The Kill

Since 1981 i have hunted the white tail deer with my brother Clay, my pops, and occasionally uncle Pete. We have hunted the same tiny, now abandoned, apple orchard in the Parkwood area of Indiana, Pennsylvania. I cant tell you how many deer ive killed there, i cant even recall the number of buck that ive killed. I can tell you that i have streak of 6 years running with a buck, on the first day of each season. Two years ago was my largest buck, an 11 point with a 13 inch spread (thats the distance between the furtherst point of the left side to the right. This year was a wet one. I was in my tree stand by 6:30am (still dark) and it poured rain all day. By lunch time Dad and I were depressed. We were soaked and had seen very few deer and no buck. With the rain still falling after lunch we actually discussed calling it a day. We have never had that conversation before. Im sure Dad agreed to sticking with it only because i wanted to. At his age, he has given up on hunting in inclement weather. He hunts all the time, so there is no reason to suffer. By 1:30 with my stomach full of food we hiked back to our spots. I sat and soaked, until 3pm. It had just stopped raining and i spotted 3 doe running through a field over 100 yards away. I surmized that a buck might soon follow. I wondered however if i would take such a long shot. After another 20 minutes or so i stopped scoping the area where i saw the doe. I began looking elswhere. After 5 more minutes passed i caught some movement out of the corner of my eye in the field where the do were. By the time i realized it was a buck, got my gun in position and the deer in the cross hairs of the scope the buck was now at least 150 yards or more away. This is not a recomended shot, through woods, up hill, etc. But, it was now 3:30, i was wet, cold, tired and hungry and so i figured, what the hell. I pulled the trigger and to my amazement the buck dropped to the ground, intantly. Its leg moved some, as i watched it in the scope, and it looked as if he was trying to move. To no avail. I waited a few minutes, not as long as you are supposed to, and unsafely, hurried out of my stand. When i got to the deer and surveyed the rack i screamed, OH YAAAA! This was my biggest buck yet. While it only had 8 points, the points were long and high, and fat and the spread was almost 17 inches. And the bullet hole? Right behind the ear in the jugular. Ive told some that i aimed there for a quick kill. It was lucky that i saw it, lucky that i decided to shoot, and most of all lucky that i hit it. To add to the luck, it dropped in an old gravel road that was easily accessed by dads truck. No dragging! Sothe streak is alive, the tradition of hunting the first day of PA buck with Dad is still in tact, and my manhood gets another needed stroke.

sick

I feel like pooh, i have the flu, my nose runneth over.
My nostrils are crusted, my head it feels busted, i just wanna start over.

The snot is thick. The snot is brown, it doesnt want to come out.
My cough is deep and dry, Its made my temps real high, i just want to sit and pout.

I want to sleep, my dreams are deep, i wake up with bad headaches.
Drugs make my heart race, My sinus hurt my face, shot of whiskey i should take.

When will it end, Is it over, when will i feel like normal?
When the mucous runs out, when my ears stop popping, the end of the flu turmoil.

rest

im ready for a break. Thanksgiving is lurking around the calendar bend and im ready. Im ready to sit around, eat, watch football, hunt, and play with my girls. Its not that work has been super hard or stressfull, but constant and lots of major changes. My job is changing quite a bit from a Local program manager for children and youth programs in West Virginia to a National position of training and capacity building in the area of rural community development. All that to say that my boss and i are moving up and out. We are staying put in our office here in Philippi but are being promoted to take what we have done here and implement in rural areas nationally. Right now our targets are a community in Mississippi that we have a realtionship with and one in the Navaho nation in New Mexico. Its all very challenging, but thier have been quite a few hurdles to get to this point and a direct impact to my local staff. Pray that the transistion works well for all. The girls an i will be in Indiana,PA for the holiday with a short stop at Childrens Hosp of pitt. Mia (who suffers from a minor epileptic condition) has a video eeg scheduled for Friday. Pray that it goes fast and that Mia is patient. Pray that my stomach stretches between now and thursday so i can fit more of my moms food!

sad

A little elementary school girl that attends our church was recently hospitalized. Her mom is a single mom, kinda strung out, out of control, young girl herself. They recently hospitalized her daughter because she was diagnosed with pschytsofrenia (sp?). On top of that she was hearing voices. Scary. The good news is that after a few weeks in the hospital, she is much better. The pschytsofrenia has leveled and the voices have gone away. The sad news...she said she misses the voices because they were her only friends at school and she wont have anyone to talk to. Heart breaking! The last shall be first, and blessed are the meek, those who mourn, and little girls who are so alone that they would rather be mentally ill to cope with the lonliness of life. These our the greatest in His upside down, inside out kingdom, where He came to die for little ones such as this.

on the road again

Last week i was in Seattle, next week (wed-Sat) ill be in Hot-Lanta. Cool city Atlanta. This weekend im in High View, West Virginia in the Shenendoah mountains, on the Virginia boarder. Im speaking at a middle school retreat. They look so little. Anyway i was invited to speak by a good friend and former intern of mine Tim Habecker. Perhaps you remember Tim. Originally i was going to bunk with the band. These things keep me humble. Im not a rock start......yet. But to my surpise the camp was too full and Tim booked me a sweet room at a nearby B&B. Check it out at thecountryinnathighview.com. Im in the Pine room. Its pretty fem, as most B&B's are, but its way cushy, so im diggin it. Way better than bunking with the band in some smelly, old, cold cabin. Maybe i am a rockstar. Na, once a roadie, always a roadie. Im not really sure what that means. Random thought: On the way hear (3hour drive through the mountains) i was jamming to The Essential Bruce Springsteen. Cool disc cause it covers some of his older and less popular stuff. Two songs that i hadnt heard caught my attention . The one was something like, This Train. It describes a train that is like a grace train that takes everyone to the promised land, drug addicts, hors, and the righteous too. In another song (didnt catch the title, i was driving too fast) he sang a line...."id ask for forgiveness but sin is all ive got". A paradox maybe that he realizes that asking for forgiveness will take it away, but then he'll be left with nothing in return? Cool, huh?, for Bruce i mean. Anywho....peace out from the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley.

The mouse and the motorcycle

Do you remember this story? The mouse and the motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, i think. She also wrote all the Ramona the Pest books. Those titles always cracked me up as a kid cause my moms name is Ramona. That was and still is my favorite childrens book. Mia and i have read it a couple of times together. At our house here in the country, we always have mouse issues to deal with. We trap them, throw them away and forget about it till the next little pile of turds appear. The other day i was putting on a pair of low cut leather boots that i havent worn since early spring. As i picked the first one up i noticed that there was a tear in the padded part around the ankle area. As i pushed my toes into the boot i felt something odd at the bottom near the toe. I reached in and pulled out a dead mouse and the remnants of its home that it had built in my boot over the summer. Thankfully it was dead. Love it.

Happy Adoption Day Serena!

Yep, 4 years ago today Serena Marie was officially deemed our daughter for ever and ever amen. We were looking at the pictures today of the very chubby, Michellin Man looking, brown girl. The rolls! It was the same judge in the same court room that also presided over mia's adoption. Yes the same man who was arrested at 230am in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, soliciting a prostitute. Of course one of his fellow judge buddies let him off the hook, as he swore he was only out shopping. Hmm. Any who, we are trully blessed by Gods gift of Mia and Serena. If you have a chance in the next week or so, you really must come visit the hills of West Virginia before all the leaves are gone. A little view from our yard.

The Ghost of Orville Redenbacher

So im in the Denver airport the other day, waiting for my connection to Seattle. With only a half hour layover and a hankerin' for some grub, i decided to buy a box of popcorn (move theatre style) and a coke. As i managed my carry on in one hand, my coke tucked between my elbow and my side, i began munching away. I wasnt sure, but i assumed that i was probably dropping some popcorn on the floor. Due to my procarious position, i didnt dare lean over and look down to check. I noticed a young man, in his 30's, approaching me. He had a pull along carry on like mine and was talking on his cell phone. As he approached me, he bent over towards my feet. As i backed away i noticed he had bent down towards my shoes and began picking the popcorn that i had dropped, off of the floor. In my embarassment that i had littered (trashing, as my daughter calls it) I immediately stuck out my hand to take the hand off of the litter and finish the job by throwing it in a near by garbage can. To my utter amazement, he did not dump the droppings into my hand, but rather popped some into his mouth. As he walked away (just as casual as he came) he continued eating until it was all gone. He never looked back. When asked if i gave him the rest of my box; i said no. I was so shocked at what had happened that i didnt move till well after he faded away into the sea of impatient layovers.