2010 hunting day 4

Yeppers ... I'm still at it ... trying to join the rank of thousands in the state and harvest a deer.  So far ... my luck has not been with me.  Nor has it been there for Mom or my brothers although my nephew Billy got a 7 pointer today. 

How my day went:

It was around 1:00 this afternoon before I even thought of getting my butt out into the woods.  It's cold out ~ in the 20's and even though I have my little shack to sit in ~ I still have to get a fire going in it and get it warmed up in there to be comfortable.  Today was not a good fire starting day for me.  I swear ... half the magazines now days are made of fire retardant materials.  After scrounging around in my pile of junk mail that I took out there for fire starting purposes it dawns on me ... I have only two matches left on the shelf ~ so I better do this right.  I crumple up some paper ... add a few dry twigs and strike the match.  DANG!!! My match goes out before I even set it to the paper.  Great ... now I have one match. 

Okay... here goes nothing.  I light the second match, making sure I'm closer to the paper this time before I strike the match.  The sulphur on the match gives a quick little spark and goes out.  Are you kidding me!!  Now here I am without a fire and without any more matches.  Then I notice the match that just fizzled on me has a minute, tiny little bit of sulphur that hasn't ignited  .... good enough for one more try.  Fingers crossed ~ I strike ... and it ignites!! I quickly hold the flame under the paper ... and the paper just curls and gets black but doesn't go up in flames.  Stupid fire retardant paper ... I hate junk mail !!  I drop the match because it's getting too close to my fingers but it's still burning.  I notice on the floor a piece of birch bark about the size of a dime.  I pick that up and hold it to the remaining match flame.  Time is of the essence!  It ignites the birch bark ... which is just enough to ignite the little twigs I have over the paper ... the bark and the twigs are burning before the stupid fire retardant paper ~ unbelievable... finally... the paper catches hold and my fire takes off.  All in all .... it took me about half an hour messing around to get this fire going.  AND why I ask myself am I doing this ???  Oh I remember ~ because I like swearing at junk mail and burning it up!!! 
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The sun is shining ... maybe my disposition will improve.  It's been so dreary and gray outside, kinda like my hair.  I just got a bunch of it cut off and all my summer blonde is gone and it's looking quite drab.  I feel like a gray barbie ~

Not that I ever looked like a blonde barbie ... lol

~~~
The twilight hour is approaching.  That last hour before the sun goes down ~ the shadows in the woods are becoming more prominent ... and rather eerie looking. 

An owl just flew in and landed briefly on the stump that the sentry red squirrel uses to chatter to himself.   He's only there for a few seconds and silently flies off as quietly as he flew in.  They're amazing ... how quiet they are ... all you hear is little swoosh of it's wing and it's gone.  In fact, it really was there so briefly I'm not even 100% sure it was an owl; possibly it was a hawk because it's head seemed too small for an owl.   Hopefully, it was in the right place just long enough that the trail camera got it's picture.  I'll find out tomorrow when Sam switches out the SD cards for me.  I'd do it tonight when I'm done hunting; but like bringing a watch ... I also forgot to bring along another card.  I am soooooooo forgetful!!

Until next time...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel