We had no babysitter the evening of Justin’s and Becca’s school conferences. Kari mentioned we should take the kids with us. I protested. Knowing Justin he would cause nothing but interruptions at conferences. I opted to let him make the decision. His options where; 1) Go to the school conferences with all of us. 2) Go in the woods with Dad.
The woods were crispy and fresh smelling. He was quiet and had a tendency to wander in different directions than my intentions. There seems to be a passion in him to walk in water. Our evening was incredibly different than the previous day with Becca. Both days were very enjoyable, however Justin complained more. He insisted we were lost. He thought every deer trail I walked on was going in the wrong direction and a couple times he refused to follow. I picked up my pace to keep him walking.
I soon realized he kept stopping and crossing his legs while in the standing position. I asked him if he had to pee. He said he did but that he would hold it. I felt terrible, I trained him never to pee near my deer stands and here he was trying his darnest to follow-through with my desires. I quickly explained that it was fine to pee in the woods this time of the year and that he was a good boy for asking. We peed together. We had a little peeing for distance contest right on the north side of the back 40.
We passed several unique spots in the woods and spent some time standing around looking at moss, deer beds, and some remnants of a canine sort meal. Justin seemed much more relaxed after our little break and he was back to enjoying his day in the woods with me. He did argue with me, about the swamp being a field. I insisted it was a swamp and he insisted it was a field. I reminded him I know this woods better than he did and if he didn’t believe me he could go walk over there and look for himself. He said that was ok.
The sun started to go down and we had almost a mile to get back to home. My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. Kari texted and said they were back home. School conferences went good. Becca is a top notch student. Justin is doing well too. He needs to learn how to listen even when he doesn’t want too. Julia thought the conferences were for her and was fine as long as she got her bubble gum. Conferences were no surprise so that’s good.
We started our journey back; Justin wanted to walk on groomed trails. I talked him into taking deer trails back because it would cut our walk distance by half. He agreed and followed with big approving steps at my heels.
Justin’s bottom lip quivered when the coyotes started howling. One howled long and near, followed by a second coyote, then a third, then a fourth. It was a haunting sound echoing through the leafless trees. I stopped and looked at Justin. His eyes were big. He was clearly scared. He whispered to me asking if those were wolves. I told him they were coyotes. His little lip was uncontrollably shaking. I patted my side and told him not to worry, I have a gun.
His muscles went to a relaxed stage and then the 101 questions started about coyotes. I answered them all. We continued and he got braver, he howled to fool the coyotes by making them think he was one of them. I helped him howl. We howled together as the darkness moved in. Ooo ooo—Ooo ooo
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Treasures
The kids needed a nap. Justin’s emotions were on edge. Julia’s eyes were obviously tired, barely staying open while playing with her shopping cart and dolls. Speaking of dolls, why is she attached to the ugliest doll ever? It is all stretched out, dirty, and has been pulled across ketchup filled plates. It’s been thrown at the cat, given bike rides, and real milk to drink. No kidding. But, it’s “her baby“ and that’s all that matters I guess. Shoot, I even babysat that darn doll during lunch break for her.
The two younger kids fell fast asleep at 2 in the afternoon. My legs were cramping up, the weather was nice. I was about to open my mouth and ask Kari for permission to go look for shed antlers when “squeak” the bedroom door opens. Out sneaks Becca. She whispers “can I stay up?”
I put my boots on at the same time I asked permission to go into the woods. Kari said “sure”, Becca then promptly followed with “can I come?” I said “sure, get waterproof boots on”.
I explained to Becca how hard it was to find a shed antler. We talked about how far we would have to walk. We walked into the woods side-by-side. She is not the normal “woods buddy”. She talks a lot. I mean A LOT!
“Dad, remember when we camped out here when Mom was in school and Justin and Julia were all crazy and remember when we got that one buck and Justin cried because he was scared because he thought it was alive and remember when we cut wood here and remember when you got your tractor stuck and we called Josh to come pull us out and remember when we planted fields and we got to ride on the four-wheeler and remember when we hunted and we saw that one buck and remember when we were in that, what was that called? A blind? We saw some deer and they were too far away to get because we were hunting with a bow and remember…”
We walked, she talked. It was funny. I answered her questions at first then I started grouping my answers in-between her silent times. We went from the Pines, into the clear-cut, we crossed around a swamp. I reminded her that antlers are hard to find. We crossed fences. I held the barbed wire fences up for her and she helped hold them down for me.
I had given up on antlers. I pointed out other interesting things in the woods. Dead trees. Buck rubs and scrapes from last fall. Deer hair on a fence. We jumped a creek. Then something caught my eye. An antler! A small 3 point antler was laying on the Pine needles! I stopped and said “Becca!” She didn’t even let me finish when like lightening she picked it up and exclaimed “We are soooo lucky!”
I took out my camera. I agreed and confirmed how lucky we were. We both admired our treasure. Becca was silent almost all the way back, and then she tells me “Dad, when I am away and I want to be hunting or in the woods real bad now I can think about this”. I almost teared up. “Yes, Becca”. “Yes”. I hugged her.
The two younger kids fell fast asleep at 2 in the afternoon. My legs were cramping up, the weather was nice. I was about to open my mouth and ask Kari for permission to go look for shed antlers when “squeak” the bedroom door opens. Out sneaks Becca. She whispers “can I stay up?”
I put my boots on at the same time I asked permission to go into the woods. Kari said “sure”, Becca then promptly followed with “can I come?” I said “sure, get waterproof boots on”.
I explained to Becca how hard it was to find a shed antler. We talked about how far we would have to walk. We walked into the woods side-by-side. She is not the normal “woods buddy”. She talks a lot. I mean A LOT!
“Dad, remember when we camped out here when Mom was in school and Justin and Julia were all crazy and remember when we got that one buck and Justin cried because he was scared because he thought it was alive and remember when we cut wood here and remember when you got your tractor stuck and we called Josh to come pull us out and remember when we planted fields and we got to ride on the four-wheeler and remember when we hunted and we saw that one buck and remember when we were in that, what was that called? A blind? We saw some deer and they were too far away to get because we were hunting with a bow and remember…”
We walked, she talked. It was funny. I answered her questions at first then I started grouping my answers in-between her silent times. We went from the Pines, into the clear-cut, we crossed around a swamp. I reminded her that antlers are hard to find. We crossed fences. I held the barbed wire fences up for her and she helped hold them down for me.
I had given up on antlers. I pointed out other interesting things in the woods. Dead trees. Buck rubs and scrapes from last fall. Deer hair on a fence. We jumped a creek. Then something caught my eye. An antler! A small 3 point antler was laying on the Pine needles! I stopped and said “Becca!” She didn’t even let me finish when like lightening she picked it up and exclaimed “We are soooo lucky!”
I took out my camera. I agreed and confirmed how lucky we were. We both admired our treasure. Becca was silent almost all the way back, and then she tells me “Dad, when I am away and I want to be hunting or in the woods real bad now I can think about this”. I almost teared up. “Yes, Becca”. “Yes”. I hugged her.
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