The kid got a second deer on Sunday, so yesterday he stayed home to get it in the freezer. It was just a little spike buck, but the meat will be welcome this winter. The beef that those yokels in the rant a few posts down let hang for a month is barely of "okay" quality, thanks to their cavalier treatment of our meat, so we are going to be eating a lot of venison.
Anyhow, all through the tedious process of boning out a whole deer, he was antsy with the desire to get done and get out on Seven-County Hill to look for a Christmas tree. Because the kids have asthma he has never enjoyed a real tree. We have a stately, but phony, fir thing that serves, but it surely isn't a creature of the wild forest. It was edging on toward dark when the last package flopped on the freezer shelf and the knives were lined up on the counter for mom to wash. He grabbed his chainsaw and took off with the 884 bucket tractor as soon as he was done.
About an hour later he showed up with a fat, bushy little white pine. Not exactly the most sought after of Christmas shrubbery, but it is cute just the same. As all the official ornaments are stashed upstairs in a closet we spelunked around in the china closet and various drawers and hidy holes looking for strays. Then the weird thing happened. I shined the flashlight into Grandma Lachmayer's china closet, looking for a cousin-made creation I knew was lurking there. Instantly a tinny rendition of Silent Night rang out.
What the heck! My furniture is not in the habit of serenading me when I look inside. As that same cupboard is the repository of much treasure, from marbles, stray old coins plucked out of the woodwork of this ancient domicile, and every other oddity that someone brings in, we open and close the door all the time. There generally isn't a resounding Christmas carol to greet us. However, after much searching and emptying (and the incidental discovery of the little rooster ornament we were seeking) we tracked the tune to its source. Years ago mom gave me a little "Mary Moos" music box....and it is light activated. Guess the battery is pretty special and the thing liked the shiny flashlight. Anyhow, it wasn't the ghost of Christmas past celebrating the introduction of a real live tree after all these years, just a neat little resin decoration.....still it gave me pause.
What a neat story! And I like the tree - a refreshing change from the geometrically correct concoctions (both real and not) that are so common.
ReplyDeleteNice tree! Glad it wasn't a ghost serenade. I've had a similar experience with an old singing card that I 'reanimated".
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Alan on another deer.
Alan, Congratulations on your second deer.
ReplyDeleteIs that two deer in the same season? Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThat is funny about the music box. The dogs have this one dog toy that for some bizarre reason hasn't been gutted, it's at least a year old. It plays music. Either they leave it on the floor and I step on it, startling myself, or someone will decide to play with it at 2 am...
Oh - ran across this blog and thought of you. It's about dog legislation...but go three entries down to the "It's the data" entry. I think you'll find it quite interesting, given your writing about the tagging of cattle.
ReplyDeletehttp://bluedogstate.blogspot.com/
numberwise,thanks so much. I love it too. It is the cutest little thing and looks just right there on the big scale.
ReplyDeleteHi FC, while it was happening I KNEW it wasn't really a ghost or anything but it was just so weird to hear Silent Night pouring out of the china closet while we were decorating the boy tree. My mom loves to buy everyone noisy toys, but I had forgotten the little cow music box in there.
nyvolfan, I passed the message along and he says thanks. You would have had a good laugh last night to see him watching the Syracuse game on TV with that silly orange hand thingie, waving it around. That game you took him to made a big impression.
Hey there carina, thanks, we are real happy about the deer...lots of good eating. And noisemaking toys can be hell can't they? The kids once had a fishing game that got stuck under the car seat and was making an awful noise, which I though was my transmission...scared me half to death! Thanks for the website; I will take a look as soon as I finish here
Boning deers & ghostly furniture. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteY-e, of course I have considered making money off my blog. Who hasn't? However, here in the real world.....lol
ReplyDeleteHello cube and thanks for visiting. We do have few dull moments around here.
i loved that tree. it is coool to look back at the stuff that happened a few years ago. all the things that you forget.lol
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the reasons I have always kept a journal and blog now...you forget so much if you don't write it down. love you kiddo!
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