Today would have been my 8th wedding anniversary (hoyl shit). I’d like to claim this day back as something else, but I am not sure what. It should have a different remembrance, and one that is a positive influence on my life and who I am.

Any ideas?

My second trek out Saturday afternoon was less successful. Several doe’s, and no good shots to take. Which is probably for the best because I have some very awesome recoil bruises on both of my arms which I might take a picture of for prosterity purposes.

I must have been nestled in a Cardinal haven, because there were at least 3 sets of male/female cardinals, one of which almost dive-bombed my head while I was resting next to a tree.

Spent the majority of yesterday working on online projects. Gathering stuff for the monthly ADF website update, working on the MUD. Had some fantastic RP sessions this weekend with the players. Saved logs of most of it, since that’s once thing I wish I did more when I played TP.

Not really looking forward to work without my friend there today. He broke up the repetativeness of coding all day. He said he’d stop by often though, which is good.

I’ve also figured out that I need to teach myself to be as anal as designers, so I don’t get so many emails sent back to me about things that are 1 pixel off.

Dad and I left around 6am this morning before dawn to walk out through the cornfields and woods for the start of rifle season. It was pretty cold, enough that I was involuntarily shivering some, but I calmed myself down enough to stop.

I was down in more of a gully/thicket where the deer have been mating. My father was up over the hill, also in the thicket.

Didn’t take long before we saw our first set, 5 does and a buck. I was being very gentle to aim and get a shot off at the buck, but one of the does must have seen me, and became very curious. She got pretty close and kept starting me down and I didn’t want to spook her so I hesitated. Then I heard my dad get two shots off at the buck, but missed.

About 45 minutes later another buck snuck up behind me, this one a lot bigger, maybe 6 points. He was to my right though, and I’m not a very good left-handed shot, but he was close enough that I had to try. I missed the first time, was able to reload and get off a second shot, but missed that one too since he was at a full run by that time.

At least we got to see some, we’ll probably go back out this afternoon. In the mean time, I’m going to warm up with some Counter Strike: Source

I’ve seen several journals post over the last day or so in favor of thanksgiving, giving their well-wishes. And several more talking about its commercialization and refusal to celebrate it as anything other than a normal day.

Growing up in a traditional family, I can’t get away from celebrating the secular forms of holidays. Actually I don’t have a problem celebrating secular holidays with Santa, presents, shamrocks, cornicopias, etc. As they all have a meaning beyond the commercialism. It’s the narrow-mindedness, consumerism, and loss of meaning that bothers me.

So I went to feast with family yesterday. Some of which I haven’t seen since I was single digits. Though we were missing one uncle, for the first time in over a decade my family on my fathers side was able to set aside differences and feast together. We ate ham, turkey, mashed potatos, stuffing, buffalo, antelope and mule deer. I played guitar and sang for the relatives that had not seen me in so long. I saw their children, whom I had never met.

It’s a good first step for my family. I don’t ever expect those wounds to be healed on my mothers side. Not that I’d ever want them to be.

My father and I will be cooking our turkey today that we got from our uncle when we went to kill turkeys on Sunday. We’ll have our own little informal thanksgiving dinner, and then we’ll be going out to do some tracking for tomorrows opening rifle season. It rained yesterday and the day before so I’m not sure how successful we’ll be. But we have a good idea of some of the deer runs and mating grounds, so we’ll see. Perhaps this weekend will be full of preparing a fresh deer for the winter, like last year.

But in the midst of traditional celebration, I never forget the democide of the native people, who were the standing stones of this country. I’ll feast in their honor today, nothing more.

I hate holiday shopping.

So much that I don’t even go out to do holiday shopping if I can help it, I order what I need to online.

What I hate worse is the mobs, and they are at the stores AND online.

For example: Nintendo Wii sells out in a matter of minutes, and customers actually have the gall to write reviews and complaints to Amazon.com because they didn’t get theirs.

wtf?

Or the people trying to sell PS3 for hundreds of THOUSANDS of dollars. The majority of which are at least doubling the price.

When did America become so materialistic that we’re willing to camp out for days at a time to get the latest and greatest piece of plastic and wire to sate our kids ADD and empty our bank accounts? Are my children going to love me any less because instead I buy them something beneficial to their learning and upbringing? Are they going to be less cool than all of their friends?

Will I really care?

And it’s not just the greedy consumer, it’s the companies that release such things right before the holidays, knowing full well that people will throw out their morals to get their hands on these new arcs of the covenant.

Did you know people are being shot and murdered for these things?

A “graphic equalizer” made from fire, called a Reubens Tube.

My father and I will be leaving shortly to go kill some turkeys on my uncles farm near Gettysburg. He said if we helped he’d give us one, and I’ve missed the days of killing turkeys when I was little. One of my favorite memories is waking up early on a cold day in winter and all of the family getting together (even the ones that no longer speak to each other) and killing turkeys. Watching the big cast iron cauldron boil over the fire, the men chopping off the heads and dunking the turkey in the hot water to loosen the feathers. The women waiting in the garage with tables for plucking, gutting, and chopping up the pieces for eating.

It’s grotesque to most, but honestly it’s a great memory for me.

My uncle is selling his farm, it’s a nice farm, but not much land, and a lot of the outer buildings are falling down. He’s asking way too much for it, and hasn’t told anyone where he intends to move. Cause of such, I’ve thought about raising some eating turkeys, though I’m not sure how much more it would cost. We charge $6/rabbit each for fresh rabbit meat, we could sell turkeys for a lot more.

I’ve been doing some target practicing with our .22 rifle. It shoots a bit high so I have to aim low since I don’t trust myself with adjusting sites quite yet. I’ve thought about scanning the targets I use.

My oldest uncle (and probably richest) just came back from a hunting trip to Montana with C.J Miller and probably some other local rich folk. He gave us some buffalo and antelope meat, and probably something else though I’ll have to route through all the packages. I was hoping for some elk, since I hear elk is really good eating, but it’ll be interesting to cook up some buffalo burgers tonight. I hope one day I can go with him one one of his big hunting trips, though going out there and shipping the meat back probably costs a fortune.

Lamborghini Police Car in yon Italy 500 horsepower, FTW