Hunting 2009 November 15, 2009

This year’s week of hunting was not a productive one.  My dad got two yearling bucks opening day by 8:30am, so with the good start everyone was pretty optimistic.  As the week dragged on they saw deer.  In fact they usually saw them in groups of 2-3 but they were too far away.  Jeff took a shot at two of them Monday but with the distance he didn’t think he’d probably get them.  Saturday morning Jeff and Zach were in the buddy stand and Jeff saw one- but no luck.  One day Jeff was walking out of the woods and my dad saw one following behind him, but Jeff had no idea! 

Saturday I babysat Grace-Lin while Monica went out hunting with my 3 men.  About 4:30-5pm Tyler saw a deer.  He shot at it, hit it and knocked it right to the ground.  When he went to track it he saw a big spray of blood.  He walked a little and saw another big spray, then another, then…nothing.  The blood stopped.  Jeff,and Zach joined Monica and Tyler to look for the deer.  They walked through the swamp and circled around.  It got dark and they came back for lanterns and searched for a while more.  They didn’t find it.  Tyler was just sick about it.  It really bothered him he couldn’t find the deer.

Jeff went out early this morning on the last day of the hunting season and looked a while longer but the deer is nowhere to be found.  Like I said, Dad did get 2 deer which he gave to us so we will have venison.  But hunting season is more then that.  My guys struck out and it was really a disappointment for them.  Hopefully next year will be better for my hunters.

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry! November 5, 2009

Tonight I had my Lia Sophia Jewelry party and it was fun!  Carrie, my jewelry advisor arrived at 6pm and set up her showcases.  She had a lot of new jewelry pieces since the last show I attended so it was fun to see the new stuff.  I looked up as the first car pulled in, followed by the second car, then the third then the 4th.  Everyone arrived at the same time!  I had 8 guests join me for the evening.

Carrie started talking about the jewelry and passing it around for us to look at and try on.  The catalogs never do it justice and everything was so much more beautiful in person.  Everyone was trying on necklaces, bracelets and rings and looking at themselves in the mirrors.  We were all so “accessorized!”

When Carrie was done I set out the appetizers and opened 2 bottles of wine and had cider for those who don’t like wine.  I had shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers, salmon spread, apple wedges with caramel apple dip, and chocolate chip cookie dough truffles.  You know if I’m doing something there has to be food involved!

Now the difficult decisions begin?  What do I get with all my free bonus money?  I’m finding my wish list is way too long!  Will someone please host a party and invite me so I can buy more of the items on my wish list?? lol

Highlight Reel October 24th-30th, 2009 October 30, 2009

Saturday-  Camping with the Mighty Eagles patrol (see previous post).  Jeff’s truck dies and Dondelinger quotes him a price of $1200.00

Sunday-  Got home from camping soaked.  Spent the rest of the day doing laundry to get the smoky smell out of everything.

Monday- Jeff had his truck towed to Tech Auto where they finished the work in a few short hours and charged us $491.00!   Scouts tonight was working on the second half of our physical fitness testing.  We are getting ready for Fall Court of Honor.  Rumor has it over 50 merit badges have been earned since the last court of honor.  That’s awesome.  Way to go 43!

Tuesday-  Picked up Zach from school today.  He was feeling feverish so I took him home.  Thankfully the next day he felt fine.

Wednesday-  A free night at home (yay!).  Got to watch the Wild and was giddy with their 3 goals in 1:47.  It was fun to watch even though they ended up losing.

Thursday- Bible Study tonight was on Matthew 4 where we focused on John the Baptist and his role in the Gospel.  Got home and the sore throat and the cold I was getting really got the best of me so I was in bed by 8:30.

Friday- More rain all morning then in late afternoon came the snow, so the Eagle Scout Project for tonight at 5pm had to be cancelled.  Harvest Ball at St Mathias was still on so that’s where we ended up.

Richmond Gang Rape October 29, 2009

Where has decency and compassion gone?  What happened to humanity?  Why would 20 people think it’s okay to watch and participate in a gang rape on a 15 year old girl that went on for over 2 hours?  I can not imagine the horrors and humiliations that child went through and my heart breaks for her.

      The D.A. must follow through on the threat to prosecute anybody who took photos or videos of this brutal crime with charges of child pornography.  I watched in stunned disbelief as talk show hosts revealed the horrifying details of this savage gang rape and tears ran down my cheeks.  My hope is she will have a strong support network to help her through the difficult upcoming days, months and years ahead. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Book Club Review October 13, 2009

     Our book club,  The Bookies met tonight to review A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.  October is traditionally our classics month.  This is not mine nor many bookies’ favorite month but we decided to keep a classic book read in the mix because we think it’s important to really stretch ourselves and read books we wouldn’t otherwise read.  For me it is a stretch because if I didn’t have to I would probably never read another classic.

In the past some of our classics have included Wuthering Heights, Waldon, The Screwtape Letters, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and now A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  I will have to say that as classics go, this was better then the others but still not quite my style.  We pick our classic read several months in advance to give everyone plenty of time to find the book and get it read.  Normally I will start the book club book a week or less before our meeting so it’s fresh in my mind.  But this book I started 2 weeks before our meeting and really struggled with it.   In fact I practically had to lock myself in my bedroom last weekend just to get it done.  It was very slow moving. 

The meetings however are never dull.  This month we had our meeting at Sheila’s house and it was a potluck featuring foods that were in the book.  Since the family was a very poor Irish family in 1917 Brooklyn there weren’t a lot of really good choices but our Bookies are very creative women.  We had minestrone, potatoes and straka.  We had bread pudding (click on favorite recipes tab at top of page for recipe-stale bread was used a lot throughout the book), penny candy and even Klondike Bars.  Klondike Bars?  Yes, even though they didn’t have Klondike Bars in 1917 the main character did attend a Klondike dance, hence the ice cream dessert.  I told you we are creative!

Big, Boisterous Family September 30, 2009

Jeff’s Uncle Larry arrived this last weekend from Oklahoma for a visit with his family in the area.  Mom Simmonds wanted to get all her kids together to see him before he went back so she invited us over Tuesday evening for a potluck supper.  She picked up some Kentucky Fried Chicken and others brought cheesy potatoes, pasta salads, coleslaws, buns and the like.  Jeff requested I bring Snicker Salad and Mom S. made dessert.

Because it was on a Tuesday night there were several who couldn’t make it because of work schedules or living out of town, but you couldn’t tell it by the activity and noise level in the house.  This is part of what makes this family fun.  There is nothing we do together that is low key and quiet.  The kids were riding around and bunny hopping the scooter, riding in the wheelbarrow and wrestling around all evening.  Seth was puttering around with the toy tractors and Raegan was splashing in the sink (and totally drenching Teresa) during her bath.  Sarah got the giggles while she was getting tickled and the men in the living room kept raising their voices as they tried to top each other’s tall tales.  I’m sure I even squealed once or twice when Kristi kept sneaking up behind me to pinch my butt!

I remember being so overwhelmed when I started accompanying Jeff to family functions when we were dating.  My family is so small that even when we’re trying to be loud we are not very noisy.  I wonder if Larry was just a bit overwhelmed as well?

But now that I’m used to it I look forward to events when the whole family gets together.  I’m no longer overwhelmed and i enjoy the craziness of this big, boisterous family.

 

Duck! September 20, 2009

This afternoon we had to abandon plans to take the boat out fishing because it was just to gusty.  Instead we decided to head to Little Falls and try some fishing at the dam.

Zach and I head to the dam often.  We like to watch the water roll over the rocks and listen to the crashing of the waves when they drop from the cement waterway.

Jeff went with us today and when we got there and were getting the rods from the back of the car we saw three different flocks of geese fly over us.  We watched them fly over the river in their southernly direction.  When we looked down at the river however we saw something equally fascinating.  There were ducks all over.  They were standing on the shore and on the rocks.  They were swimming and diving for food and some were even frolicking in the water leaking from the dam.

While the fishing tonight wasn’t that great (I lost my lure on the first cast, Zach caught two rock bass and Jeff caught one) we did have a very enjoyable evening enjoying the weather, watching the ducks and marveling in the sunset.

 

4th Annual Catechetical Assembly September 15, 2009

I had the privilege of being able to attend the 4th Annual Catechetical Assembly put on by the Diocese of Duluth at the College of St Scholastica last Saturday.  The speaker this year was Christopher West who spoke about Theology of the Body.  Theology of the Body was a series of 129 talks that Pope John Paul II gave between 1979 and 1984.  According to the Theology of the Body workbook, TOB is a “biblical reflection on the human embodiment as male and female, particularly as it concerns the call of the two to become one flesh.”

Christopher West has devoted over 10 years to studying the talks given by Pope John Paul II and spreading JP’s message to people in terms that are easy to understand.  His humorous, high energy approach mixed popular media (songs and movies) into his lecture to make a fun afternoon.  Mr West had the crowd humming, singing and laughing throughout the day.

During breaks, those assembled had the opportunity to walk around and shop some of the booths set up.  There were booths set up with material from Mr. West’s ministry as well as catholic bookstores, and other ministries in the area.

On the way home, the group from Brainerd stopped (as per tradition) at the Black Bear Casino for a buffet dinner before arriving home at about 9pm.

Next year the theme for the assembly will be Social Concerns.  I encourage you to go if you have the opportunity.  Brian Pizzalato and his staff from the Diocese of Duluth always puts on a great assembly.

Homemade September 10, 2009

This year I spent a lot of time making homemade jellies and apple butter.  There is a certain amount of accomplishment taking something wild (chokecherries, plums) or something that you (or in this case my dad) has grown and peeling, dicing, cooking, straining, and jarring it until it’s a new product for your family to consume. 

I can see the appeal of people who want to give up the rat race of urban life and get back to nature.  Although I like making the jellies, the butters and the homemade cheeses, I think that is where it would end for me.  The idea of having to chop firewood in order to stay warm or milking goats for fresh milk sounds like too much work.  I do like my modern conveniences.  And while I could easily give up the TV (except maybe during hockey season) I don’t know that I could give up my laptop so willingly.

So, I will stick to the country cooking and harvesting (hazelnuts are almost ready) but I will keep my modern lifestyle as well.  It suits me just fine.

 

Highlight Reel August 22nd-28th, 2009 August 28, 2009

Saturday-Jeff and Zach went fishing all day.  I mowed the lawn and read a little.  When the guys got back we set up the tent and the screenhouse to dry them up after camping in Hurricane Katrina earlier in the week.

Sunday-  Monica dropped Gracie off at 7am so she could volunteer with the Special Olympics today in Maple Grove.  Gracie went to church with us and later we brought her to the park.  I didn’t think we’d get her off the slides!  In the afternoon I finished mowing the lawn while Gracie took a 3 hour nap.  I guess I wore her out as much as she wore me out.  After supper Jeff, Zach and Monica helped me peel apples and roll out pie crusts for the apple pies I made for our family and Mom & Dad.

Monday- 1st day back to work went well.  Bernice always does an awesome job in the department when I’m gone.  It’s nice to not have to worry about coming back to a mess.  I made a pan of lasagna and brought it over to Mom & Dad’s along with some garlic toast for supper.  After supper I drove in to my grandparents house to see if I could fix their cable.  They had upgraded their cable service and now had a cable box to deal with.  After the installer left they turned the TV on and had nothing.  They called because 3 days later they hadn’t figured out how to get the picture to come on and had played cards and went to bed early each night.  After turning on their TV and changing the channel from channel 4 to channel 3, I went home.  (I feel bad for all the frustration the elderly go through because of the changing technology.  Hopefully I can stay on top of things as I grow older :0)

Tuesday-Went to Brainerd High School South Campus to pick up Zach’s schedule and take a look at where his classes were.  Zach and Jeff then went fishing in the evening.

Wednesday-picked a bunch of apples for a friend off Dad’s tree

Thursday-  Zach picked an enormous amount of chokecherries for me to make jelly and syrup with.  Spent 2 1/2 hours destemming them and only got half way through them all.  Juiced the 1st batch.

Friday- my cousin Janeen had a Norwex party (environmentally safe cleaning products) that I went to.  Looks like pretty good stuff.  We will see how impressed I am after using it on a daily basis in my home.