HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 We and the girls would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving..... 

Meeting Oliver

Hunting pretty much ended when Tom got his buck..... He glances out the window now and than the rest of the season and talked about trapping.  It may be a lack of deer but I feel it's more than that.  He said last night that even if a buck stepped out he wouldn't shoot it...........
 

So moving on with what "IS" still well in our lives....WE finally got to meet our NEW Grandson......"OLIVER"   They came up for a few days so we could all meet him.   He's beautiful and he's  perfect............ " LOVES"  his Gramma....

It was tricky getting to spend time with Oliver but Tom gave me all he had and the kids did their best to be available...... "It's a gift from all that I will TREASURE!

So now for a Silly Tom Story........

While I was off visiting Oliver, not too far from home, Tom was studying the law book and regulations about driving his 4-wheeler during hunting season if he wasn't hunting...... 

Tom has to re-read things a million times over to try figure out what it says and make sense of it..... and than most times he still can't make sense of it.  Finally he called the DNR.... As long as he was not hunting and carrying a gun he could drive his 4-wheeler in the woods and go "set traps".....

So yesterday morning after he had his coffee he went off to set some traps........ ON the way home he sees something orange on the trail..... as he got closer he seen it was  hunter with a bad limp........

As he pulled up he seen it was this elderly person (Larry) who has a shack very close to us.  Him and his wife (Ruth) come out hunting every year and in my opinion, that's scary all by it's self.

 Tom says "they got to be around 80 years old" ......... I'm not sure they are quite there yet.  AHH...... mentally they are a little scatter brained yet the sweetest people you ever met!  You gotta love 'em........

Anyway Larry fell getting down from his stand and was quite a ways away from the shack so Tom offered him a ride on the 4-wheeler...... Now, I'm chuckling already before he finishes the story because I know Tom's impairment of figuring things out.

"Larry's gotta weigh 400 lbs and he's short"  Tom continues. "So I had a hell of a time getting him on the 4-wheeler.  After I got him on I realized there isn't any place for me to ride because I couldn't get him to back up and give me a place.  So I had to ride on the gas tank........"

"THAN I ran over his gun!"  Tom blurts out.  I said..."You what?"  "Well I leaned the gun against the 4-wheeler and by the time I got Larry on  I was so nervous I forgot about the gun and ran over it"

I raised my eyebrows and looked at him with questions in my eyes..... He chuckled and said "it didn't hurt the gun and Larry said oh that's okay... you can't hurt that old gun......"  as if to justify what happened.  Than Tom added that it was an old gun and didn't have a scope etc........

I held my look and he knew what it meant as we said at the same time.... that's not the point...IT COULD HAVE BEEN LOADED AND WENT OFF!!!!

I know he said BUT..........

So he went on to say ......."when we drove up to the shack Ruth came running out." Tom now changes his voice to an old women voice, "  thank you so much for bringing Larry home.........NOW Larry,  you know you do this every year," she scolds.  Tom laughs. 

Tom noted that the next day Larry rode his 4-wheeler to his stand.  My guess is that Tom was checking on the old fart......

The Xmas Tree.....

Tom and I shared a great love for Christmas Lights.  When we lived in Colorado for 10 years our place looked like the Grizwalds..... Our light displays brought joy to many..... and we even won a contest one year.

We would put our lights up Thanksgiving Day or just after....... Every year was a trip to the store for more lights.....

Well last year we ( I ) decorated a tree outside the house..... The to-dos of Christmas decorations around the house get him all "befuddled"......This one tree we left on all winter as it became our sunshine on cloudy days and long dark nights...... (short days of winter)

So this year I gathered extra lights from those who had extra and wrapped our tree generously in lights..... IT lights up our whole neck of the woods.... I wanted to get it done for our first snow fall....... for now,  they aren't plugged in.

So when Abby was here I waited till after dark.  Than I turned off most of the lights in the house.  Than I stood her in front of the window where the tree with lights was.  I told her to stand there as I had a really big surprise for her....

Than I stepped outside and lit up the tree.......  OH MY!!!!!!   With her eyes as big as saucers, she gasped......... "Gramma!  It's so beautiful!!! " 

She said it was like..... (she put her hands slowly into the air singing...) "♬ AH..... AH....... AHHH ♪"   her soft voice warbles on the last note. Her precious little face and big blue eyes looking to the heavens, like she had just seen an angel.............



 

 I will forever remember that moment when the tree is lit...... Children are amazing gifts from God!  WE are so blessed......

Still Hunting.....

Tom's been having better days......He has been sitting the evenings in his stand since he shot his buck.... We have one more license to fill so he can still "HOPE" for the "BIG BUCK".....

He has good intentions for the morning to sit in his stand but can't get up........I get up and watch for him just in case "The Big Bad Boy" shows himself.......

We got quite a laugh last night......

Tom had earlier in the day went out to get the mail and a doe followed by a buck crossed the dive way and he didn't have his gun......It started out being a "nice buck"  to a "Really Big Buck!" every time he tells the story but in reality if it was a nice buck following a doe and neither were afraid...... That would be " Lou Lou and Bucky"

ANY WAY the funny story now.........A doe came in and was grazing...... I could see Tom in his stand watching her(through my binoculars) and I was watching her from the house.....  She started to watch toward the woods.... I was on the edge of my seat so I can imagine so was Tom.  Than we seen a flash of white and thought here comes a Buck....... She started stomping her feet..............out of the woods came a white rabbit....?????

I started laughing because it fooled me and I figured it had Tom going too.... and it did! 

✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂✂              

My sister and her husband (Harry) gave us the buck he shot opening day....So Tom helped me get them skun out and than he sat near by as I cut up the deer and he kept my knives sharp for me.....

I know....how sweet was that....ONLY problem is Tom can not sharpen a knife well....It's a hit and miss thing.  NOW this is not an Alzheimer's thing.  Tom has NEVER been able to sharpen a knife.  When we were up in Canada moose hunting, he'd take a file to the knives...OH BOY! 

BUT what is an Alzheimer's thing is that I tell him over and over he can not use a stone on the knives ALL the time or my favorite knives will no longer be able to hold an edge....... He says okay and then he goes back at it.........

So I decided it could be worse.........he could be using a file................  : )

It's A Buck!

Tom hadn't seen a deer  and it was now Sunday evening.  He was in his stand and evening was closing in once again. 


Not many shots have been heard down in these parts of the woods since opening, so Tom wasn't feeling alone.  He sat there thinking it was going to be another uneventful night.

Sunday while Tom sat in his stand.......Me and my girls (dogs) went to Littlefork to get one of our grand daughters for the night.  It was Abby's turn and she was so excited!!!!!!!  They didn't have school on Monday and Grampa thought it would be good if Gramma had company while he hunted.

Abby and the girls were playing in the bed room when I seen a deer come out from behind the stand.  I got Abby and sat her on a chair near but not too close to the window so she could see Grampa get his deer. 

She loves hunting and just seen her Dad get his the day before.  The deer crossed over in front of the stand into Tom's sights.  We waited quietly for the deer to turn and stop.  Seemed like forever.

Than "K A - B O O M!!!!!!!!"   Abby nearly fell off her chair as she screamed  " HE GOT IT.....YEAH!!!!!! GRAMPA GOT THE DEER!!!!!"
 
We waited for Grampa to come get us and when he came through the door she said to Grampa with excitement in her voice.. "Grampa...it just fell over like Daddy's did this year!  It just fell over"

It was a good hit...right through the neck....and it dropped like a ton of bricks...right in it's tracks.....
 

We headed out to check out his deer.  Abby kept running ahead and Grampa would have to call her back.......

Abby made it extra fun for us.  She was so proud and excited and it made Grampa feel so good.  He'd just giggle at her.

♡ ♡  ♡  ♡ ♡ ♡  ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡  ♡
 

Big gifts come in little packages and she was a very special gift that night.  As she laid curled up against me that night in our big bed and the girls all snuggled in around us, Grampa popped his head up and looked at us all and I could see the biggest, warmest, most loving look on his face.  Than he snuggled in and fell asleep with the rest of us.

"That story was for Tom..... He loved how I wrote it.... It's the way he knows it should have been......."

✄✄  ✄  ✄ ✄  ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄  ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄  ✄ ✄ ✄
Year after year.....the week before opening... cleaning the gun...sighting it in... where is my this and where is my that.  Sleepless nights.....past hunting stories are told...gearing up for that opening morning was a yearly ritual.

Awake all night, watching the clock...finally it's time to get up and head for the stand.....Breathing is heavy almost gasping for air as the adrenalin rushes in with the anticipation of what the morning light will show.

This year the DAY before opening he put heat in his stand...vacuumed out the flies and washed his windows.  I gathered together the rest of the things that he need in his stand.......and brought it to him.  He seemed to be unconcerned or excited about any of it.

He didn't sleep that night but many a nights he lay awake and finally drifts off to sleep in the am.  Hence his sleeping till ten most mornings.  He made coffee at four and I woke around five. 

He asked "Mom? I don't know if I should get up or not."  "The chances of deer coming in are probably slim so why don't I go watch from the window and you try to sleep." I replied.  He liked that answer and snuggled in.

Saturday was to be a beautiful sunshiny day and I could so see the change in him from who he was so I encouraged him to go ride around with a friend that day. That is something he NEVER liked to do during hunting unless it was to just go see what everybody else had gotten.

I had a brief talk with a nice young man (Bob) who likes Tom and Tom responds to him well.  So I have no worries when Tom is with him.

Bob was here by nine and Tom was ready to go.  The only order I gave him was to relax and enjoy the beautiful day. He promised he would.  So off he went.  I felt like a Mom sending her kid off on a first.........

They returned at 5:30 pm  just after dark..... They seemed to have had a nice day.... Tom was not real responsive.  Kind of zombie like.  He said he was tired and starving.  I had super ready and he scarfed it down.  We were in bed and lights out by 8 pm.  Normally it's 10:00 or later.

This morning I woke to let the girls out to go potty and made coffee......I seen a tail of a deer skip off.  I let the girls in and tried to get Tom excited by telling him there was a deer out there.  He replied in a soft voice  "that's nice" ....................

I asked how he slept and he said he slept hard all night.  He woke once soaking wet from a night mare.  I remember that as I felt his wet head......... and I heard the phone ring by his head at 9:30 and he didn't even stir.

So I sit here this morning (as he went back to sleep)  my heart is breaking.....the tears I held back now flow freely down my cheeks.  Last year it was his enthusiasm for fishing and now his love for hunting....... These were his PASSIONS in life. These things are what made Tom who he was along with the "stories" he would tell.

I wrote that Sunday morning.......

Tom has only sat in the stand once and that was the evening he got his deer.  He showed NO excitement when he got it...... It was meat.

To others he tells stories of what he would do in the past....... Get up before day light and sit till dark..........

So I sit here hurting alone and in silence.... as the rest of the world thinks nothing is wrong.  He is able to hide this disease and what it is doing to him from most of the world for now.........But it does not change what is.............

The Shed

I invited Sanj out yesterday to help me build a little shelter/shed for the snow blower this winter.  We don't have a garage or anything.  Right now it is sitting in Tom's shack out of the weather but NOT where you want it when you want to use it.

In all fairness...Tom was not born with ANY carpenter skills what so ever..... NONE.
So add the lack of ability to put a simple puzzle together and his lack of reasoning.........that's good enough attitude and frustration from all the above, I understandably did not want his help.

So I did not tell Tom about my plan as he was going to go look for deer sign anyway.........the yucky weather had him cooped up in the house for a few days and need to go get some fresh air........

I had some 2x4's and nails.  My brother in law had some log siding and Sanj picked up some tin roofing.......When Sanj arrived I told Tom something about Sanj and I were gathering things from the woods for crafts....BUT when Harry drove in with the siding it blew my cover story right out of the water......

The look in Tom's eyes were pure terror!!! I teased we were making a deer stand for me.....he didn't laugh and I went to help Harry unload the siding.  Sanj explained we wanted to build this shed by ourselves because she wanted to learn how to do stuff like this . It was a mother- daughter thing blah blah blah........

So he decided he better stay home and "help"   I said no.....we can do this ourselves.....so he asked about my plans and I showed him a rough draft and he went on to explain all the things I already knew.......he reluctantly said "okay!

Than he decided he better stay home and help us and I said no...you go and when you get back, if we are having trouble than you can help.  He reluctantly said
"okay!"

He started the 4-wheeler to warm it up and explained a few more things on my draft that I needed to remember.....Than he decided he better stay home and help........

He finally left and we got to work..... we had the frame up and starting the siding when he came home.  "WOW "he said with a proud smile on his face....."GOOD JOB" he added........

 

WELL the next thing we know Tom is cutting our siding pieces and than he is nailing them on....with his good enough attitude they were a bit off.....at one point he said he'd do the nailing because it was too hard on us.......

He also said we weren't going to have enough siding and we would have to just use Boise felt.....come to think of it he asked me that when were we going over my plans too...he said "why don't you just use Boise felt?  I said "why would I use Boise felt when I have log siding?" He said " I guess I don't know why"

Any way we had plenty of siding. Tom's sister and husband dropped by with some things for us and that gave us time to get some on ourselves.......
 

THAN the roof....He asked if I was using tarp for the roof.....I said. "Sanj bought tin roofing.  "Oh yeah I forgot" he said. 
 

 We got the roofing on but Tom made a lot of frustrated trips into the house to release his steam valve and back out just to have to go back in again.........
Actually I was amazed that he was able to do that.  Usually he just let's her blow on the spot.  Sanj's presence made the difference.

I think what Sanj got out of the whole experience is that you don't want to do any projects with Tom around because he WILL help... "BLESS HIS HEART!"

OH BOY! : )

 Short funny story:  Saturday am Tom switched the tv to some sports channel and there was an older women on there skinning a beaver in her kitchen.  Tom said, "see MOM...that could be you.  I'll go trap the beaver and you can skin them like that."   I said. "or not!"  lol

This week end Tom also lined himself up a couple of part time jobs.  He called  few loggers he knows and they said sure.  When they need an extra hand they will give him a call.  So he is really happy about that.

The phone calls were real as I listened.  BUT they know Tom has Alz. so they always tell him that.  He feels good about it.  Tom loved to work!  And he misses it!

In December, our son in law, who is a foreman, usually has Tom come out to the woods a couple of days, to run skidder but keeps him away from every body else and keeps a close eye on him the whole time.  Than Tom's satisfied and is done with it for another year.

I am hoping today Tom will work on getting his deer stand set up for deer hunting.  Secondly I pray a big buck comes out and Tom shoots it "dead" and we will be done with our hunting for another year.  AMEN!

For those who worry about the safety of Tom hunting....This picture of his deer stand was taken from the house.  : )