I built one deer stand in a small red oak on the edge of a small opening surrounded by briar and thickly planted pine mixed with the ocassional hardwood that had survived the timber companies assault. It's so thick, even when you get up above the brush, you can't see anything near the ground. Instead, I hollowed out a opening in the midst of the thick packed inner branches, maybe ten feet off the ground and put a couple of two by four's topped with a scrap piece of plywood. The shot (the only shot!) is six solid steps. I told you, I like it up close and personal. It's going to be one of those you see him or you don't and I can't hunt it with any type of East wind. Coming to a full draw without him seeing me is going to be the problem.

I, also jumped three rabbits in three different areas. That should please Uncle NoPass, the grumpy old goat. He is getting more and more hard headed and opinionated. I'm glad I ain't like that.
Heh!

The dogs were in good shape. Not that I was surprised. Uncle NoPass takes better care of a animal than a grown up. He figures its a person's job to look out for themselves. The domesticated animals have no choice or ability. That's something I'm beginning to believe about most people now days.

It's in the air

The hatred is well ingrained into my body and soul.
When I was single digits, things were tough for my parents. Sometimes, it was hard for them to make the $55 monthly mortgage and my mother skimped and cut corners to save money.

It was always something. Sometimes it was sewing up my repeatedly ripped pants from Summerville Elementary school’s asphalted playgrounds or buying fifteen cents worth of 32.9 cent a gallon gas , so she could make it to the station that sold it for 29.9 a gallon or any of the other many ways she always found to save a dime. Her own upbringing on a fifty acre dirt farm near Wedowee, Alabama saw to that. Whether she was frugal, cheap, thrifty, economical, sparing, penny-wise, careful, parsimonious and prudent or just a spendthrift remains to be seen. But while she would skimp on the basics, she would spend on my sister, MisDemeanor, and my self’s extras.

But this post isn’t about that, it’s about the oatmeal. Someone told me a while back that oatmeal was good for lowering your cholesterol numbers. And after a recent bout with a heart doctor and a stent for the heart, I decided to start really paying attention. I'll report back this fall how my numbers shape up. In order to avoid having to undergo the heart work again anytime soonm I’m willing to try anything, even oatmeal.

It’s not clear exactly why I hate oatmeal so much. I know I had it for most breakfasts, but then there were a lot of foods that we had repeatedly over and over and over again that I actually still like. It was amazing how many meals that woman could get out of one chicken to feed a family of four. I still enjoy a yard bird in most of it’s forms. And despite the repeated lunches of tomato soup, I still enjoy a cup of it on cold days.

Oatmeal?
I totally despise it. Breakfasts with 2, here lately, are amusing to him. We ride up to the McDonalds at the stadium every morning, where he used to have a biscuit with the rest of the old farts till he broke his hip. His order varies every morning. A senior coffee and a….., while mine is consistent, a Large cup of coffee.

Getting back to his house, he waits patiently till I dump three packs of the instant oatmeal, two packs of various flavors ( I especially despise the maple) and one regular into a bowl. That's right, in order to get my three grams of soluble fiber that is recommended to mop up the cholesterol remaining in your system after the Lipitor and fish oil and the olive oil and the… I eat three servings of the stuff.

I sit and spoon the oatmeal up into the air mixing it thoroughly with the nuked water, letting it drop back into my bowl, repeatedly while trying to get up the desire to put a spoonful into my mouth. It is actually amazing, once I get the awful stuff into my mouth, how much chewing is actually required before I can swallow it. Meanwhile the flashbacks start as 2 says “Will you quit playing with your food and eat?”