10:00 a.m. And we’re off! Got out the door sooner than I thought. Feels like 12 though!

1:00 p.m. We’re here. We stopped on the way in and got some hamburgers to eat (from Burger King!!), and some stuff at Walmart. I hadn’t ever been to that Walmart before! It had freezers that had motion sensors on them so when you walk down the aisle, the lights turn on ahead of you! It was neat. Ben said the ones at our walmart do that too, but people are always in front of it so you never know!

Bear Mountain

The van and the girls’ camper)

left to right, Eric, me, Ben…man I look short

5:10 p.m. We just had cheez whiz, summer sausage, and Ritz and Triscuits for celebrating Mom and Dad’s 24th wedding anniversary. And we had sparkling cider, sparkling white grape juice, and sparkling red grape juice. I liked the red grape best; it tasted like the grapes we picked! That was our surprise. Later we will have ding dongs for dessert ^_^ they don’t know about that quite yet though!

Rase eating Triscuits

After setting up camp, we took a turn around the Loop, then just been hanging out at camp. The season doesn’t start until tomorrow, so we have a whole day to do nothing!

Joe let me use his old film camera. It’s harder, but fun. I’ve taken a few pictures already; hopefully they will turn out! I can’t post them until they get developed though. Too bad!

Me taking pictures with the film camera

Joe posing

It’s kind of windy, and the wind is chilly. The smoke keeps getting in our eyes! Mom said “Smoke follows beauty!” but Dad said “Smoke goes to the one with the pink underwear!” So we kept teasing the boys, when they got smoke in their eyes!

Em was holding Elle, whose fingers were cold, so since Joe was closer to the fire, he offered to take her. She didn’t want to go! So he pretended he had some stuff in his hand, but that didn’t work so he got a flourescent earplug out of his pocket and pretended to eat it! Elle wanted it, so Em was saying “eww, icky!!” Elle didn’t like her saying that so she leaned over and pinched Em’s nose!
I told Joe, “You sure make earplugs look tasty!”

We’ve already had our traditional candy-swap.

I’m tired.

Jay wanting to swap candy with Joe

Elle Janie

Elle Janie again…her expression cracks me up!

Duke, watching candy-eaters intently

Dad’s perfect marshmallow

6:30 p.m. I laid down for a while…chilly! Dinner’s ready though.

8:00 p.m. Dad can’t get the heater on…good thing I brought my ‘cloud’ blanket! It’s soo nice and cozy!

8:20 p.m. Dad’s gonna read Pat McManus. Hunting (or camping) standby!

9:25 p.m. BED.

Sunday

6:05 a.m. Most of us are gonna go to our stands. Well, all, I guess, just Beth and I are last cuz we’re closest!

6:20 a.m. Still an hour to shooting light; I think I’m not going out quite yet! It’s pretty brisk out there…not as cold as some days, but pretty cold! It was sleeting earlier, Dad said. It’ll probly get warmer later!

We’re at the spot in the meadow, because there’s a fence across the old spot. I mean, where we’re camping. It looks like nobody’s driven down to the old spot in a long time, and there is a lot of snow covering the road. This spot is closer to ‘my’ spot, but the other spot is nicer because it’s cooler for hanging deer!

7:25 a.m. At my stand now, looking at the creek I drowned a deer in once. It’s getting light fast now. I suppose I should get the camera ready! I plan to shoot with my rifle before I shoot with the camera, though!

There’s a cold wind!

At least my mouth is feeling better!

1:45 p.m. Ben’s going home now :(

At about 9 (we were supposed to meet back at camp at 9:30), I saw Joe walking on the hill across from me, and down the hill on the right. He walked back up, out of my view behind some trees, then into a clear spot in front of me. He started dancing!! It was sooo funny! He did an egyptian thing, and peekaboo’d (he said…I didn’t catch that part!). Then he left and Beth came up to meet me, and we went back to the campers.

Evidently, just after we turned our backs on the hill, three guys popped up where Joe had been dancing and were scoping us and the trailers and stuff! I was pretty mad at them! Abby kept calling them “stupidheads.”
Joe and Eric came up to camp, and we told them about the “stupidheads”, so they took off in Joe’s pickup. We saw the boys walk up to the guys, then the boys walked away. They didn’t come back for a long time (the guys left shortly after the boys talked to them), until Ben, Dad, and the twins came back. Joe and Eric were walking! Joe’s pickup had broken down or something.

We had some cup o’ noodles, then Ben and Eric took off. After a bit, the rest of us (including Mom and the little ones) did a turn around the Loop. We didn’t see any deer, but did happen upon Ben’s unlocked pickup, windows rolled down, with a nice .22 rifle in the gunrack! So we snitched it.
We got around to where Joe’s pickup was, and he got it going (with Dad’s help). Dad gave him a pull out of the place he’d been backed into (it was downhill so he couldn’t get up the hill or out of the mud or something), then we got to camp. We’ve just been hanging out.

Ben and Eric came back a while later (around 12:30). Both got one! Ben got a little buck, and Eric got a doe. Ben used the knife he made and Dad sharpened. Ben had whittled a 2×4, then used it to gut his deer. He said he cut through the breastbone (not along through the ribs) one-handed, like butter. He was pretty proud of that!

Ben’s .44

Ben warming his hands after gutting his deer. Smoke follows beauty!

Dad carrying Ben’s microcompact .45

He’s left now though. He’s actually going to work, then home tonight. Sounds like Mom and the kids are going home tonight. Which would be nice because it would mean more sleeping room…Tess was next to me on the big bed (which was left to right, Kate, Tess, me, Beth…Em slept on the floor), and she kept putting her feet under my rear and wiggling her toes!! I had about four hours’ sleep or so. After I woke up at like 1:30, Duke kept making disgusting mouth noises, and someone (I think it was Kate) kept grinding her teeth really loud! YUCK!!!
BUT, it’s fun having them here, and we’ll miss them if they do go!!

I’m sooo tired!!

We’re gonna do the Loop now. It’s just after 2.

7:30 p.m. After the Loop, we came back to camp, kibbutzed a while, and got out to our stands. After shooting light ended, we met back up…well, Beth and I were walking cuz we were cold…we met Joe and Eric (Joe was driving..he got a doe!)…had to tell all our stories, of course! Then Dad and the twins came up, and the stories had to be retold! Back at camp now…waiting for hamburgers!!!

10:00 p.m. Yay bed. Dad was reading but I was asleep mostly!

Dad reading

Monday

6:20 a.m. We’re up…shooting light in an hour. We slept nice and long! I had weird dreams.
Last night Dad said “Do your sleeping where you should…on your stand!”

1:30 p.m. Well, I didn’t sleep on my stand, but I tried to! Nobody saw deer today, at least deer not on private property. Kate and Dad heard a mountain lion, and Em saw a bear!

After meeting back at camp at about 10, we went around the Loop, then went to the other Forest Service entrance, then back to camp. A game warden was checking our three deer and very interested in Ben’s because he wasn’t there!
We’re just hangin’, waiting for 3 when we’ll go back out.

4:45 p.m. We did a Loop, and are at our stands now.

It’s Mom and Dad’s 24th wedding anniversary today!

Mom and Dad in our sweet hot rod hunting rig!

Sounds like Ben’s gonna come out tomorrow, too!! We miss him!

7:35 p.m. I’ve gotta watch the clock very carefully; we’re timing the ‘pop’ biscuits. You know, the kind in a can thing that you unpeel and they go “pop”. I love those! Except I don’t like opening them!

At our stands, I saw the babies of the mama doe Joe shot yesterday (Joe said they were making a whistling noise, which only the babies whose mamas he’d shot made that noise!), but they were spooked and motating. And I’m not that desperate yet!

Beth and Eric saw a moose walking up the creek!

Tuesday

6:55 a.m. Shootin’ light at 7:25…Dad and the twins and Ben went out to their stands already. They had far to go, though. Eric’s going in his spot; I’m going in mine; Beth’s going to where Joe shot the doe the other day, and I don’t know where Joe’s going.

3:10 p.m. After the morning stand, we went around the Loop. Ben left at quarter to two. We’ll see him Thursday.
Gonna go out again soon; Beth and I are going to walk.

9:10 p.m. Oh man I’m TIRED! Beth and I walked for like two hours. We saw the little bull moose they saw yesterday! OK so he isn’t exactly LITTLE…but his rack is small for a moose! We were walking up a little trail, and there was a Y in the road. Suddenly the moose came crashing out of the brush about 20 yards away in the right fork! We scoped it a bit and stuff…it was totally unconcerned, looking at us and eating and stuff. We were scoping it and saying like “You are so dead moose!” I told Beth, “He’s probably thinking ‘those are the weirdest looking bears I’ve ever seen!’”

Bedtime!!

Beth

Beth keeping tabs on our actions!

Wednesday

5:30 a.m. Beds are all made…not sure where we’re going this morning. No fresh sign anywhere, soo…anywhere’s as good as any I guess!

Yesterday when Beth and I walked at night, we walked from the gate in the meadow to the beginning of private property, then up the road (and off two side trails, that’s where we saw the moose) to the van. We had to cross the creek…Beth went first and got her pants wet, so I said I did NOT want to get my pants wet, so we went downstream, and I found a log to cross so I crossed on there.
We saw a bit of fur on the barb of the fence; Dad thinks it was coyote.

Well, we’re gonna have breakfast.

Em

Em again!

No, this isn’t Em again! This is Kate

7:30 p.m. Let’s see. This morning we went to our stands. I was just down the hill from the Big Rock (where Joe and Beth had been the other days, and where Joe had shot his doe); my back was to the road, and I was like five feet down a steep hill so I couldn’t see the road. Well, this jogger lady came by. I’m so paranoid; I thought she was a moose running down the road! Then I saw this big black rear end wiggling around over a little rise; I thought it was a bear! Then I saw orange on its neck and thought it was Beth, crawling around on all fours to scare me! But then I seen it was a dog, and another dog came up.

After the morning stand we went back to camp, ate, and went on walks. Dad and the twins went up Red Lodge Creek Trail; Beth and Eric went somewhere (and got kind of lost when the mountains moved from the south to the north…how uncooperative!), and Joe and I went up an old two-track. We walked FAR! We got almost to the top of a huge hill (not labeled a mountain, but I say it was!). There was like a steep half mile to the top, and I didn’t want to go up! Joe said “If Eric or Ben or Dad was here they’d climb up it with me!”
“Yeah, but guys LIKE to conquer mountains!” I said.
I had great cell reception up there, so I suggested calling Mom to tell her I was on top of a mountain, but Joe didn’t want to. So I checked my voicemails! LOL (none :( )

The wind was blowing in some clouds, and it started to sprinkle, so Joe and I pert’near ran down the mountain!

Beth and Eric almost got lost really because the compass on Eric’s new watch points North every direction he is facing! But then they got unlost!

So Joe and I got back to the pickup. On our way walking, Joe had said he wanted to see a moose. So we’re going along the road and all of a sudden two moose jumped out in front of us and walked across the road and went to our right! We watched them for like 10 minutes! It was the small bull and the medium bull.
Dad and the girls saw two cow moose and a calf, so that was cool too.
Anyways, as Joe and I were going back to the campers, he seen a deer in the road, so he jumped out and went up the hill a little, and shot twice. He thought he hit it, and saw a spot of blood on the snow where it had run by, but it was too spry and he couldn’t find it.
Dad and the girls came by, and we told them about the moose, so they went up and got Eric and Beth, then went up and saw the big and medium bulls, and took pictures (with the film camera…hope they turn out!!) and videos!

Then we had our evening stand (I listened to my mp3 player! it kept me awake!) then back to the campers. I made the fire. Boy scout fluid FTW!! (that means boy scout fluid rocks)
We had our traditional backstraps and fried potatoes last-day dinner. Dad added in some really yummy sausage. Sooooo good!! We saved some for Ben for his lunch tomorrow! We had yogurt and granola for dessert, then Dad read.

Good backstraps and potatoes!! That sea of ketchup kinda ruins it…I prefer mayonnaise…but oh well! It wasn’t my food!

9:10 p.m. We’re going to bed. It’ll be soo nice to get home tomorrow! It’s fun here but it’ll be good to be home!

Thursday

5:30 a.m. We’re gonna have breakfast…

11:10 a.m. Going to leave for home soon.

When we left this morning for our stands, Joe and Eric went out to the Deer Jump meadow, Dad and the twins walked up Red Lodge Creek Trail I think, and Beth, Ben, and I went to the other Forest Service entrance. Beth and I walked along one fence to a little valley, and Ben walked somewhere else. There were two little deer, but I’m still not desperate enough for those! Beth and I walked just over the hill, and sat there in the morning. I was so comfy I didn’t want to leave! But finally we got up and walked to the pickup; Ben met us, thinking we had gotten something because we were taking so long!

Then we went to camp…had lunch…it’s now 11:50 and the campers are being hooked up and we’re gonna leave!

Eric was doing interviews of us on video, that’s why it took so long to get that all spit out! He is a great anchorman…he used words I didn’t know were even in his vocabulary! O:-)

Eric interviewing

Eric interviewing

My interview

The twins’ interview

Ben’s interview…yes, eating is the normal state of Ben!

Joe and Eric

Eric being interviewed!

Joe goofing off with the camera!

Joe interviewing Eric

2:25 p.m. HOME!!

On Friday we processed the deer, and two goats from Mrs. B. in exchange for pizza. It was worth it! And we’re promised her awesome homemade pizza next time we come home from hunting! Yay! And no, we didn’t butcher goats on helloween on purpose; we forgot it was helloween! And no, we didn’t draw pentagrams or anything like that either. And yes, the pizza was awesome!

And now since it’s the official start of NaNoWriMo and I am officially done with this post, I can go start writing! YAYNESS!!

Hover over the photos for a larger image and caption.

Char (on the left) and me
Left to Right, Reese H., Ben, and Josh T.

Jonathan T., Josh’s younger brother. Looks kinda lonely, eh? This picture just makes me laugh!

Two days after the Jamboree, Tuesday, in the morning, Grandpa (Mom’s dad) had been doing very poorly, and we were thinking of sending Mom and a boy (bodyguard, don’tcha know) to Oregon, because it might be the last time she’d see him. By about one, it was decided the whole family was taking a trip to Oregon. Talk about last-minute, sudden things! Believe it or not, by eleven PM we were out the door, totally packed (the van even got vacuumed out, although I don’t know why anybody bothered because the dog got hair everywhere!).
Two very nice ladies had given us some snacks for the trip, that were very good and worked out very well! Let me tell you, little glow sticks are very handy for nighttime trips!

It was definitely a “God-thing”, to be able to make the trip out here. In order to leave Tuesday night, which was best case scenario, a few things had to happen:
1. The van had to be cleaned, all of us packed, and our stuff in the van. (Just getting out the door to go to town is an hour process!)
2. Dad had to meet a guy and trade trucks so he’d be headed home instead of to Washington.
Both things worked out! Isn’t God cool?

The trip to Oregon was…eventful, in spots. The dinner we’d all had hadn’t agreed with our stomachs, especially Eric’s. We had to make a brief stop to let him, shall we say, violently remove his dinner. Fortunately we don’t have a picture of that.

Dad, driving
The beautiful Elle Janie!

We rolled into Portland at about 2:30pm Pacific time, on Wednesday. One of the lovely sites to see in Oregon (it IS a pretty place, when there’s no clouds!) is Mount Hood.

Mount Hood

First stop was Grammoo and Papa’s house, since we were leaving Duke there, and they had lunch/dinner for us.

Grammoo and Elle Jane
Grammoo and Elle Jane again

Dad on Papa (his dad’s) lap…rather sweet, don’t you think?
The boys were standing in a line, and I thought it was rather picturesque. Left to right, Ben, Papa, Joe, Eric.

Ben

After Grammoo’s house, we visited Grandpa in the hospital, then went to his house, as we were to be staying at there.

Welcome to Portland! Every day traffic in Portland is more than rush hour in Montana. Anywhere in Montana.
When you can’t build out, build up!

When the terrain is unbuildable, use stilts!
Portland…they fence the bums out of the underpasses so they sleep on the sidewalk. One was talking on his cell phone!

Tunnels are a novelty. In Montana, we drive AROUND the hills (or over them)!

The next day, Thursday, we went to Starbucks for our morning coffee (costing us an arm and a leg, pretty near! The woman who gave us our coffee said she came to Portland to go to college to study anthropology. We said there certainly was an interesting variety in Portland to study!), then a computer geek’s office to buy a power cord for Joe’s laptop (which he couldn’t find…turned out to be in his drawer at home!). Then we stopped by The Scottish Shop, which was very cool, and bought…guess what…haggis!

The Scottish Shop!
A cartoon we all like

Then we visited Grandpa in the hospital. Dad brought his acoustic guitar, so we brought that into the hospital and us girls (Beth jokingly dubbed us The Electric Church Girls’ Choir) sang for him. Then we went to the Guitar Center (and saw Uncle David there!), then went back to Grandpa’s house (which seemed rather empty without him!).

Playing Uno. Eric (on the left, age 16) and Paul (on the right, Mom’s youngest brother, age 16)
Joe, goofing off, pretty normal

Mom and John, her other younger brother (age 19), looking at pictures of their ancestors and relatives.
Eric holding Elle Jane

Me…I was actually “picking chicken”!
Jayden
Dad reading, pretty normal

On Friday, Mom and John went to the hospital to spend a few hours, and the rest of us hung out at Grandpa’s. Then we all went to the hospital to visit Grandpa, picked up Mom, and met Grammoo and Papa at Chans’ Mongolian Grill, for lunch. SOOOOO GOOD!!! Then we went to Grammoo and Papa’s for the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun!

On Saturday, we visited Grandpa, then went to Uncle David’s.

Rase and Uncle David’s chihuahua Gizmo
The kids on Uncle David and Aunt Fran’s trampoline. Left to right, Em in the red shirt, Rase in the striped shirt, Cody (our cousin, age 12) doing the flip; Tess in the red behind him and Jay in the blue behind him; Beth in the purple coat, and Kate in the green on the right.

Dad and Uncle David inspecting the van for traces of blue. Nah…just discussing how hard Uncle David will have to work when they race in June and Uncle David loses and has to wash the van
Uncle David and Steven our cousin (age 17, I think)

Uncle David (in blue) and Steven again
Gangsta Steve

On Sunday, we went to Grandpa’s church. Then we went to the hospital, where Aunt Laurie (Mom’s sister) came up and met us at the hospital.

Mom and Grandpa’s hands…isn’t it sweet?
Left to right, Mom, John (with the tie), Paul (behind John), and Aunt Laurie…Grandpa’s (remaining) children

After being at the hospital for a bit, we went to Grandpa’s, and Great-Uncle Earl (Grandpa’s younger brother) and Great-Aunt Jeannie came, along with Aunt Laurie, for a mini family reunion.

Elle Janie again, of course!
Aunt Jeannie, Elle Jane, and Abby

On Sunday night, we pulled out, at 11pm again, and got home about 3:30 (Mountain time) the next day. On the way home, a few interesting things happened, as well. One of them was, Jay’s snacks didn’t agree with his stomach, so he threw up all over. The other is a story in and of itself.

Dad, Ben, and Joe traded off driving (Mom sat with Elle Jane and I in the first bench). Ben ended up in the passenger’s, sleeping, and Dad was driving. He was going to trade with Joe, so he got out and went to Joe’s spot (in the second bench), and Joe drove. Dad was goofing off back there (he was about in the middle of the van!)…taking pictures of us and stuff. Then he tried to go to sleep, trying different positions…nothing worked. Then he started glancing at the three girls (Beth, Tess, and Em) in the third bench.
“What I really want is to stretch out,” he said.
“You can lay on us!” the girls said.
So Dad put a pillow on the lap of each girl, and crawled over the seat and laid down on them. And went to sleep! I have a picture of it (he looks dead, actually) on my phone, but it costs money to take pictures off my phone.

Elle Janie in the van

On Tuesday, April 29th, was the homeschool talent show, which Char also put on. The Electric Church Girls’ Choir performed Trust in the Lord.

Left to right, Kate, Em, Beth, me, Tess, and Abby
Abby

Left to right, Beth, me, Tess
Beth and I

We wore the peasant-type blouses and skirts we’d made, but we hadn’t finished the “corsets”. (Not real corsets, that’s just what they call them. Beth finished hers on Friday though, and I finished mine on Saturday.

Bethy’s
Bethy again

Me
and me again

Today, we had an interesting assortment of…*ahem* food. For breakfast, we had sausage, eggs, and tater tots. Not really unusual, right? Well, guess what was IN the sausage. You’ll never, ever, EVER guess. Believe me.

Ready?

Lymph nodes.
And salivary glands.
Can you believe it?!?
Mom and Dad didn’t tell us until after we’d eaten! (Yes, they ate some too, and Ben had known…and he still ate some!)

Anyways. Then, guess what we had for a before-dinner snack?

Haggis.
Guess what?
It was good.

It tasted (and had texture) like very onion-y meatloaf, but…richer. Of course, that’s because it was made with lamb heart, liver, beef (that’s pretty broad…I mean, those salivary glands we had this morning came from a cow!), oatmeal, onion, pepper, and water. It was very flavorful, and…good! Unfortunately, it was only a mere one-pound stomach, so when we go back to Oregon we’ll get a larger one. Also unfortunately, haggis is $10 a pound.

Yum yum! Plate of haggis. Looks like meatloaf, don’t it?
Dad wearing Beth’s Scotch bonnet, about to take a bite of haggis

Here he goes!
See? Looks like meatloaf. Harmless!

Joe, about to take a bite
*chew chew chew*

“How is it?” “mmmm!”
“Betwixt them both you see, they licked the platter clean!” (only there’s three forks, not two!)

Oh yeah, and we decided we liked liver and heart better than lymph nodes and salivary glands.

And on the lighter side, we had a very awesome deer roast dinner (with 20 pounds of mashed potatoes and a lot of carrots and yummy gravy) that we cleaned ourselves (nothing strange!). We decided we should take haggis hunting, like the real Scots.

We’re thinking about having mincemeat and headcheese next week.

Just kidding!

Saturday
8:00 pm I got up at 8 am, which is sleeping in for a weekday but not really for a Saturday! But it’s alright; I dreamt I slept in until 2:30 pm!
We had a lot to do before we left still. Some food had to be made, propane tanks filled, water gotten, campers to be packed, etc.

4:45 pm It’s now almost 5 and we’re off. Dad, Mom, the girls, the little boys, and the dog are in the van, which is pulling the larger camper, which is aka the “Girls’ Dorm”. The big boys are in Ben’s pickup, which is pulling the little camper, aka the “Boys’ Dorm”.

5:15 pm At a Kum and Go, fueling up, got drinks too. Just got on the freeway. If you think we’re taking a long time, well…you gotta remember it’s like moving the Queen Mary! Beth and I went into the gas station with Mom to get drinks.
“I hope nobody says anything about my gun,” I said. “It’s mostly covered by my sweatshirt.” (Once before, Eric was stopped in Walmart by a woman who was offended by his 6″ Buck knife.) At home, I had switched the cylinders out of my revolver (it’s more fun to say “revolver” than “.22 pistol”) from my .22 mag to the .22 long and short rifle. .22 mags are what I keep in it beside my bed. If y’all are gonna come rob our house, you’d better not tsart with the boys’ room, Mom and Dad’s room, or my room. We all keep loaded guns, after all, what’s the use of an unloaded gun?
Beth and I have too much fun together. (Yeah, there’s no such thing as having too much fun, eh?) While getting drinks, Beth was getting Em’s (I got Kate’s) and Em likes lemonade, so Beth started putting lemonade in the cup.
“How about adding some lime flavoring? She’d like that,” Mom said.
So Beth started putting Squirt in.
“No! Flavoring,” Mom and I said. I pointed at the flavoring things. They had four flavorings to choose from, you could just squirt them in your pop. Beth squirted some lime in, then missed the lemonade and put Mountain Dew in! She realized her mistak
e and put more lemonade in, and tasted it. “Mmm!” she said, and made herself one like that!

5:57 pm Got off the phone with the boys; I talked to them for a while. Dad was surprised we had reception for so long, but finally it just got too fuzzy.
Beth and I are recording this trip for posterity’s sake. She’s much more detailed about every town we’re going through. Writing them all down, I mean. Not me. I’m writing about what happens. So, read both of our posts and you’ll know everything! Ok, well you won’t be God, but you’ll know more!
While on the phone with the boys (they had it on speaker), I mentioned Beth and I were blogging.
“Are you writing while you’re on the phone with us?” Eric asked.
“No,” I said. “Why?”
“I wanted to know how important we are!” he said.

6:30 pm It’s almost too dark to write, but Beth is so kindly holding her flashlight for me. My eardrums are doing the popcorn thing and popping. Ouch! And itching inside. IRRITATING!!
Dad’s filming; not at this second, but while we were at home and leaving, and a couple shots of us in the van, and he plans on shooting more footage during the week.
It’s Mom and Dad’s anniversary; we all just kind of realized that and told them “happy anniversary!” They went out to dinner last night for it.

6:40 pm We just stopped to get hunting regs in Red Lodge. Our beloved Taco Time is now a pizza place!
Ben’s been having trouble keeping up with us, pulling that camper. It’s all mostly uphill!
We’re hoping our spot for camping isn’t taken!
Tess is telling Rase a joke, but she forgot the joke so she’s only telling him the “answer” (punch line)!
It’s too dark to film us coming up the hill to the camping spot, like Dad had planned. Too bad!

6:47 pm Almost there. Probably ten minutes away. Dad didn’t want Beth using the flashlight so I can hardly see to write. My ears are still being wacky and hurting.

7:17 pm CAMP! I guess it took longer than 10 minutes!

7:25 pm Nobody was at our spot, yay! The guys are chocking the campers. Eric’s starting the lantern and Dad’s chopping wood, so I guess just Ben and Joe are chocking the campers. It’s cold out there! When camp’s set up, we’ll have dinner. Talk about a late dinner! At least it isn’t at 10, though, like that one night we had eggrolls!
Dad just poured Boy Scout fluid on the wood and started the fire. Somebody’s improved the fire pit since we were here last year!
Dad said being in the van here is the last time we’ll be warm. At least we don’t only have the van and a fire! That was cold! I smell the fire, it smells good. Usually, when we go home we smell like campfire!
We forgot the skillets this time, but at least we brought the coffeepot!
Dad brought his Gretsch, I think I should have brought my accordion!
Elle Jane woke up long enough to look around, then went back to sleep.
Abby had a hard time understanding how to answer the call of nature in the wild, and decided it wasn’t worth it!

It was so much fun coming up to camp and pointing everything out!! I’m sure there’ll be more tomorrow, too!
“Just over that hill is Eric’s Spot!”
“This is the hill Ben rode the deer on a sled!”
“Just over that hill is where I shot the deer I drowned!”
This is fun!!

Abby finally did decide to “use nature”, as we call it. Previously, she decided to wait until we got home, until we convinced her we were going to be gone for a LONG time!

8:36 pm Joe wants me to write about him. Joe, Joe, Joe. And I’m supposed to tell you about how Joe jumped in the van to get warm after working for an hour. He saw me writing and said, “Have you blogged about me yet?”
“No,” I said, then said how the inside of my ears hurts and itches.
“I bet you blogged about your eardrums,” he muttered.
“Yeah–”
“And not about me!!”
“He’s so vain and selfish he wants you to blog about him!” Ben said.
So I started writing about him!
Then Ben said, “Have you written about me, and my awesomely cool pickup? Will you take pictures of it to post on your blog?”
“I put a picture of your pickup on your birthday post,” I said.
“But not with my cool bumper!”
He just got that bumper installed yesterday!
I’m also supposed to mention that his pickup is the awesomest, coolest pickup on earth and it has a cool bumper with a cool winch.
Joe says Ben’s trying to impress “the girls” (who read my blog, I guess) by having me write about his pickup. Ben said Joe’s trying to impress the girls because Joe was saying about how the pickup he doesn’t have is going to be better than Ben’s!

8:45 pm Beth and Eric just came in. Beth left; I just asked Eric what he wants to say for posterity.
Ben says “I’m not trying to impress the girls, I don’t have to, they just flock to me and I try to steer clear of them!” Eric’s thinking of something to say, and Ben said, “Do write Eric has a blank mind right now.”
“I do not, I’m just trying to remember what I was going to say!” Eric said. “Once I said something brilliant, but I forgot it.
He wants to share his pearls of wisdom now. Behold!
“If you think you’re someone really hot, step outside and you’ll be cool.” (It’s cold out.)
“Haha, punny, Eric, punny!” was Ben’s reply.
“It is not advisable to use mascara for a beard,” is Eric’s other one.
“From personal experience,” Ben put in.
See, last night while Mom and Dad were gone to dinner, Joe put on a long wig and I let him dip into my makeup (figured I’d let somebody get some use out of the makeup I don’t really use!) to paint himself like a girl. He put more on in one night than I’ve used in three months! (I don’t wear makeup much, only when I want to feel really girly!) First thing he put on was mascara. Ever notice nobody can put on mascara without opening their mouth? (Except me, I practiced cuz I didn’t want to be like everybody else!) Well, he put his mascara on with his mouth open, so I told him about that, and he got self-conscious about it!
After he had his makeup done (he colored his eyebrows with mascara, too!), he decided to put mascara (waterproof, by the way) on Eric as a beard. It matched Eric’s wig, which was a curly black Afro. They both looked SO funny!
I guess I’m kinda rambling here for lack of anything else better to do. I guess I’ll quit and go see what everyone else is doing–all the big folk left the van!
Yay, the twins came and said for me to bring Abby, Jay, and Elle Jane into the Girls’ Dorm, dinner’s almost ready!

9:30 pm About half of us are here in the Girls’ Dorm, we haven’t had dinner yet. I cut the little kids’ steak with my Buck knife. I’ve only use it a couple times, for cutting string and stuff, it’s really sharp and worked real swift! I was just worried I’d cut through the paper plate!
The other day Eric was sharpening Beth’s knife, and I asked if he’d do mine.
“For a batch of cookies?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I got my knives–Buck and Kershaw–and gave them to him. He got Buck, and shaved a patch off his left arm. It came off smoothly.
He looked up at me with a startled look. “I thought you said it wasn’t sharp!”
I think by the end of hunting season, the boys are going to have bare left arms from trying all the knives out!

9:40 pm We just thanked the Lord for our dinner, but so far only the little ones and Mom had some! Dad left the camper, not sure where he went.
My flashlight was in my pack, so I had to borrow Em’s flashlight, and hers had a wrist strap. When I dug my flashlight out, it had nos trap, so I found a piece of string long enough to make it a necklace. Handy!
I was just given my dinner–

11:00 pm Bible reading.

11:05 pm Lights out!

Sunday
5:30 amAlmost everyone–well, at least most of the girls–were up an hour before the alarm went off. Alarm went off at 5:30.

5:55 am Everyone in the Girls’ Dorm is awake.

6:15 am Everyone in the Girls’ Dorm is up and doing things.

8:00 am Finally at a sit. Beth is just over the hill from me. I’m watching a meadow, she’s watching the river. I’m sitting in a patch of sagebrush and it smells good. It occurred to me to wonder if there’s ticks! I HOPE NOT!! We got out late because Dad kept pushing snooze on his alarm! Then we all had to get up and put away beds and get our stuff on.
The sleeping arrangement is like this:

• Ben and Joe on the fold-out bed in the Boys’ Dorm.
• Eric on the bunk above them.
• Rase and Jay on the table bed in the Boys’ Dorm.
• Dad, Mom, and Elle Jane on the table bed in the Girls’ Dorm.
• Abby in the bathtub in the Girls’ Dorm.
• The rest of us five girls on the two beds by the bathroom.

We put a board across the two beds, to make it bigger. Beth by one wall, then me, then Kate, then Tess, then Em.
I’ve got the Baloney song stuck in my head! I was singing it to the baby earlier and she smiled!

9:50 am At 9:30 or so Beth and I got back to camp. The little kids and I are going to get marshmallow sticks.

12:43 pm Back at camp, waiting for lunch. After getting marshmallow sticks, the big boys and Duke went in Ben’s pickup around the Loop, road-hunting and collecting firewood. The rest of us went in the van the opposite way around the Loop, and we passed the boys at the top. Well, we got up side by side with his pickup and we see this huge tree branch in the bed! Dad mentioned it and Ben said, “Everything else was too small to pull with my winch!” That was when he said they’d been trying out his new winch by pulling rocks!
After that circuit, we went over to the windy meadow, where last year Dad, Beth, and I almost blew over, the wind was SO strong! We passed the buffalo in the pasture, and Dad took a video of them.

It also turns out on our stand this morning, Beth’s and mine, Dad was on the ridge behind us, videotaping in case we shot anything! He was also videoing us (I think) when a guy came up and talked to us. Hunter-talk.
“See anything?” Me.
“Five or six deer,” he says. “Walked up to the mountain over there.”
“Oh.”
“Where does this road go?”
“It loops all the way around and comes back to the bridge.”
“Oh, ok. I’m gonna go see if I can’t see any elk.”
“Good luck!”
“Thanks.” He left.
“I don’t mind meeting strangers when we’re hunting,” I said to Beth, “because I have a gun!”
I’m carrying around my revolver, my rifle, and my Buck knife, all fully loaded. FEAR ME!!
Dad said if he’d seen the guy (dubbed “The guy with the glossy gun”) do anything to us, he’d blow his leg off…and believe me, with his .338, he could do some damage!

1:00 pm Lunch!! Gonna make myself some cup o’ noodles. Yum!

8:10 pm Just finished dinner, which was hamburgers. Joe, Eric, and I are at the table in the Girls’ Dorm, drinking cocoa. I’ve got stuff to say but I better go get some marshmallows before they’re all gone–they already ate all the strawberry ones!

8:55 pm Well. After lunch we headed back out again, at a quarter to three. We all loaded up in Ben’s pickup to head out. Dad, the twins, Beth, and I got off first; Ben had misunderstood where Joe and Eric were going so he went back to drop them off.
Beth and I went to the Deer Jump meadow, where I shot at a deer last year (Dad thinks I’d just gotten it through the brisket, not enough to kill it or wound it seriously). The twins and Dad went to Ben’s meadow (where he likes to hang out). Beth and I saw the guy with the glossy gun on the next hill over. He went all over! Dad and Ben saw deer, but none they could shoot.
Then we all came back to camp and had an exciting (not in a good way!!) night. Tess hadn’t been feeling good all day, Mom said, and she threw up all over. NOT FUN! Mom cleaned that up, and Tess slept on the floor (that was the night Em decided to sleep on the floor too, so it was just Beth, Kate, and I on the bed…lots more room!). But! In the middle of the night, Ben brought Jay in; he was kind of sick, too. Mom put him in bed with Beth, Kate, and I to spend the rest of the night (which pretty much everyone stayed up anyway). Then when Mom went to take out the bag Tess had been using to throw up in, it had a hole and made a mess!
Then, when Dad turned the lantern on this morning, the whole thing caught on fire!
“Things are never this exciting when just we go!” I told Mom.
Beth was very good about it all, being very patient and helpful and cleaning up. She and I shared the blankets I brought; she let Em and Tess use hers. We put one under us and one over us.

10:00 pm Bedtime!!

Monday
8:45 am Sun’s almost up over the mountains. Sittin’ here writing! Seen nothing yet but a subaru, a white pickup, a dog, Joe wayyyyy far away across the Big Meadow, and the kids and the camper (see it from my spot). You know…I think I’m lost! Break out the emergency rations!!!

9:37 am I’m back at camp. At nine, Beth ahd come to me and we’d started back. After a while of walking, we were almost to Eric’s Spot (over a little hump and around the bend from him) and I saw a deer. Just the had and front shoulder, then she disappeared. We kept walking, then after a couple minutes we heard the shot. I didn’t know if we should walk over quickly to see if he needed help, or wait in case he missed! So we just walked real quiet. I whistled a few times to let him know I was there (but he didn’t hear). When we walked up, he was crossing the river, so I knew he’d gotten it. We walked up to the camper, and waited for Dad before they all (except Tess, Rase, Jay, and Abby) left to dress it (and video!)

2:05 pm Most of us are at camp. Mom’s napping, same with Ben; Eric and Beth are trying to. Earlier, all of us (well, the ones left at camp, which were the little ones and I) took a nap. Ben and Eric brought back Eric’s deer (Ben stopped by Eric’s Spot on the way back to camp). The rest went road hunting (it takes about an hour to circuit the Loop). I woke up because they were using Ben’s winch to winch the deer into the tree!
After everyone else came back and lunch was eaten, Ben, Joe, Eric, Beth, and I went out road hunting in Ben’s pickup. Ben and Eric were in the cab, the other three of us were on the tailgate. We started out slow, but towards the end, sped up. One of the boys had “a pressing delivery”, as Ben put it. We had to have been doing 30 or so, with the three of us on the back hanging on for dear life!
I forgot to mention, Joe has been recording podcasts on his mp3 player. He did one not long after we left camp, road hunting. I told a joke on it.
I think Mom’s up, I’ll go.

2:50 pm Eric’s going to go to his spot right now because it’s quieter to sleep in! Now that Mom is up, all the kids are noisier! (It’s rather a habit to sleep in one’s sit, especially in Eric’s Spot!)

3:15 pm Ben and Joe just left, I’m going in a sec. Beth left, too.

8:55 pm Gettin’ ready for bed, the boys are already in bed. Talk about chaos!
After sundown we all came back to camp, told our stories, and ate dinner. We ate and roasted marshmallows and talked. I saw my first shooting star! Eric lay on his back looking up at the stars. While the rest of us looked very un-Louis-L’Amour-like into the fire and talked about dead bodies, vampires, morticians, and embalming. Just as I was thinking about how weird a subject it was, Dad said, “What a ghoulish subject we’re talking about!”
Then we came in to get ready for bed.

9:25 pm Bible reading, then lights out!

Tuesday
7:15 am All the hunters except Beth and I are gone. Eric just walked from here, the rest went in the pickup. Beth’s sick this morning; she threw up. I wasn’t feeling to well either, but now I feel better and am eating. It looks almost shooting light, think I’ll go out soon.
Betha nd I were sharing my blanket again, but I woke up with it all. I’d dreamed we found a blanket in the woods and washed it up for me, and in my sleep she was stealing it!
Anyways, I better go.

10:35 am Long story short, Joe got a nice buck.
Early this morning, it was about shooting light when we all heard a shot. I was just headed out to my spot over the road and just down the hill (I’ve got a nice spot there). I sat for a while (saw nothing), then Mom came with the van. Joe had whistled (I didn’t hear it, but Mom did). I jumped in the van with Mom, and we went down the road. He’d dragged it a ways. Nice three-point buck! Not too big, but still good! We tied it to the hitch (it looked like a spiderweb! He didn’t want the antlers dragging on the ground) and drug it to camp where we waited for Ben to come, and he winched it up. While waiting, I videotaped Joe. That’s fun! Eric came along while we were waiting, too. After a bit Dad and the twins came (Mom went to pick them up).
It’s snowing. Ben went to sit in a meadow with his pickup.

2:20 pm Just finished a few emergency rations. After a little bit, everyone but Mom and I left (This was before Ben came back). I wasn’t feeling exceptional, so I laid down to take a nap. I don’t know what it is about those red pillows in the Gorls’ Dorm, but they make me drool SO MUCH in my sleep! This is the second time I’ve used them, and MAN! I slept until 1:30 or so, then when I woke up, Ben and I went around the Loop looking for the van, since they had been gone so long. I left my radio with Mom so we could communicate (Ben had his radio). When we were a ways down the road, Mom said they drove up; they’d gone around twice.
When Ben and I got back, they were playing go-hunting with my Saddam cards. (I have these cards; the backs have sand camo and the fronts have the regular suits, but all the aces are Saddam’s top dudes–Saddam’s the ace of spades–with all his other advisors and stuff pictured on the cards in rank with kings being the most dangerous after aces, all the way down to the twos.) They had lots of fun trying to pronounce the goofy names! They would say things like, “Dad, do you have…Muhamed Al Brazil?” (or whatever the name was) and “I have three different cards in my hand, and all the guys are named Muhammed!”
It started snowing again a bit earlier, and it’s sticking.
We’re making plans for the night, and everyone wants to go to Eric’s Spot!

6:55 pm Camp. Eric and I are the only hunters back so far. Ben and Joe passed in Ben’s pickup on their way to get Dad, the twins, and Beth (Beth went with Dad this time instead of me). I saw nothing. I thought a lot, though!
It snowed today and was colder than yesterday. I thought about the pros and cons of snow vs. dry and warm.

Snow Cons:
1. Cold.
2. Wet.

Dry, Warm Cons:
1. Meat spoils faster.
2. Brush is dry and crackles (harder to be quiet).
3. Harder to drag a deer.

Snow Pros:
1. Easier to see where the deer travel, and if any deer have been through recently.
2. Easier to drag deer.
3. Wetter, so brush doesn’t make as much noise while walking throug hit.
4. Deer cool faster.

Dry, Warm Pros:
1. Dry.
2. Warm.

See? More pros to snow. But the cons to snow are awful large, I think!

I’m holding a sleeping baby. It’s a lot nicer than earlier, when I was holding a crying baby! Eric’s got out his harmonica and that lulled her to sleep. She’s so cute in her sleep! (She’s cute when she’s awake, too, unless she’s crying!)

When I was sitting on my sit, my fingers were cold so I practiced accordion. See, there’s this one song I’m learning, and I haven’t the timing down in one part yet, so I was wiggling my fingers and hearing it in my head. Kind of like Beethoven!

There was something else I was going to write, about what I was thinking of while I was sitting, but I can’t remember.

Jay was jumping off the back beds so I told him if he did that, he’d go through the floor and make a hole and land on the ground outside. He believed me!

Tonight we’re going to film us playing Idiot’s Poker with my Saddam cards!

They aren’t back yet and it’s 7:35 now!

8:23 pm and still no sign…Eric’s hoping they got an elk!

9:41 pm They’re back!!! Dad got a NICE buck, a 3×4 with a wide spread. It’s bigger than Joe’s, and is a muley. Beth and Em stayed in the pickup with Ben’s radio, but we couldn’t hear them from here (the radios only have a 2 mile range, but last night they reached at this range!). Dad said he got a video of the buck alive, because he thought Em would shoot it! But she was cold, so she had her face in her coat and she couldn’t see it!

I guess we won’t film tonight, it’s too late! Maybe tomorrow night.
I think we’re gonna make the bed soon. We’re all tired!

10:50 pm Lights out! Dad’s gonna read his Bible now, then…sleep!

Wednesday
6:45 am Everybody’s outfitting up, about to go out.

10:40 am Sat on a meadow all morning, Beth and I did.
Dad came to camp and asked who had elk tags; he and the twins found elk sign. They’re going to the Deer Jump meadow, and the rest of us are going to do a drive through the woods to hopefully chase them towards Dad and the twins.

12:10 pm Been sittin’ here with Dad and the twins (Beth, Eric, and I) for 10 minutes. Good grief, I do NOT want another hike like that!! But, if I didn’t do that, I might not have seen a moose 25 yards from me, and also what we think might’ve been a black bear.
(Dad wants to see what I’m writing, he says he has a sneakin’ suspicion, but I won’t show him. Maybe I’ll tell him I’m writing about him. He just yawned, by the way.) I also saw squirrel or chipmunk tracks on a log, they were very cute and tiny!
When we got here I said to Dad, “I do NOT want to do that again!”
“Writer’s legs,” he commented.

Well, here Ben and Joe comes. Funny, they were on opposite ends of the skirmish line! The twins said they did see Ben pass before us, though.

1:45 pm Ben, Mom, Elle Jane, and I are at camp; the rest are doing the Loop again. Ben’s cleaning his .44 Colt Navy Revolver again. It’s a very time-intensive gun. It’s black powder, so he cleans it a lot. He took a look at my revolver. “Wish I’d brought .22 patches,” he said. “I’d run one down the barrel.”
Instead, he cut a .44 patch in half and ran it down the barrel, and oiled the barrel and cylinder.

It’s 2 now, everyone else is back. I’m going to play Rummikub with Beth.

2:55 pm I didn’t play Rummikub; Joe and Beth did. I had something else to do. Maybe I’ll play with her later. We still have to film us playing poker with my Saddam cards!
Most of us hunters (and Abby and Jay) are outside. I’m writing, and they’re goofing off.
Mom brought out an unmarked bag of emergency rations. “Whose are these?” she asked.
“Mine,” I said, lying quite convincingly.
“It’s unmarked,” she said, meaning “if it’s yours you better mark it.”
“It’s mine,” Dad said.
“No, mine!” Eric and Ben said.
“No, it’s mine,” says I.
Mom looked at us funny and went back in.
“You shouldn’t have said that, Dad,” I said. “I had her convinced they were really mine!”

We were making hamburgers for lunch, meanwhile singing the Baloney song. I got a plate and was singing about mayonnaise, about to squirt some on my bread (Mom got the squirt mayonnaise), when I realized I didn’t have any bread! I stopped and laughed. “I was about to put mayonnaise on my plate!” I said. Everyone laughed. “Well, bread wasn’t mentioned in the song!” I said.

4:30 pm Time for the evening sit. I’ve got Em with me this time, in Eric’s Spot. There’s been a few deer hanging out in this area this afternoon, so we’re hoping to get some. If Em gets a deer with me here, since she’s a newbie hunter, I get a bar. (We have an awards system for hunting; the person who gets the most meat gets a parachute badge; for every elk you get a silver star charm; for every little deer you get a baby rattle charm; your first deer is a red and gold chevron, the next four are gold and green chevrons, and after that it’s a deer pin on them and…I can’t remember it all; and if you help a newbie get their first deer you get these bars.) I’m hoping both of us will have a chance at a deer! I’m also hoping we can get some soon; her snow pants were wet so she didn’t wear them, just jeans and a coat which is not enough in my experience, and we have two hours yet. This is the shady side of the hill, too.

I named my rifle and revolver. The rifle is Bendigo, after a Louis L’Amour character, and my revolver is Jack Robinson. And my knife is Buck. I feel pretty safe with my bodyguards–Bendigo, Buck, and Jack Robinson!
Ben just brought by my heavy gloves. I guess they fell out of his pickup!

5:30 pm Been watching a skunk eat Joe’s buck’s gut pile for the last little while. It was so cute! (The skunk, not the guts!!) Then a woman in a car came by. We put our guns up (so they wouldn’t point at her) and waved. The skunk panicked and ran into the road ahead of her. She slowed down so she wouldn’t hit it, and shook her finger (pointer, not middle!) at us! The skunk ran down the middle of the road a ways and she followed it slowly until it veered off. Still waitin’ for deer! We saw some on private property, but I think they went over the hill.

5:30 pm Em shot at a deer, but missed. We’d been watching them for a while, and it was about 10 minutes to the end of shooting light. Em psyched herself out, thinking the shot was going to hurt worse, but it didn’t. Tomorrow morning we’re going back there to Eric’s Spot.
Ben did get one, a little one. Another baby rattle charm for him! That makes four–Dad and Joe got bucks, Eric and Ben got does. Tonight is the “victory dinner”–cubed potatoes and fresh (within the last few days) backstraps. Yum!

10:10 pm The boys all went to bed, we girls are getting ready for bed. Dinner was soooo good! Dad filmed us eating. Unfortunately, my spot happened to be RIGHT in front of the camera!! Hmph.

Tomorrow is the day we go hom! Home is going to be SO nice!

10:40 pm Lights out! (Takes a bit to get settled, eh?)

Thursday
6:40 am Not sure when we’re goign out; they’re talking about meat with bones and “beaks” in lunchmeat, and false teeth!
Em and I are going to Eric’s Spot.
Today’s the beginning of NaNoWriMo! Yay!!! Now I have to remember the cool opening I thought up in September!
The boys are joking about hunting in New Jersey…they’re coming up with some funny stuff!
We’re going.

9:40 am Camp. Em got too cold so she decided to walk back to camp. Met Eric and Beth there, they were just over the hill from camp, looking at the river.
Em accidentally got Eric’s gun, and he had to take hers! He hates it. He found out probably why Em didn’t hit the deer she shot at last night; a screw came off her scope mount and it’s loose!
Gonna play Rummikub with Beth, Eric, and Em.

12:30 pm Packed and on our way home! Now we’re on the highway (12:45) so it’s easier to write. After spending all week in the mountains, paved road is so smooth!

When Ben winched the deer down (we hang them in a tree), we took pictures of Dad with his buck and Ben with Dad’s buck, so he could show the guys at work.
It was funny, instead of tying Ben’s little deer to the tree, he put the hooves of Dad’s buck through the hocks of his little deer! To tie a knot one day, Ben climbed up the rope the deer were hanging from and sat on them, straddling them, and tied the knot! It was funny; we got pictures or videos of it.

I guess I should get going on my novel, eh?

1:37 pm The boys had propped the buck heads up, one on either side of the pickup bed, so people could see the cool racks. Passing through Joliet, an old guy waved at the boys and smiled because he saw the antlers!

1:41 pm Ate my last emergency ration. Reese’s…my favorite!!

2:07 pm Dad got himself, Mom, and I a Pumpkin Spice cappuccino in Laurel. Needs a little more coffee, I think, but yum!

3:00 pm HOME!! Home sweet home! Thing I missed most was my OWN BED! I learned two things while being gone:

1. I’m VERY PARANOID about “foot-and-bottom-germs” on my pillow, where my pillow goes, or on the part of my blanket that’s closest to my face. You might say it’s an obession! It’s a good thing you didn’t see me and what I did to protect my pillow…you’d think I was daft! (Or maybe you already do??)

2. Do not close the top of pop-top waterbottles with your chin. Why? It pulls your chin hair! No, I don’t have a beard, but I DO have fine little hairs on my chin (so does everybody except the guys who shave!)!

So that’s the trip in an…ocean liner (as opposed to nutshell)!

Didja miss me? Pi did!

See, we have this dog, Duke, and he’s a blue heeler. That means he likes to chase things. Once upon a time when we had cows, he was notorious for hanging from their noses while Dad was behind the cow trying to herd her into the squeeze chute! He likes to think he’s helping, when he really is making more work. But, as he’s getting older, he’s too old and crotchety to chase after things very much anymore.

He used to have a fascination with the chickens. Fascination as in, “I wonder what they’d taste like!” Well, we borrowed a shock collar from the neighbors, and Duke quickly decided chicken = hurt and he lost his taste for chicken. Somewhat unfortunately, however, he also got the picture to stay away from the chickens. Sure, he liked kind of moseying along behind them to get them out of the yard, but say, he wouldn’t defend the front steps and the front door from the chickens, and so sometimes they’d come in.

Well, these guineas are something else. They’re tamer than the chickens. (Guineas normally are more wild than chickens, and usually aren’t tamable. Dad was very certain they wouldn’t be tamed!) They look enough like chickens to Duke, so he doesn’t go after them, either. Well, often you’ll hear the guineas squawking for the girls. They do this, so the girls will come out, then they’ll be quiet. They like to be around people! The funniest thing about them, though, is they are deathly afraid of the dark. I’m not kidding. The darker it gets, the closer they come to the house.

Well, last night, as it was getting on to dark, they kept coming up onto the steps. The door was open, so Dad yelled for Duke to get them off the steps. After a few tries, Duke finally got the idea to sit on the top step. That should keep them away, right?

Not if you’re deathly afraid of the dark! They’re more afraid of the dark then they are of Duke, because later on, when it was totally dark, I seen Duke on the top step, and all the guineas huddled on the step directly beneath him!

(Something else kinda funny, a few minutes ago I heard them out in the front, the guineas, and I thought they were in the garage so I went out the garage door, and when they heard the door slam they all came running!)

We had lots of fun! I found about five clams (they aren’t good to eat…a friend of ours tried Lake Elmo clams and said they were gross!)…one was rotten and dead and stunk SO bad!

Joe and Ben caught some fish! Dad said in warm water there isn’t as much oxygen or something, so that’s why they’d all gathered near the shore. Then Ben and Joe came along, and just scooped them up! They brought them over to us, and we kind of gathered around Dad and he took them and was messing with them. One was dead already, but he tried reviving the other one. Rase, I think it was, came up with a dragonfly nymph baby thing, and Dad pretended to feed the nymph to the dead fish, so he stuck it in the dead fish’s open mouth and made it chew! It was funny!

I rescued one of those electric-blue dragonflies that was stuck in the water…I scooped it up out of the water, and it just so happened to lit on my middle finger. Me being the ditz I am didn’t realize that, and held up my middle finger and said “Hey guys, look, a dragonfly!” And Ben says “Dad, look what Anne’s doing to us!” and I’m like OH NO and so I just put up all my fingers!

There was also HUGE dragonflies, that were silver and black and very neat, and they looked like miniature helicopters!

Abby is almost totally fearless in the water! She had her life jacket on and was “swimming” around so cute. Dad opened all my clams for me, well, Abby found somebody’s sunflower seeds and said “Baby clams!” and opened one…it had a spider in it!
Jay was even swimming around a little, with a flotilla of life jackets!

The boys and Beth and Dad jumped off a log…and they played camel wars!

After the lake, we decided to have hot dogs for dinner instead of spaghetti, so we went to Walmart and got the hot dog makings, then stopped by the gas station closest to home to get ice. Mom and I (being two of the most presentable) went in, and while we were coming out, there was a guy outside. He didn’t open the door. So I did. Mom and I go out and I hold the door open for this guy. (What happened to chivalry?!?) “Thanks, dude,” I muttered and when I got in the van Dad was like, “It was so nice of you to hold the door open for that guy!”

Well, the natives are restless so I better go! G’night!

Today was a hot one…got up to 103º, so we went swimming! Everything had to be clean before we left, though, so we didn’t get out the door until about five. We usually bring the dog with us, and this time was no different. He doesn’t have a collar, because hey, we live out in the country! So Ben brought two zipties and they locked it around his neck, and hooked the leash to that. All that to say, we had the dog while we were walking down the trail to the lake! Boy dogs are…boy dogs, and they do what boy dogs do, so Duke was peeing on a tree, and Jay wasn’t watching where he was going and walked right into it and Duke peed on his leg! That poor guy…the expression on his face was priceless!! He didn’t know whether to cry or laugh! He ended up laughing though, but he kept a funny look on his face!

We had tons of fun…the boys jumped off the log (same one we had last time)…I taught Kate how to float on her back and swim on her back, and I taught Em how to float on her back (and she’s almost got the hang of swimming on her back!). Gives one a very…accomplished feeling to be able to say “I taught Kate and Em how to float on their back and swim!”

After the lake we went up Roundup Road to see the Extreme Makeover house they were building. They sent the family to New York for the week, and they’ll be back tomorrow. We had a ball. There were people standing there directing traffic, lots of police and security guards, and a ton of cars! There was a woman waving at everybody (the boys called her a Walmart greeter), and a sign that said Visitor Hours: 8am-10pm. Visitor hours?!? Good grief!! Joe got a bunch of pictures on his camera (when Dad gets home we can use his cable to connect to the computers, I think). There was a whole parking lot full of cars, and a crowd of people! We were…amazed!

Dad was at the Cenex by Airport Road, so we were going to go meet him there and say hi. Well, on the way back to town, this white minivan with a Utah plate passed us, going super fast, and it was a no passing zone! He dived back in front of us, narrowly missing the oncoming car, and raced off. “I sure hope he’s going to the hospital!” Mom said.
Well, when we got to the gas station, who should we see pull up, but that Utah van! Full of security guys (Californians with their sunglasses on their heads…sorry, kind of a family joke!). Two guys hop out and one goes in and one takes a picture of the self-serve gas pump. Weirdo!!
We said Hi to Dad and met the guy he’s training (an Iraqi war vet who was injured), and went to Albertson’s because Ben wanted to buy us all pop. Nobody had quarters on them, so Mom bought chips–buy one, get one free–and a case of 12 pops. Woohoo!

Now it’s 10pm and dinner’s ready, so I better go!

He brought the dog back to the house. The girls fell in love with her right away, and wanted to name her Betsy. Mom and I kept saying, “We don’t know if we’re going to keep her, though!” but the girls didn’t care. Mom suggested the name Daisy, because in the Dukes of Hazzard there’s Daisy Duke…and our other dog is Duke. Kind of a joke.

Anyway. So Daisy she became. Dad was in Canada, but emailing Mom, so he knew about Daisy, but he was going to come home and see her before he made the decision of if we were going to keep her or not.

Daisy became acquainted with Duke fairly easily. I think it’s because she’s a girl dog and he’s a boy dog, so it’s not like she’s trying to take over his territory. They don’t sleep together, though…they each have their own blanket. I’m getting ahead of myself!

Dad came home…and, indeed, this morning said we’re going to keep her. She’s a springer spaniel, but not the cutest bud on the vine.

A funny story
Duke (our blue heeler) and my cat, Pilot (or Pi, for short), have always been at odds with each other and fought like…well, dog and cat. Once, not long after we moved, the front door was open. Pi was inside, Duke outside. Duke, who isn’t allowed in the house unless it’s under 20º, saw her in the house and forgot himself…ran in and chased her all around the house!

Last night, Daisy finally figured out how to get up on the deck (there’s no stairs), and was hanging out near the sliding door, watching us. Pi likes to sit near the sliding door, watching out. Ben was holding her there, to see what Daisy would do. Daisy acted like she wanted to play, and pawed at the window, and since I was in the computer room I couldn’t see what happened, but I heard her yelp (Daisy, not the cat). Evidently, Duke had considered the cat “his property”, to eat/chase/dislike as he wished, and was protecting his property from Daisy! We all had a good laugh over that one!

And now I shall make my exit. Toodles!

We totally had fun…or had total fun…something like that. I missed y’all, but I still had fun.

The Lord really provides…Dad’s car broke down when he hit the 6th deer, so he’d been driving Ben’s pickup until Ben turns 18 (a few weeks; October 5th is his birthday). After that, he didn’t know what he’d do. Mom and Dad looked into buying another car, but hadn’t yet. Well, on our trip, somebody GAVE us a car!! It works great–Dad drove it home! I think it doesn’t have a/c, though, but I think that can be fixed. God is so good!

On Saturday last week, we left home at 11:15 P.M., and got to Grammoo’s house (in Oregon) at 2 P.M. Sunday. There was a time change in there…we had to go back an hour to Pacific time. We brought Duke (the dog), but had to leave Pi, my cat. :( Looks like she did pretty good on her own, though…but she was very happy to see me! (And I was very happy to see her!)

Monday, we got up, ate breakfast, and the boys started cleaning the shed at 8 A.M. while the girls cleaned the breakfast mess. After the boys cleaned the shed, they started on one wall of the shop/garage. Then came the real hard part–toss or keep. Papa (that’s what we call Dad’s dad) sat there and supervised as the boys made rows of stuff for the garage sale they’re going to have. They did a little more than half the shop.
Meanwhile, the girls and I were cleaning out the two attics. Beth cleaned out one, and I cleaned out the other. The twins took all the stuff outside, for Grammoo to sort through. Stuff went into three piles: keep, sell, burn. Fortunately the “keep” turned out to be smaller than the “sell”. All that stuff was sorted in one day.
The boys, all of ‘em (even Rase and Jay) slept in a tent outside, and the rest of us slept inside: Mom, Dad, Em, Kate, and Tess in Grammoo and Papa’s room, Abby at the top of the stairs, and Beth and I in Dad’s old office. I overheard Grammoo, when I was on the phone with Uncle David before we left, said she almost wished SHE could sleep in the tent because it looked like fun!

Tuesday, same thing–got up, ate breakfast, started cleaning again at 8. The boys did the barn, taking all the hay out and spilling it in the field, while us girls, Dad, and Mom finished the shop. Uncle David and Steven, my cousin, came (on Uncle David’s motorcycle) when we’d almost finished the garage and barn, and Beth and I were cleaning up all the stuff that was taken out of the shed. While the boys were finishing the barn, the rest of us started on yard work–Dad and Uncle David pruned the rhododendron (no, I didn’t know how to spell that; I Googled it) and tulip trees; Aunt Fran and Cody showed up while they were doing this. Mom and Aunt Fran cleaned out the birdbath (there was a ton of pine needles in amongst the agates); I raked pinecones out of the landscaping in the front; and the girls played with Cody.
We finished everything but Papa’s closets that day.

Wednesday, we slept in, and after breakfast, Grammoo, and I cleaned out Papa’s closets, and the twins brought everything outside for Papa, Mom, and Aunt Fran to sort. All “keep” stuff went in the cleaned-out shed; all the burn stuff went in an overflowing garbage can, and all the sell stuff went into the shop for the sale.

Thursday, we went out on the town, so to speak. Mom and the kids Eric and under went “resale-shopping”, while Dad, Ben, Joe, and I went to the Guitar Center and had a great time. Then we went to Uncle Steve and Aunt Barbara’s house with Papa, Uncle David, Aunt Fran, Steven, and Cody. (Steven is…15 or so, and Cody’s 11.) We had a great time…it’s been a LONG time since we’ve seen them! They had one of the CUTEST kittens (I couldn’t say THE cutest, because I know two other equally cute cats) named Boots. S/he LOVED all of us (especially me)! S/he wasn’t allowed in the yard, but kept coming because of all the kids. Uncle Steve squirted her with water whenever she got in the yard or the flowers.

Friday, we went to the Guitar Center again. 1. because we hadn’t gotten to look around as much; Dad hadn’t even made it to the Pro Audio room! (the room where all the amps and speakers and stuff were) A very helpful man from the piano section had monopolized a bunch of our time, and so did a very talkative bass player. But they were both very interesting. And 2. Dad wanted to show Mom all the cool stuff he’d tried out. So we went again. Then we got a U-Haul trailer to haul all our junk, then went to Grandpa’s for dinner: BLT’s, chicken salad sandwiches (with lots of dill) and “tube steaks”, as Dad calls hot dogs–were very good! On the BLT’s were his garden tomatoes…they were SOOO good!

Saturday, we were GOING to go to Uncle David’s for a taco fest, but instead we decided to go to our friends instead. (They used to go to the same church we and Uncle David’s family did, and they helped us move here.) We had hamburgers and hot dogs, and tons of chips (at least five kinds). It was great to see them again…the last time we’d seen them was the first time we’d gone back to Oregon, in…2001.
That night, we went back to Grammoo and Papa’s, loaded our stuff, and headed home at 10 P.M.

Sunday, we got home at 4:40 P.M. It took longer to get home then it did to go there, because 1. we lost an hour (changing back to Mountain time), and 2. we stopped more frequently. We weren’t in any hurry, so we could go more leisurely.

So that’s our trip!