This moose hung around our place for a few days last winter. We named him(?) Hector
Nov. 18, 2011 (ShapeShiftas) -- It's hunting season here in Vermont -- deer hunting with rifles right now -- I believe.
Deer, moose, bear, and turkeys -- they each have their own times and rules, plus there are different dates for bow and arrow hunting. More people than usual are all out and about, looking a little grungy, wearing camouflage and orange hats. We change the dogs' kerchiefs from green to orange, while horses and their riders wear orange blankets and orange helmets.
Even this city girl is smart enough not to wear her usual all-black attire in the woods; I have an orange down vest that I wear this time of year only, because, well, orange is soo not my color.
We realize when it's hunting season because something at our place always breaks down right about now, and all the electricians, plumbers, and mechanics are all gone on vacation," going hunting for a few weeks. Not sure when they'll be back..."
Hunting for a good picture spot
Hunting season is a sociable and festive time. Hunters go off to their camps, such as Stony Brook Road's own Buck Fever, which, when full of hunters and all their stuff, prompted my daughter to say, "Buck Fever is so-o on fire!" (in her best Mean Girls voice, still ROFLOL).
Everyone often gets together with the same group of friends, buddies that they will certainly need to help with that field-dressing-stuff that Sarah Palin was always going on about, should anyone be fortunate enough to shoot a deer or moose. It's hard to get a moose, you first have to win the lottery for a "moose tag," and then you have to find one, which I understand involves going out into the cold and dark and sitting still for hours at a spot you think a moose will come to.
They are elusive prey and very, very big. It take three or four hunters to get one out of the woods and into the chest freezers, but then there is enough meat for the winter for those three or four families. I have eaten local moose and venison, mostly in chili or stew at potlucks, and once I tried some very yummy summer sausage made with venison and pork fat. Moose meat and venison are both leaner and healthier than supermarket beef -- Organic and Grass-Fed!
I could probably get into hunting if it wasn't for that killing-of-Bambi's-mother moment.
The OutSide Bolster in Northern Zebra comouflage print
Now, you don't have to like hunting or war to love camouflage prints like I do, including and especially my favorites, Mother Nature's own camouflage, animal prints. I'm fascinated by all the colors that go into a good camo print, and how the desert camo is different from the Northern Woods camo. The military camouflage prints these days are digitally created and look like pixels from a low-resolution image.
Then there's the fashion camo prints, which come around every few years when we're about to start a war. Baby pink and powder blue camouflage were hot in kid's wear when we first invaded Iraq, I remember my daughters and their friends all had pink camouflage hoodies. Little Urban Warriors, all. I'm now planning to add a Hunter's Camouflage print to the outSide ShapeS collection of pillows for next season, so our hunters can sit still and silent in invisible comfort. Maybe I can trade pillows for some venison???!
This is a pattern for a beaded camouflage. Probably too flashy for the woods
I was taking dinner to a friend who was having some outpatient surgery, lasagna with all the fixings, because I was a little worried for her; so, I cooked. Typically, I am running behind, stuck for 10 minutes behind a construction truck after leaving 5 minutes late.
I screech into their driveway, leave the car running, and am dashing around the corner to go in through the garage, with my arms full of dinner for 6, when I nearly run smack into the deer carcass hanging from the ceiling. I'm not sure how I managed to avoid it and hold onto the lasagna, or my breakfast for that matter, although it was more startling than gross.
Weird thing was, I had just been thinking about how good a Hunter's Lasagna would be, with a nice venison ragu.
peace, Deborah
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Andy Warhol started the whole ironically-colored camo thing
This one would make a beautiful silk chiffon gown, don't you think?