Hunting Season and Happenings

Number One Husband mad breakfast this morning. I usually do not eat breakfast, but I couldn't turn it down since he worked so hard on it. We play backgammon while eating most of our meals. We have a longstanding tradition that whoever wins at backgammon has to do the dishes. I won or lost depending on how you look at doing the dishes. It keeps the winner humble...

I keep baked potatoes in the refrigerator that I baked in the sun oven. It makes cooking hashbrowns a lot easier and cuts down on energy usage. I made a big pot of gravy for the weekend. I didn't have time to bake more bread this past week and I knew that we were going to run out, so I bought three .27 cent loaves of French bread at Walmart. I can't bake bread for .27 cents. They were on the marked down shelf. They had obviously baked too many because they had over a dozen loaves. 

It was the best deal in the whole store compared to the golf ball sized Roma tomatoes for $1.28 a pound or the .88 cent miniature cucumbers. I do not know what is going on with our produce. After digging through the tomatoes and cucumbers to find the very best ones, my hands were slick with a waxy film. So gross!

Last week was busy with lots of paperwork, taxes and a trip to town. We needed a tank of gas, medicine, very few groceries and a couple of miscellaneous items like a thumb drive and cabinet stops to keep the cabinets from banging. Well, the cabinet stops were just as hard as the wood and the cabinet door still bangs. What a waste of $5 bucks. The trip was upwards of $200. How crazy is that? That is about the average cost of going to town these days. 

We have some of the most beautiful sunsets. Last evening was no exception. We also experienced the aurora borealis this past week. It was red. It nearly encircled us. It was Quite beautiful. It was too dark to take pictures. I was unaware of it until my friend in Arkansas sent me pictures and by then it was too late. 

The mornings are very cool now. The bluebirds left yesterday. It is also very dry. Gun season is over. We had two cheating hunters who used unethical techniques to bag an antelope. One shot from the road. I have pictures of him shooting from the road into a herd to no avail until he came back a few days later. He killed a female with twins from the road both of which are illegal. I despise hunters who risk the lives of animals and people. They are disgusting humans...

It's the fault of the government who allows hunters to hunt near residential areas with roads and houses in the crossfire. There may be good hunters, but this year there were only bad hunters. The twins took up with a young buck who was orphaned in the same manner two years ago.

According to Lewis and Clark hunting antelope proved to be most difficult due to their speed, awareness to danger and sharp eyesight. They also hunted antelope illegally by today's standards. Our herd stays close to our homestead during hunting season. They leave at dusk for water and return at dawn before the hunters get started. Unfortunately, the heard was scattered and the female became a victim of unsavory hunting practices. 

 

As far as we can tell both of the big bucks survived. 

Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Out My Kitchen Window -It Has Begun - Forecast Has Drastically Changed

The wind has been blowing and howling all morning. It sounds like a winter storm. The wind sounds different in every season. The thermometer is plummeting. It is just rain right now, except the highest elevations are getting snow. We have dropped 14 degrees in less than an hour. This time of the year we can have temperatures swings of 50 degrees or more.

The mountains have faded into the rain and snow.

• This Afternoon

  

  High: 60 °F

  Showers
  Likely

• Tonight

  

  Low: 35 °F

  Showers then
  Rain/Snow

• Sunday

  

  High: 52 °F

  Chance
  Rain/Snow
  then Partly
  Sunny

• Sunday Night

  

  Low: 29 °F

  Partly Cloudy

I took pictures of the fall colors before the rain began.

I was cleaning my lens, and this is what I saw. Sometimes
simple is the best.

Can you see the hunter stalking our herd 
of pronghorns? 

Gotcha! If they poach or hunt illegally in any way
we will turn them in. 

The pronghorns always take refuge on 
our property during hunting season. Hunters
always ask if they can hunt on our property. NO!
YOU CAN'T KILL OUR PETS!

I am heading to bed soon. Here is the latest...

Snow

34°F

1°C

Goodnight,

Mrs. Smith

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Happy Sukkot And More!!!

 

I was worried, in the previous post, about temperatures being in the 30's at night during Sukkot, but it was 23 degrees last night and snow is in the forecast this week. It is 70 degrees right now. I believe that we might be changing our plans due to the new weather forecast.

In a previous post called "How Long Will You Wait To Turn On The Heat". Our heat kicked on early this morning when the inside temperature dropped to 50 degrees. It is the lowest setting on the thermostat. We didn't even know the thermostat was turned on. I also forgot to bring my geranium plants in and they froze solid. I was going to try and Winter them over. I will cut the dead flowers, blooms and leaves off and see if I can save them.

We have a pair of Pronghorns in our yard in front of the house. This is the last day of Pronghorn season and we have one hunter that keeps driving by to get to the BLM land at the end of our road. I took pictures of this hunter, if you can call him a hunter, trying to shoot from the road. Lewis and Clark couldn't even get a Pronghorn and wrote about them in their journals. He will not succeed without putting in the effort. They are fast and smart. We have had very few, maybe three, hunters this whole season. Normally it sounds like a war zone out here as the sound of bullets resonate through the mountains. I guess no one can afford to hunt this year. 

They have found their mate. They are used to us, but we try to lay low during hunting season, so they will be safe. We enjoy almost daily visits from these unique creatures. Sometimes hundreds at a time.

Sukkot Update:

Unfortunately, the weather is not going to cooperate this year. We don't think it would be wise under the circumstances to set up a Sukkah and sleep outside. The wind will also be gusting 25 to 30 mph. We are not prepared for extreme weather camping. We are in a drought and are not allowed to have an open camp fire to help keep us warm. I think that we will sit out under the stars every evening, but sleep indoors. 

Blessings,

Mrs. Smith