A walk in the woods...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my sister and her crew.  The meal was great and we played a mean game of cards.  It isn't the best photo, but I have found it is difficult to get a action shot with five kids.

When we got home I needed to take a walk to wear off the turkey dinner and the five hour drive in a "breezy" forty mile an hour wind.  Have I ever mentioned Jeeps don't deal well with wind?  

The walk was very educational.  I saw plenty of deer sign.  Here is a rub.  It is where a buck marks his area and let's the does know he is around.  Someone asked if I hunt from my porch.  Actually, we have several hunting blinds and tree stands on our property.  The blinds are below.  There is nothing more enjoyable than watching the world go by from a hunting blind.  At our prairie property I have a big old cottenwood that blew down.  It is the perfect place to hunker down and watch the action. I was also asked if the turkeys in the last post were part of Thanksgiving dinner.  I promise you that they were not eaten.  Hills turkeys are very dry and stringy.

I checked out our pond on my walk with Ella.  The water level is down, but it is open and animals were definitely drinking from it.

I was quite bothered when I looked at the ice and saw a frog frozen in mid swim.  I've never seen anything like that before.  I don't know if you can see him in the photo below.  I wish I had taken my good camera.

It was a beautiful weekend.  Temps were in the 60's.  I was able to clean my greenhouse and flowerbeds.

That was my big Thanksgiving weekend.  It was great spending time with family.  I also appreciated that the weather allowed my to clean up the yard.  How was your Thanksgiving?  I hope the weather has been as forgiving for you.

Fur and Feathers...

I was hunting last weekend.  I filled both my archery and rifle tags.  This weekend was spent processing my harvest.  Our freezer is stocked with 5lbs of Italian sausage, 5 lbs of summer sausage, and 5 lbs of breakfast sausage, numerous roasts, stew meat, and more unprocessed meat.  My husband made jerky on the smoker.  I still have more to jerk and grind, but I will do that later.  I wanted to taste test some new recipes before I committed all of my deer meat to a new recipe.

Nature provided plenty of entertainment while I was in the kitchen.  The turkeys are oblivious to the fact that Thanksgiving is only five days away.  If they were aware of the main entree I don't think they would be so bold.

The rut is on here and all day we watched the bucks chase does.  It began with this little nubber.

Slowly, the parade of deer produced more bucks.

This guy saw movement in the window and thought there may be a doe around.

It was hard to get anything done.  Every time we looked out the window there was a different group of deer.  This fella was a dandy.   He checked out the turkeys to make sure a doe wasn't hiding in their midst.  Then he was on his way.

My freezer is stocked and my soul is satisfied.  I am thankful that I can supply my own food and live where I can enjoy the creatures around me.  What are you thankful for?

Something old is new again, but first a surprise...

I received a wonderful surprise from my brother.  He made me a Hobbit house for my garden.  It is perfect.  Can't you just picture it on a bed of moss?  Unfortunately, I now have to wait until June before I get to use it.

I haven't done a something old is new again post forever.  My husband traded some firewood for barn wood.  They even threw in a few old fence posts.

He was excited to start a new project.  A little cutting and sanding later a table slowly emerges.  The project was made even more special because some of the woods working tools were his father's.  Whenever we visited or they visited my husband and his father always worked on a woodworking project together.

I think my favorite part is when the old posts became table legs.  I love old posts with all of their individual characteristics.  Today's uniform posts have no history or personality.

Volia, a pile of 100 year old lumber becomes a table. My husband is full of ideas and I love that our cabin is filled with his projects.  What is a special piece of furniture in your home?