that first bag which I forgot and had to go back and get...I must be losing something upstairs...I can understand missing a plastic bag but a gallon of milk?!  Really?!?!

I think I'll just have to make another note on my note to remember all the bags and the milk before leaving the store...wonder if that'll work?? 

Thoughts of Springtime

So far this month it has snowed 21 out of the 24 days and we are on track for setting some records for snow falls of 80+ inches which does pale in comparison to other regions in this country such as the cities surrounding the Great Lakes region that get astronomical lake effect snows in one fell swoop or many areas in the Rockie Mountains to name just a few.  Even areas in the deep South have experienced snowfalls that haven't been seen in generations if ever.

I remember my amazement cross country skiing in March of '88 during spring break on Rabbit Ear Pass above Steamboat Springs, Colorado where 80+ inches was the snow pack and didn't include the recent powder that had fallen over night that was knee deep on me. So 80+ inches here doesn't seem so much but for Minnesota that is a hefty amount and there have already been struggles of where to put all the snow and thoughts are already turning to springtime and what that may bring.

Even though it is just past the midpoint in January and springtime is two months away all this snow has prompted talk in my home area, the Red River Valley in eastern North Dakota, of yet another flood this spring that may surpass the record set in the spring of '09 and reach 42+ feet above flood stage.  Already they are in the midst of plans to start filling sand bags next month in preparation of flooding and should be well prepared for another springtime onslaught of frigid, melting waters.

All this talk of snows and floods find us in the Upper Midwest starting to yearn for springtime despite what may come and I too am anticipating the many photo opportunities I will have come February 19th when I step on to Aussie soil in the midst of their summer and amongst those ops all sorts of flowers in midsummer bloom.  Not sure just exactly where my love for shooting flowers came from...it certainly was not born from my allergies or maybe it was since a bouquet of flowers inside can be miserable at best and flower shops are definitely not frequented.  But let me out in a flower garden and I am in heaven.

I leave you today with an image of springtime with a favorite picture of mine I took while Mom was in the hospital of one of the bouquets of flowers reflected in her hospital room window.

Have a great day!!



Reflections




Pre Travel Jitters?

Gotta love major newspapers and their tabloidesque headlines...they can be so comforting...NOT!!  There's nothing quite like pulling up the website to The Herald (a Melbourne, Aus newspaper) and this is the first headline one sees...

Masks drop as jet plunges...passengers suck oxygen as Qantas Melbourne flight loses cabin pressure.

Ok...what is up with that?  It seems since I made the decision and followed through with booking my flight to AUS every few days there is some type of sensational headline in one of the Australian newspapers (or all of them) regarding yet another incident involving a Qantas flight.

Maybe I'm just being a bit paranoid and starting to get 'pre travel jitters' as I've not ever done any international travel but you sit up a little straighter when you  see a headline before Christmas within days of booking your flight about an oxygen tank blowing a hole in the side of a jet in mid flight...and it just happens to be the airline you're going to be flying at 30,000-40,000 feet or however high they go over the Pacific Ocean in the middle of the night.

Last week I was a bit more encouraged when I saw a flight was grounded before take off for an engine 'blowing up.'  Granted it did not actually blow up...the engine just wouldn't work but that's how it was explained in print...at least the pilots figured this one out before take off.

Ok...ok...enough of the bad mouthing of an airline I've not yet had the pleasure of traveling on and not really how I want to come across.  I guess I just wanted to voice 'out loud' that maybe, just maybe I'm starting to get a few "pre travel jitters" which is probably pretty common place.  It's getting to seem like the 'full moon phenomenom' where one happens to notice more weird things happening when the moon is full. 

Anyways...time to get back to booking another tour for Tasmania.  Wonder what airline we're flying on over to Tasmania????