The Front Porch Swing

[Triple Willow]

Hey I just finished transcribing this journal... Woo Hoo.

Journal pages handwritten 180
transcribed to word 67
Total word count for this journal 26,094

I still need to track down some illustrations I mentioned in the journal... Along with those are some small notebooks. 

But once those are done  I can start on the next journal....

Seriously I estimate I have written and transcribed about 50 thousand words give or take.  I foresee at least three or four times that much once its fleshed out.

So now i am relaxing on the front porch... its about 78 degrees and the stars are twinkling through Costal Eddy (fog like moisture from the ocean off San Diego) The star Jasmine is blooming all over giving the air the scent similar to orange blossoms.  Having a glass of Cabernet  and trying to wind down from family drama vs the progress I made in this past seven days.

In seven days I have typed 24 thousand words... for a "failure in life" this is something to say.  I really dont subscribe to Grandmas point of view.... i do get scarcastic about it though.

deb

Go Deb go!

 

[perchie.girl]

I'm not sure where I fall in this interesting and thought provoking discussion. I've been hunting since I was girl - usually got rabbit, deer, elk, pheasants and Milk Duds. I have no problem killing them and no problem eating them. (The game - the Milk Duds are dead when I open the box) I do go out of my way to make a fast killing shot and I'll pass up anything that I don't feel I've got every chance of bringing down cleanly. I've seen too many "hunters" take shots that were stupid at best - game too far out, or at the wrong angle, or trying to shoot them through brush that deflected shots. I don't want to have to chase down what I am hunting and shoot it again and again. You only have to hear a deer cry once to remember it for your whole life. And if we aren't going to eat it, we don't aim at it, period.]

I remember once, many years ago, when Ken and I were deer hunting along the river in South Dakota. We were cold, tired, and hungry, deerless, and our motel room in Bonesteel left a lot to be desired. So we cleaned up a little bit and then went to get a bite to eat at Fort Randall casino. Our waitress was slow, busy flirting with every young man in the place, and looked like she was barely out of puberty. After she opened her mouth I began to wonder if she was even out of diapers. She smiled at Ken and asked, "You've been hunting?"

Well. let's see....hat hair, fluorescent orange coveralls, boots....here's your sign! But Ken replied, "We've both been hunting pretty hard today and we're starving!"

She turned to me in shock. Then her expression changed to total disgust, like she's smelled something bad. (Truth be told it had been a long day so perhaps she did) "YOU were hunting too? Oh, I couldn't do what men do and go out hunting....how can you look into those big brown eyes and kill a deer?"

For that brief moment I was mesmerized by the fact that her eyes were brown and I didn't think I'd have too much trouble ....well, never mind. Anyway, I guess I was too tired and hungry to play games with her. I just looked back up at her and said as nicely as I could, "Sweetie, when I'm hunting I ain't aiming at his eyes."

I must have said it less nicely than I thought. She disappeared and another young lady came over to take care of our table. Ken said I'd sneered at Miss Bleeding Heart. Maybe I did. But it was hunting season and Fort Randall Casino is in the heart of some pretty productive hunting area.....it couldn't have been that she was unaware that almost every table in there was full of hunters. No, it was the fact that I was a woman and I hunted, so she felt some kind of God-ordained need to separate herself from the barbarian. Back then not as many women hunted as they do today and she was looking at me like I'd forsaken all things womanly.

My grandparents all lived in that corner where South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota meet up. I knew what I was eating and I knew where it came from. Often I helped with the butchering. It's not that I don't feel anything when it happens...it's more like a sort of inevitability about it. There's a cycle to life and I'm just one little part of that cycle. Someday my spirit will leave my body and I'll feed the grasses and bugs that feed the chickens and cows and so it goes.....

I have Mule deer that regularly come sample the hay pile.... Jack rabbits, cotton Tail, and bush bunny. There are also feral pigs not in my area but in the Cleaveland national Forest. Once it was dead i could do all the other stuff. I learned about guns from my dad but guns weren't part of our family. Though I do have a twelve gauge... I have never shot it.

I hear the Mule deer are pretty large compared to others 130-280 lbs. Bow hunting only in the Lagunas though... I know there are more places to hunt. And I would never refuse game offered to me... Id have to cook it for myself though.... LOL

deb

 

[Beekissed]

I'm not sure where I fall in this interesting and thought provoking discussion. I've been hunting since I was girl - usually got rabbit, deer, elk, pheasants and Milk Duds. I have no problem killing them and no problem eating them. (The game - the Milk Duds are dead when I open the box) I do go out of my way to make a fast killing shot and I'll pass up anything that I don't feel I've got every chance of bringing down cleanly. I've seen too many "hunters" take shots that were stupid at best - game too far out, or at the wrong angle, or trying to shoot them through brush that deflected shots. I don't want to have to chase down what I am hunting and shoot it again and again. You only have to hear a deer cry once to remember it for your whole life. And if we aren't going to eat it, we don't aim at it, period.]

I remember once, many years ago, when Ken and I were deer hunting along the river in South Dakota. We were cold, tired, and hungry, deerless, and our motel room in Bonesteel left a lot to be desired. So we cleaned up a little bit and then went to get a bite to eat at Fort Randall casino. Our waitress was slow, busy flirting with every young man in the place, and looked like she was barely out of puberty. After she opened her mouth I began to wonder if she was even out of diapers. She smiled at Ken and asked, "You've been hunting?"

Well. let's see....hat hair, fluorescent orange coveralls, boots....here's your sign! But Ken replied, "We've both been hunting pretty hard today and we're starving!"

She turned to me in shock. Then her expression changed to total disgust, like she's smelled something bad. (Truth be told it had been a long day so perhaps she did) "YOU were hunting too? Oh, I couldn't do what men do and go out hunting....how can you look into those big brown eyes and kill a deer?"

For that brief moment I was mesmerized by the fact that her eyes were brown and I didn't think I'd have too much trouble ....well, never mind. Anyway, I guess I was too tired and hungry to play games with her. I just looked back up at her and said as nicely as I could, "Sweetie, when I'm hunting I ain't aiming at his eyes."

I must have said it less nicely than I thought. She disappeared and another young lady came over to take care of our table. Ken said I'd sneered at Miss Bleeding Heart. Maybe I did. But it was hunting season and Fort Randall Casino is in the heart of some pretty productive hunting area.....it couldn't have been that she was unaware that almost every table in there was full of hunters. No, it was the fact that I was a woman and I hunted, so she felt some kind of God-ordained need to separate herself from the barbarian. Back then not as many women hunted as they do today and she was looking at me like I'd forsaken all things womanly.

My grandparents all lived in that corner where South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota meet up. I knew what I was eating and I knew where it came from. Often I helped with the butchering. It's not that I don't feel anything when it happens...it's more like a sort of inevitability about it. There's a cycle to life and I'm just one little part of that cycle. Someday my spirit will leave my body and I'll feed the grasses and bugs that feed the chickens and cows and so it goes.....

An excellent read, Blooie!

I laughed out loud on this story...you have such a way with words!

I can SO relate! I also nodded my head throughout the post. It's that same inevitability and cycle of which I, too, am aware...it's timeless and crosses all generations. We are dying. Everything will die. We can either be a part of that chain in an active way and eat the animal as we will one day be eaten or we can let that opportunity pass us by...but either way that animal will be eaten. All flesh is grass.....

"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:"

Here's a little tidbit that may make you laugh...a little cowboy humor..

Cowboy Reincarnation poem

Cowboy Reincarnation by Wallace McRae
"What does Reincarnation mean?"
A cowpoke asked his friend.
His pal replied, "It happens when
Yer life has reached its end.
They comb yer hair, and warsh yer neck,
And clean yer fingernails,
And lay you in a padded box
Away from life's travails."
"The box and you goes in a hole,
That's been dug into the ground.
Reincarnation starts in when
Yore planted 'neath a mound.
Them clods melt down, just like yer box,
And you who is inside.
And then yore just beginnin' on
Yer transformation ride."
"In a while, the grass'll grow
Upon yer rendered mound.
Till some day on yer moldered grave
A lonely flower is found.
And say a hoss should wander by
And graze upon this flower
That once wuz you, but now's become
Yer vegetative bower."
"The posy that the hoss done ate
Up, with his other feed,
Makes bone, and fat, and muscle
Essential to the steed,
But some is left that he can't use
And so it passes through,
And finally lays upon the ground
This thing, that once wuz you."
"Then say, by chance, I wanders by
And sees this upon the ground,
And I ponders, and I wonders at,
This object that I found.
I thinks of reincarnation,
Of life and death, and such,
And come away concludin': 'Slim,
You ain't changed, all that much

 

[sarahsunshine]

Yeah.... some sort of DNA sniffer... Looking for them XYs.... LOL.

deb

I'm going to be a complete and utter biology nerd party pooper

... I believe it's ZZ (male) /ZW (female) Chromozones in Chickens... And it's the female that determines sex, not males like in mammals...

Just to double check...

Quote from wikipedia "The ZW sex-determination system is a system that determines the sex of offspring in birds, some fish and crustaceans such as the giant river prawn, some insects (including butterflies and moths), and some reptiles, including komodo dragons. In the ZW system, the ovum determines the sex of the offspring, in contrast to the XY sex-determination system and the X0 sex-determination system, wherein the sperm determines the sex. The letters Z and W are used to distinguish this system from the XY system. Males are the homogametic sex (ZZ), while females are the heterogametic sex (ZW). The Z chromosome is larger and has more genes, like the X chromosome in the XY system."

 

[Triple Willow]

Let's pray for this woman...
http://www.jpost.com/International/...-woman-who-refused-to-convert-to-Islam-352465

 

[Beekissed]

Let's pray for this woman...
http://www.jpost.com/International/...-woman-who-refused-to-convert-to-Islam-352465

Just did! Thank you for bringing this to our attention, TW, so that we may pray for our sister and her family. I hope we can all pray together for this woman, as she is persecuted for the sake of following Christ. My heart cries out for her!

 

[sarahsunshine]

All this discussion about killing animals, and people having their heads screwed in wrong and I had to add my 2 cents.

First, if someone wants to get on on cruelty to milking cow calves for being tken away from their mother, they should go after the formula feed companies (for people) first. Once they have everyone breastfeeding properly, and full time (which would involve getting paid maternity leave for all women for at least 2 years if you go by the WHO standard), then they can start talking about cows.

Second, there is a lot to be said, for me, about giving thanks to the animal that was killed for food/clothing/shelter. For me, it's the mentality that goes behind it. If the animal is killed for a good reason, in consciousness and peace, and required (for food, safety, sleep deprivation) then I am good with it. If it is done in anger, haste, revenge, or any other nasty reason, then no, I'm not good with it.

Peacefulness in life and death.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL this is the one I learned Da da de do da... its DNA wars... LOL.

It was a joke anyway I know nothing more than XY and YY Lurned in highschool in 1970.

deb

 

[Triple Willow]

Just did!  Thank you for bringing this to our attention, TW, so that we may pray for our sister and her family.  I hope we can all pray together for this woman, as she is persecuted for the sake of following Christ.  My heart cries out for her!

Ditto Bee. I only hope I would have that much courage if I was ever faced with something that awful and scary. Another modern day martyer while the rest of the world snoozes away in its ignorant bliss.

 

[perchie.girl]

All this discussion about killing animals, and people having their heads screwed in wrong and I had to add my 2 cents.

First, if someone wants to get on on cruelty to milking cow calves for being tken away from their mother, they should go after the formula feed companies (for people) first. Once they have everyone breastfeeding properly, and full time (which would involve getting paid maternity leave for all women for at least 2 years if you go by the WHO standard), then they can start talking about cows.

Second, there is a lot to be said, for me, about giving thanks to the animal that was killed for food/clothing/shelter. For me, it's the mentality that goes behind it. If the animal is killed for a good reason, in consciousness and peace, and required (for food, safety, sleep deprivation) then I am good with it. If it is done in anger, haste, revenge, or any other nasty reason, then no, I'm not good with it.

Peacefulness in life and death.

BRAVO... speaking as one who Couldnt breast feed... and Vey much wanted to. Sigh.

LOve your values....

deb