For the last two weeks, Mom and Joe have been in Oregon with her dad (Grandpa; my other grandfather is Papa), who is dying. He’s why we visited in April, because we thought he was going to die then, too. Unfortunately, this time it is completely inevitable; his intestines and other various organs are dying slowly.
However, there is hope. He is a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, and we will see him again, which makes the parting not quite so hard. There’s a really neat Mercy Me song called “Homesick”, and here’s the bridge:
In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I’ll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again
If you could be praying for everyone involved and related to Grandpa, that would be very much appreciated. For the disciples of Christ, that they would be good witnesses…even though we have the hope of seeing Grandpa again, the parting is still sad. For the unbelievers, that they would realize they are lost and mortal and realize their need for a Savior.
For us, it’s been really strange not having Joe and Mom around (especially since this is the longest we’ve ever been away from them), and we miss them and they miss us. When Grandpa does die, Dad, Ben, and I will go for the funeral.
Anyways; prayers are very much appreciated all around, and I thought you might like to be updated on what’s going on.
Grandpa and his (living) children when we visited in June: Aunt Laurie (far right), Mom (far left), John (behind, left), and Paul (behind, right)
The title of the post is from a song called “Grandpa, Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days”.
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!
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!
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!
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!”
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!’”
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.
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:-)
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!
Pi missed me so much she slept with me and purred the whole night!
And now since it’s the official start of NaNoWriMo and I am officially done with this post, I can go start writing! YAYNESS!!
We have conclusive proof as to how many people it takes to light a candle: Three. One to hold the candle, one to hold the match, and one to hold the cell phone.
Wait…cell phone?
Last night we were sitting there, Mom and I at our computers and Dad and Eric downstairs making ammo (everyone else was in bed; it was like 10:30). Suddenly, and I mean without warning, everything totally shut down. Pitched blackness! Mom and I were like “uhhh…” I dug in my pocket for my phone and flipped it open. Light!
We looked around for Mom’s cell phone with the little light my phone provided, then we got the bright idea to call it. Like, no duh! So I called Mom’s phone so she had light. We don’t have flashlights (except for hunting); the batteries all ran down! So we went to light a candle. It was broken so I had had to cut the broken part off, and Eric was having trouble lighting the stump, so I held it tilted so while he was lighting it the match wouldn’t burn his fingers. Beth had come out of our room when the lights went out, and was holding my cell phone so we could see what we were doing.
Of course, since it was late-ish, once the candle was lit and the lamp was lit, everyone decided to go to bed so we blew them out anyways.
And there you have it.
Posted on September 15th, 2008 @ 9:27 am | Filed under: Family, Misc, Random |
Scottie: I just use Safari’s built-in RSS reader O:-) RSS Readers?, November 15, 2008 SuperAngel: Nominated and VOTED for... I have a little favor to ask of you…, November 15, 2008 Miss Jocelyn: Haha those are hilarious!!! Wanna meet you too! Bambo, November 12, 2008 Scottie: LOL … Hey, “going green” doesn’t sound... Bambo, November 12, 2008 SuperAngel: ROFL! Man you guys are HILARIOUS! we were laughing our heads... Bambo, November 12, 2008
they don’t know about that quite yet though!
