Valentine’s Day, Country Style

This morning I watched this guy talking and showing how to find suitable gifts for Valentine’s Day. He went to a store, had some pictures made, then the candy store for chocolates, and even found a restaurant for champagne and good food. Good ideas if you live near those stores and have the money to buy all those things. Not everyone does. Now, living in the country means celebrating V-day a bit different than our city friends. I love my wife but I’m not too good with a camera, she can’t eat chocolate, and the closest restaurant is Hardees. I love their chicken sandwiches but a fast food place isn’t high on the list of romantic get-aways. Back in the woods a person has to be creative and really put meaning to the phrase “It is the thought that counts.”

When we first got together we would have a picnic lunch by the river. It’s a pretty place with picnic tables where you can watch the river go by and sometimes see an egret or two, maybe even see fish jump. Another favorite place is the beach. A walk on the beach is one of the most romantic places in the world, no matter where the beach is. Even if it is cold there is still something about it that stokes those fires. Cap the walk on the beach with a hot cup of chocolate or coffee and you have a romantic moment she will treasure.

Something I like to do is cook so I made a Valentine biscuit for the wife. Not fancy cooking but romantic and that’s what Valentine’s Day is about, romance.  It’s not hard to do so even the guy who doesn’t know his way around the kitchen can do it. I used Bisquick mix for the biscuits. Just follow the instructions. Once you make the dough, shape one into a heart and place it in the center of the pan. Use the rest of the dough for drop biscuits.

Bake the biscuits according to the directions.

This is how they come out. The heart is in the center, the other biscuits are around it. After all, she is the center of your universe, especially on V-day.

Put it on a plate with strawberry or raspberry jam and present your handmade Valentine to your sweetheart.  Kind of makes you want to say “Aww,” don’t it?

I Did Something Right!

Sometimes I feel like no matter how hard I work at something the work is under appreciated or not appreciated at all. I try to be a positive guy and get excited about what I do but not everyone shares my excitement. I tell my wife (my biggest fan) and she cheers a little then gets back to her work. Know the feeling?

I find my “pats on the back” in nature. Being a hunter carries responsibilities. I get angry and disheartened when I see a carcass on the road, a magnificent animal killed for antlers and backstrap then discarded like trash. My responsibility includes killing for food, not shooting spots, knowing and respecting the law, and providing for the deer that go through my land during the year.

Last year we tried to have a winter garden but the winter was so harsh for the deer they ate our garden to nothing as they foraged for food. My wife was upset. “We need to feed them,” she said. “Let’s buy hay and set it out in the back away from the garden.” I bought a square bale and it was devoured in one day. The next day I bought a round bale and built a lean-to to keep it dry. Luckily it lasted until the grass started coming up again.

This year I planted winter grass along the trails on my land. Long before I moved here and long before my neighbor put a fence up there was a trail that the deer would walk. They would forage then bed down up front in the woods. My neighbor has a horse and put up fence disrupting the trail and limiting the feed area. My answer to that was to provide an alternative place for the deer to feed, especially the fawns that couldn’t jump the fences yet.

Today I was rewarded with a wonderful sight when I went out for my morning walk in the garden. On the trail that leads to the garden five deer were eating the grass I planted a couple of months ago. Does and their fawn were eating the feed I planted and the Lord provided with the bountiful rain we received. I feel so blessed. I guess I did something right!

Super Bowl Sunday

Well, I didn’t get a hog yesterday. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I saw some in the woods but they were moving 90 miles an hour so I couldn’t get a good shot off. That’s all right, we’ll eat venison instead of pork chops. I did get to visit an old friend, though, something I’ve been needing to do for a while.

My friend, Greg, died last year of brain cancer. Nobody expected it. He hadn’t been sick for a long time. He just started having bad headaches and went to a doctor. When the cancer was found it was pretty big and inoperable. He tried radiation which slowed it a little but not much.

Greg lived life to the fullest. He went to the Gator games and was a Green Bay Packer fan, a cheese head. One of the pictures I have of him was him wearing a cheese head hat. When I went to visit his wife, Lisa, she gave me something to wear while I watched the game for Greg. No, it wasn’t the hat (my wife had the same thought). It was a Packers’ watch.

I am not much of  a football fan. I’ll watch the game but I’m not a fanatic. To be honest, if there were cars and tires involved I’d watch every game. This year, however, I’ll be watching the game with a watch on my wrist and cheering for the Packers in Greg’s memory. I might even eat a piece of cheese or two.

Enjoy the game no matter who you cheer for! Or, sorry, Go Packers! Guess I need to start practicing now.

Hog Hunting

I love to hunt. I love going into the woods and being one with nature. Whether or not I bring something home isn’t the point, although I go with the intent of bringing something home. I am picky about what I hunt for, too. I don’t hunt to maim or for the thrill. I hunt to put food in the freezer or to help out friends.

Well, my freezer is about out of pork so when my son called and asked if I wanted to go hunting for the weekend I thought about it. Sounded like a good time to me. My wife encouraged me to go. “Have fun” she said. She even sounded like she meant it, too. “Go spend some time with your son. You’ll enjoy yourself” she told me so I called my son and told him I would join him.

Hogs in Florida are considered nuisance animals with an open season on private property. They destroy vegetation by rooting up the land making it hard for other wildlife, like deer, to feed. They also breed often and have large litters out-populating other animals. A doe might have one or two fawns a year but a sow can have 2 litters a year with 5 or 6 pigs in the litter. The hogs are wild, feral hogs with long, coarse, black hair and tusks. There are some that have bred with domestic hogs but the ones with black hair are called Piney Woods Rooters. They are smart and strong animals that can hurt a man or a dog, a common way to hunt hog.

I left early and headed south. No traffic. We got into the woods and he just about walked me to death. Now remember, we were Still-hunting. Still-hunting means you find a good place to watch from and stay still, not walk 5 miles looking for animals. You make noise when you walk. You are also moving. Hogs are very intelligent. They can pick up movement and noise. Not good when you are hunting. Needless to say we didn’t get anything today.

Well, I will keep you posted. Hopefully I will get a nice hog tomorrow, a nice Piney Woods Rooter.

Creating the Orchard: cont’d

I knew there was a lot of trees to come down but it feels like the number continues to grow no matter how many we put down. Two chain saws running constantly and we barely made a dent in it. The rabbit shelter is gone, though. With that out of the way it feels like there is something done, even if we still have a gazillion more trees to cut.

Got a little scary before, though. One of the guys helping out cut the tree in the wrong direction. The tree would have come down on the fence around the house the way it was cut. My wife noticed it and stood transfixed watching us. When I noticed her standing there all I could think of is it could come down on her. Wouldn’t be good. Told her to move and she did. Good thing, too, because the tree came down close to were she was standing.

Outside of that, the tree cutting is going fairly well. We have firewood, some for sale, some for the cooker, and some for a few friends to keep them warm this winter. We have wood for lumber so I can build and save a few bucks. And the best part, we’ll have a place to raise some fruit trees.