My Three Steak Deer ~ by Heather Oster

It was a late Monday evening, and we were within 500 yards of making the entire "loop" around the mountain, when I shot my very first deer. 

We had been out the previous afternoon / evening and saw a moose on our trek through the mountainside.  He wasn't very old, just a yearling, but was pretty interested in what we were doing.  Just stood and watched with his lanky legs.  We stood for a few moments, I snapped his picture and we moved on.

We finally made it to the truck without a deer sighting to be had.  We loaded up our stuff and started to drive off.  Just as we were getting to the bottom of the "road", I spied 2 does and a fawn behind an old, what I would assume to be, miner's log cabin.  After carrying my 22 all day, and then holding it up to shoot at one of these does, for a good 5 minutes, my arm was getting extremely tired.  When the biggest doe finally turned so I had a good shot, my arm was running circles, but I took a deep breath, slowly exhaled and shot.  I missed and off they hopped.  Boing, boing, boing across the creek and up the mountain they went.  So much for that and my great idea of shooting off-hand!!  Lesson one.

The next morning, we got up very early (5:00 a.m.) and were on the road by 5:30 a.m.  We drove all morning long and saw nothing.  I could have kicked myself for missing the doe the previous evening.  But, we still had a couple days to go, so I tried to stay positive.  That night we returned to our spot and just as we were rounding the last corner, and about 500 yards from the gate, I saw (what I thought) was a doe.  I told my husband to stop and back up real slow.  He did and there she stood, snacking on some leaves.  Just stood there and stared at me with ears three times the size of her head.  I didn't see any other deer with her.  So, I pulled up my 22, got the back of her shoulder in my cross-hairs, said "Sorry sweetheart but I gotta eat" and fired. 

She jumped about two feet in the air and took off.  I knew I got her because I could see the bleeding wound and she was running awful gimp-like.  We slowly got the hunting bag out of the truck and took off walking.  Following a blood trail is a little harder than I thought.  I figured you shot them and they just fell down.  Nope.  They run.  So, once we found the blood trail, we followed that and my husband spotted her after about 10 minutes. 

I looked at her and said, "Huh.  Not very big."  My husband said, "No.  But that's okay.  Its your first deer."  Upon closer inspection, I saw that she was really a he due to the little "buttons" he had growing in front of his ears and some other obvious body parts.  Oops.  I just shot myself a 7-8 month old buck.  Which, in Montana, does not qualify as a buck, so I had to use my doe tag on him.  Rather disappointed he was so small and young, I now know that you should really inspect a deer before you shoot it to make sure that it is an adult.  Its hard to tell when they aren't standing by another one and you have no experience.  But, I know for next time to take a little more time to check them out before you fire.  Lesson two.

The good news is, is that my shot was perfect.  I shot him right through his lungs and the bullet shattered his shoulder.  So, for those of you who hate the thought of "Bambie" being murdered, know this little guy didn't suffer long.  We found him only 50 - 75 yards from where I shot him and I would guess, given his running rate and the distance, he didn't live for more than 2 minutes after I pulled the trigger.  It was quick.

After a long day of hunting, my husband and I stopped by the local bar for a celebratory beer.  This particular establishment had a little dog that appeared to be the greeter for all the patrons.  He was a really small dog, some sort of "Heinz 57", but really cute.  I leaned over to my husband and said, "You know that deer I shot tonight?"  He said, "Yeah."  I said, "I think it might be just slightly bigger than that dog."  Oh how we hooted.  That was funny.

So, even though my first kill was only a "Three Steak Deer", it was still a good shot, meat in the freezer and a memory I'll always have.  Until next year.

The Story of the Jack O' Lantern ~ by Heather Oster

I had never really thought about where the origin of pumpkin carving came from, but stumbled across an interesting article today that explained it all.  The carving originates from Irish folklore and has quite a tale behind it that I think you might find interesting.

According to legend, there was a man named "Stingy Jack", who didn't like to pay for anything (thus "Stingy").  One night, he was having a drink with the Devil.  During their exchange, Stingy Jack convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin so he could pay for the drinks.  The Devil agreed and turned himself into a coin.  However, Stingy Jack did not use this "Devil Coin" to pay for the drinks.  Instead, he put the coin in his pocket, next to a silver cross.  Because the coin was next to a cross, the Devil could not turn back into his original form and he remained a coin. 

Stingy Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Stingy Jack for one year and that, should Stingy Jack die, he would not claim his soul.

The next year came and went and since the year was up, the Devil appeared.  Stingy Jack tricked the Devil into climbing a tree to pick a piece of fruit for him.  Once the Devil was high up in the tree, Stingy Jack carved a cross into the bark of the tree so the Devil could not come down.  Stingy Jack then revealed his "deal" to the Devil.  If the Devil promised not to bother him for the next ten years, he would let him come out of the tree.  The Devil agreed. 

What Stingy Jack didn't know, is that he would die soon after this deal struck and long before ten years was up. 

God refused to allow a person with the character and soul like Stingy Jack into heaven.  So he sent him to the Devil.  The Devil, angry with all the trickery Stingy Jack had used on him and his promise of not claiming his soul when he died, would not allow him into hell.

As such, the Devil sent Stingy Jack 's soul off into the dark night with only a burning coal for light.  Stingy Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth ever since.  As time went on and this folktale grew, the Irish began to refer to "Stingy Jack" as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern".

It is said, in Ireland and Scotland, where this tale originates, people began to make their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes (the use of pumpkins did not take place until this tradition was introduced in the United States)  and placing them into windows or near doors. They did this in an effort to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits.

So, as you carve up your next pumpkin this Halloween season, always remember the story of Stingy Jack and the eternal deal he made with the Devil. 

Achoo!! ~ by Heather Oster

Sneezing.  Its the topic for today because I can't stop doing it.  I started sneezing yesterday and its continued into today.  As such, I thought I'd do some research to find out just what sneezing is all about.

Sneezing, also known as sternutation, is how our bodies deal with nose irritations.  When your nose has one of these irritations, it sends a signal to the "sneeze center" of your brain.  That center then sends out a message to several muscles within your body, preparing them for the sneeze.  Once all these muscles receive the message, they all work together, in a perfect order, to extract the irritation.

The muscles that are required to work together, when a person sneezes, include the diaphragm, lungs, chest and abdominal muscles, vocal chords, throat muscles and the muscles in your eyelids!!  Don't believe me?  Try sneezing with your eyes open.  Can't be done!

A sneeze has the power to remove an irritation at speeds up to 100 mph.  That's fast and shows just how strong all those muscles can be when they work together. 

A few things that can start the "sneezing process" are dust particles, cold air, pepper, the common cold, as well as allergies caused by animal dander and pollen. 

Another odd item that can make you sneeze like crazy is light (mostly sun light).  I have first hand knowledge of this.  Every time I go outside and the sun is shining, I sneeze repetitively for several minutes.  People who do this are called "Photic Sneezers" (photic means light).  One out of every 3 people is a photic sneezer and, interestingly, it is an inherited trait.  So, if you tend to sneeze when introduced to light, you got that from one of your parents.

Do you ever feel a sneeze coming on and then it just stops?  If this happens to you fairly frequently, and you are a photic sneezer, try looking at a light (not directly into the sun, but towards light) and see if you can't get your body to extract that irritation.  Odds are, you'll be saying "Achoo!!!" in no time.

The somewhat automatic response to a sneeze is to say, "Bless you."  The history on this varies widely; but, the most popular theory seems to be that of an ancient superstition.  In ancient times, people believed that when a person sneezed, part of their soul was released through their nostrils.  In an effort to keep the devil from entering that person, they would bless the sneezer. 

Another popular word used when someone sneezes is "gesundheit".  This word comes from Germany, and it literally means "health."  The Germans believed that a sneeze typically preceded an illness, so they responded by wishing the sneezer "health".

Now you know everything there is to know about the common "Achoo!!!", "Bless you!!!" and "Gesundheit!!!" 

Life Happens ~ by Heather Oster

Hello all!!  I've missed you and have missed writing.  Given the past week I had, I'm finding my writing is a huge stress reliever and am thrilled to be back, writing my thoughts out again for all of you to enjoy.  I apologize that I haven't blogged for a whole week now.  What happened, you ask?   

Well, life happened; and, not according to MY plan at all.
Lately, it seems like every time I turn around something "unexpected" occurs that requires my immediate attention and/or assistance.  Not that those things are necessarily negative, but they certainly distract me from my daily grind, which messes with the orbit of my world and then my whole solar system goes off line - literally.  I am a very planned person.  I like to keep to a schedule and I usually have my entire week lined out in front of me as to what I will do on what day and so on. So, when something comes up that's not on my to-do list, it throws me for quite a loop!

My week started off with the company of my mom.  I don't get to see her much in the Fall and Winter seasons because of the weather we endure living in Montana (roads are often bad).  So, when she stops down to visit, during those seasons, its always nice.  She had originally said she was coming in last Tuesday, but then surprised us all by arriving a day early, last Monday.  This was no problem as I didn't have anything else going on and I knew my boys would be over-joyed to have her here an extra day.  And, its not like she can't entertain herself if need be.  So, this was not a curve ball in the least to what I had planned out.

However, that afternoon, the poor woman had a car accident and her vehicle ended up in the shop.   While we all have accidents, getting a call of this nature was not on my list of things that would happen Monday.  So, my world went a little off kilter.  I had to run to the neighbors and ask them to get my boys off the bus while I headed into town to help my mom.  We seemed to have gotten everything squared away there and we returned home.  While there was nothing spectacular that happened that evening, everything seemed off-center.  It was weird to say the least.  I ended the day by not being able to sleep and thus started my Tuesday even more exhausted then I was when I went to bed on Monday.  I don't know about you, but I am a person who absolutely has to have their sleep or things just don't go right.

My mom returned home Wednesday and it was time to play catch up on the previous two days of work and sleep.  Well, as you can imagine, that took another two days, which led me right up to Friday.  While I did mostly get caught up on my work between Wednesday and Thursday, I still felt like I was behind and did not recouperate in the sleep department at all.  Friday was the "Celebration of Life" for my husbands Grandfather and I can't say I felt much like blogging.  Its always hard to lose a family member and sometimes even harder to get through that last physical step of the formal goodbye.  I was exhausted by the time the week came to a close; and, as luck would have it, could not sleep Friday night.  I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling for hours - getting up occassionally to check facebook and then going back to bed to try to sleep.  I failed miserably.

I was hoping my Saturday would go as I had planned with a morning soccer game, my youngest going to an all-afternoon birthday party and a mid-day matinee date with my beloved.  Wrong, again.  It had rained all night and morning and, since our house is finally completely healthy, we opted to skip the soccer game.  So, I thought I would tackle our bills and balancing the checkbook early.  Ha!  You ever make an error in your checkbook that you can't find after FOUR hours of searching?  And its not like I don't balance the thing bi-weekly.  Over and over and over again my husband and I searched for the error.  Finally, we gave up and decided we'd see where things were in a week.  I started paying the bills, looked down at the register and there it was!!  The error was now sticking out at me like a sore thumb.  Go figure.  By now, we've missed our window to go to the matinee and decided to watch the rest of the Griz game instead.  Saturday was now shot, but I did manage to fall asleep for about an hour.  Hey - its better than nothing.

Sunday came and I could not drag my tired self out of bed.  It was simply not happening.  My family headed off to church without me and I slept until about 9:30 - which is unheard of for me but I guess I needed it, didn't I?  I got up, did my morning run and came upstairs to make a pot of coffee when my family arrived back home with sad news.  We discussed that for a little bit and then headed out to sight my rifle in as I am going hunting next week.  I had a good time, as I love target shooting, but it was cold out.  When we returned home, I noticed that the for sale sign in front of our house was missing.  After a few phone calls we figured out that the mortgage company we are refinancing with, called our realtor and told him to remove our listing - without notifying us.  By the time we got this all figured out it was almost dinner time and a friend of ours was on his way over to go over the details of a piece of furniture he is going to build for us.  As our mtg was finishing up, it was now nearly 7:00 p.m. and I was ready to go vegetate in front of the t.v. for the remainder of the day.  X-Factor it was.  Not that I am a fan, but it required little participation on my part and worked perfectly. 

What a day.  What a weekend.  What a week.  I managed to get a few things done that I had originally planned, like pottery class, house cleaning, laundry, running, life group, sighting in my rifle and mtg with our friend, but there was little time for anything else with the constant interruptions.  When I considered how much these "interruptions" or "distractions" can throw one's "orbit" off, I remembered reading an interesting quote regarding those exact things.

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life -- the life God is sending one day by day.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Collected Works of C. S. Lewis

 

As I sit here, slightly convicted for being so whiny about what last week brought, I am reminded that these are the things that mold us into who we are.  Its not necessarily the events that occur, but how we react to them.  We can welcome all those "unscheduled" events with a smile or with a sigh.  We can look at every new day with rejoicing or regret.  We can do our best to plan our weeks and our lives or we can let our feet hit the floor with the readiness to handle whatever God brings our way.

 

That being said, I am going to work on trying to do a little less life-planning and a little more trusting God that, with or without my blogging, agendas or lists, my world will continue to orbit as it should and my solar system will indefinetly be on-line.

"Do I have to?!" ~ by Heather Oster

Being that my children have been born and raised in the "Age of Technology", it is becoming increasing difficult to find them toys and games that don't either involve an Xbox, Nintendo, Wii, computer or T.V. in general.  While I do enjoy the technology we have today, for its relatively easy and convenient use, I believe it has significantly reduced every child's need for imagination and the ability to entertain themselves.

I was at a store the other day and my son was using the gift card he'd received for his birthday.  We were in this store (that supposedly has everything) for 45 minutes.  Those minutes weren't spent trying to choose among many things, but trying to find just one thing he wanted.  There is very little there out there that requires any type of physical movement or thinking.  Which makes it really hard for a little boy who can't stand still or the idea of being by himself.

Having said that, let me also add that trying to get either of my boys to go outside and play at the park, without my attendance, is like pulling teeth, especially if they are by themselves.  The same goes for riding their bike, playing basketball or playing in the yard.  Neither of them are content to play by themselves.  Someone has to be with them and apparently, the imaginary friends are long gone.  

What happened here?  This is not how I remember my childhood.  I got sent outside all the time and never had any problem playing for hours in the dirt, or riding my bike, or playing basketball or whatever.  I didn't care.  I made it fun and I was always "by myself" and/or "on my own".  I think the difference comes from the times in which you are raised. 

I'm not too much into buying all this electronic stuff because it seems like once you buy one product, two months later they have something better and it goes on and on and on (kinda like this sentence).  So, I have strayed from it.  I have never spent money on an Xbox, Nintendo, nintendo DS or whatever else they have in those aisles.  However, I did break down and buy our boys a Wii a couple of years ago, which we have all enjoyed.

My concern is that it seems the only things my boys want to do is sit in front of T.V., play on the computer, watch their DVD players or fight over the Wii.  All of which requires them to do nothing, except occasionally slap each other.  They are zoned out and checked out.  Mumified. 

You might be thinking this has happened because I have allowed it to.  Actually, I haven't.  One of my house rules is that they spend 1 active hour outside, everyday, during the school year.  I don't care what they do, but they have to do something that requires movement and not a screen.  This is done with less complaining if they are together (until the fighting starts).  If they are on their own, oh the whining that accompanies my direction!!  You'd think I was making them pick rocks on the mountainside.  The terrible tragedy of it all.  Sniff.

Is this because children today are getting used to having someone or something else do the entertaining for them?  In order for them to have a good time, do they need to stare at a screen, of any variety, with little to no thought?  Why is there such fear and loathing when they are told to spend some time alone? 

I am so thankful some of these products have realized this problem and decided to make a change by including educational and/or physical material in said products.  Here are a few examples, of some positive changes, some of these companies have decided to implement.

1.  The Wii has "Fitness", "Dance Party" and "Biggest Loser" games for adults and kids.  Its a great alternative for the kids when they are indeed stuck in the house and can't get that extra hour of activity in.  It happens, here in Montana, sometimes. 

2.  There are some great after school programs on the T.V. that encourage learning and expanding minds.  I realize certain channels only come with certain programs, but if you can add a learning channel to your package, it is well worth the price.

3.  My son recently showed me a website that teaches science through today's music.  Let me explain that one better.  This teacher has taken popular songs from today and changed the words to be about all things science.  I know this method of teaching is working, because I've overheard both of my boys singing these songs, but with the lyrics to science instead of the original version. 

4.  I've also found another website that teaches children about our nation's history through cartoons.  We all know history can be a little boring (I mean, who can blame the kids, really?)  But, what a great way to teach children how our nation came to be what it is today?  A fantastic site that every child should see. 

There are both advantages and disadvantages to our "Age of Technology".  In some ways, its provided an extra avenue in which our children can learn and enjoy themselves.  In other ways, its partially removed a vital aspect of every child, their ability to imagine and entertain themselves.

I plan to continue to learn how I can get all these electronic gadgets to work in my children's (and my) favor.  I am quite positive there is way more out there than what I've found so far.  My sincerest desire is that I simply want them to have fun and enjoy the benefits of today, but at the same time have the ability to be creative and self-sufficient.  I just need to show them how to roll at that into one big package!

If you have any suggestions of educational websites, t.v. programs, wii games, etc. that would help encourage my children to be a little more self-reliant and imaginative, please post them below.  Your input and ideas are greatly appreciated.