and a strong cup of coffee

It was a fantastic Maine spring weekend. A little chilly and windy Saturday morning, but the sun was out and we were outside. Fresh air and sunshine will cure what ails ya! We had a mini lawn sale in the morning, then in the afternoon, Hubby and I went on a adventure with Dad. We had important business in the woods... namely, how our hunting spots are looking and if there was any sign deer out and about. We checked out the Sky Condo and then Dad took us to a new spot that he has added to our list of places to hunt. A friend of his owns the land and Dad has been wanting to hunt on it for a few years now, but I was the stick in the mud and liked where I was. But, now.. with my confidence still high from my buck, I am game. This new spot is fantastic. I should have listened to Dad before. Great vantage points, lots of sign and near a corn field. I know, I know... I should have been listening to Dad a long time ago. I also think its his plan to keep expanding where we hunt so ...

A friend of mine in DC occasionally sends me (or Tweets at me) articles that he wants my opinion on. Yesterday, it was an op-ed piece from the New York Times titled, " I Hunt, but the N.R.A. Isn’t for Me " by Lily Raff McCaulou. My buddy wanted to know, as a "lady hunter" what I thought about this. And I am curious what YOUR opinion is... are you a card carrying member of the NRA? As I read the op-ed, I agreed with many of her points, For hunters like me, hunting isn’t ultimately about the gun. It’s about wildlife and the land that sustains it and I’m a hunter and a sportswoman. I own guns, but not for self-defense but I also have to wonder if her stats are truly correct " the most comprehensive national survey of firearm ownership to date found that only 35 percent of gun-owning households say they hunt. Even then, the N.R.A. would represent only about one-third of all hunters in the United States " I don't know a lot (or anything really) abo...

After talking about it for a few weeks, I actually took my antlers back to my house and boiled them. It was a nice, sunny day. I had my grill going and everything was working well. The wind put out the burner a couple of times, but I re-lit it. However, when I ran out of propane, I was forced to bring it inside. With the windows and door open, I boiled this thing. I added water every 30-60 minutes to keep it boiling. Hour after hour. I thing the entire project took me about 8 hours. But when it was done, this is what I had. Its funny to look at the antlers now and see how uneven they are. I think the lines are the coolest thing. They are suture lines from the soft infant skull fusing solid. And for some reason, I can not remember seeing these lines on the antlers Dad has. I will have to check out all of his more closely when I am at the house next time. Next step: mounting this bad boy.

Rabid Outdoorsman and I are now members of BOW (Becoming an Outdoor Woman) in Maine. Rabid has been to one meeting and I will be attending my first at the end of June. The plan was to meet at a local watering hole and discuss how we can bring our time and talent to this organization and make it rock. Originally there was going to be 3 of us in this "meeting" but it turned into just me and Rabid so he suggested I meet him and we go fishing. I was coming from work, in amazing heels and dress clothes. Rabid didn't think pumps would be a good choice for fishing in April but I tried to convince him otherwise. However, like a good Maine girl, I had gum rubbers in my car. Game on! I need to figure out how to have many more meetings like this! Rabid was telling me about his fishing adventures with Duckhunter over the past week and how they were catching great fish. About 5 minutes after we pushed off from shore, Rabid had a small fish on his line. Too small, so he...

Feels like its been a while since I posted anything on here... this is what I have been up to: 1. Conferences 2. Work (we had an amazing 1 day fundraiser then blew our $$ goals out of the water. True stat: per capita, Maine is one of the most generous States when it comes to charitable donations.) 3. Spring cleaning 4. BOSTON MARATHON!!! This is my beautiful friend Lissa. She and I started school together when we were 3. She met my hubby when they were in college and she introduced us. She is also 1 of the 3 people that witnessed and signed the paperwork when I got married. She is amazing. And yesterday, in 90+ heat (some reports said 101 on the pavement), she completed her dream of running the Boston Marathon.

I came across this cool Q&A on Mike Hanback's website, that talks about bucks holding onto their antlers longer in the winter and what that means for the next season. Hopefully, with the mild, (MILD, no-snow, 80-degrees-in-March) winter we just ended, the deer herd had a nice, relaxing season and can get bigger and grow better antlers for this fall. But, who knows what this summer could be like... Thoughts? Do you agree with Mike?

If you have read my blog, you know I am trying to figure out how to mount my deer antlers by myself (and with Dad). Step 1 was the easy part. I had to figure out how to get the hair and fat off of the scalp. At the Sportsman's Show last weekend, I talked to a guy who runs a taxidermy company and asked him what the best way to do this was; just skin it . So, Dad doesn't know this yet, but on Easter, we are skinning my deer head. What Mom doesn't know yet, is if it is frozen or too hard to just take a knife to, the thing is coming into the house and into some warm water to loosen stuff up. Then, I can mount the antlers, hopefully. And, in a serendipitous turn of events, as I was looking for a picture of antlers, I found this video ! I don't know how Mom is going to like this ;) Happy Easter!

In Charles Schultz's 1965 classic A Charlie Brown Christmas , Lucy asks for one thing for Christmas... Lucy Van Pelt : I know how you feel about all this Christmas business, getting depressed and all that. It happens to me every year. I never get what I really want. I always get a lot of stupid toys or a bicycle or clothes or something like that. Charlie Brown : What is it you want? Lucy Van Pelt : Real estate. On Friday, Dad bought my tree. The tree that I shot my deer from this past season. It had been on private land at the start of the season, became public land when CMP acquired the land in order to extend their powerlines through Maine and became private land again when Dad signed the papers. After the paperwork was signed, I made Mom hike down to my tree so she could take a picture of me and Dad and our tree. I'm such a geek! But, that's the big news - Dad bought the land to secure our hunting and keep my tree safe! My tree also has 28 acres attached to ...