So....it has been busy around here. I won't bore you with all the details, just some of my favorites.
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My co-worker's replacement started a couple of weeks ago and she is delightful. (Except she slurps her soup when she eats at her desk. Aaaacccckkkk.) She is nearly self-directed already, and I am finally getting to my own projects. I am really, really behind and I have an anxious tummy, but I am crossing things off my weekly punch list and that makes me feel better.
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Just a few short moments ago, I caught a potentially very bad boo-boo on a printer's proof. I feel crappy I sent the file to the printer that way but I suppose I should feel better that I caught it before it was printed 33,000 times. Yes? Goodness, I am so fucking relieved that I can start to actually FOCUS on MY WORK again. Damn.
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I went hunting with A. again last weekend. We saw a lot of deer, but they were all outside of his range. We stalked one herd for nearly a mile and a half before losing them.
I actually had a lot of fun out there with A. Of course, we didn't come home with a dead deer. I might have felt differently about things if it had been a "successful" hunt.
A. and I got along so well out there. I got to see A. in his element. I saw how much he admires and respects these creatures, the land. I am unabashedly proud of him. He is a good, good man.
I learned a lot. I learned that there is a simultaneously a lot of hard work and sitting around involved in hunting. I learned I can only tolerate a few minutes of staring out of a scope before I get antsy and bored. I learned that I can, indeed, fall asleep and take a nap totally unprotected, lying on dirt, rocks and yes, deer poop. I learned that deer look a helluva lot like sagebrush. I learned that the term "stotting" (when the deer do that graceful bouncy thing). I learned that they cover a lot of ground by stotting, and that the maneauver is not solely for my delight. I learned that those huge, adorable ears of a deer are a great defense mechanism and that I am not very good at remembering to whisper. I learned how to read a BLM map (though not very well). I learned that A. knows that country very, very well and that his relationship with it is fierce.
I made a real effort not to complain, even when I was uncomfortable. Fortunately, the weather cooperated during both trips and though last weekend was cold, it wasn't wet or snowy or muddy or freezing. A. helped me climb down a really steep little ditch because he remembered that shit makes me freak out a bit, and I belly crawled through dirt and deer poop when necessary because I remembered that it was important to A. that a hunt be done properly. No wusses allowed.
All in all, it was a really wonderful experience. I am truly honored and touched that A. asked me to join him, in this particular area of land especially.
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Hunting season ended with sunset on Saturday, so we got to spend all of Sunday hanging out with A.'s family. It was a lovely, laid-back kind of weekend. No nieces or nephews were there, so it was quiet and relaxed.
It was one of the best weekends of my life.
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That, in spite of the fact that Belle got herself sprayed by a skunk at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night. I'd let the dogs out for one last potty before bedtime. Why? WHY? Why couldn't I just take my chances and see if they'd wake me up in the middle of the night? WHY?
The idiots were outside for all of two minutes, but Belle still managed to get herself into a pickle. When I went to let them in, Buster came trotting right back in. Belle, however, didn't. I could hear her rustling around in some leaves, out of sight. I figured she found something. I started over toward her. Before I got to her she bolted right past me, into the house.
It wasn't until she'd passed me and was already inside that I caught a whiff of skunk. The realization was swift. And horrible. OH, NO. And that damn dog was already inside A.'s mom's house!
SSSSSHHHHHHIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!
I caught the little shit before she could start squirming around on the carpet, spreading the stench. I had her back outside in 10 seconds, but boy, 10 seconds was enough to make that house reek for two days. (Saturday night we all went to a concert at a local high school and everyone around us was commenting on how they smelled a skunk. The stench permeated all of our coats. My purse has to be trashed. Horrid. Also, totally hilarious. We are the skunk people!) While I was holding her and trying to clean her up with vinegar I really thought my eyes were going to melt out of my head.
A. found the following homemade recipe online, and you guys, it took that skunk oil right out of Belle's coat. She only faintly smells of skunk now, and only when you rub her on the neck where she got sprayed. This recipe is pure gold. PURE GOLD.
Skunk Odor Removal Home Remedy
Ingredients
- 3% Hydrogen Peroxide - 1 Quart
- Baking Soda - 1/2 Cup
- Liquid Dish Soap - 2 Teaspoons
Directions
- Begin by mixing the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and liquid dish soap.
- Immediately massage the skunk odor removal solution into the dog or cat's fur and skin. [Don't give your pet a full bath at this point. All you will do is spread the skunk oil throughout their entire coat. Try and just clean the affected areas.]
- Continue to work the skunk odor remedy into the pet's fur, as would be done with shampoo.
- After ten minutes, thoroughly rinse the solution from the pet's fur using running water.
- If the odor remains, repeat steps 1 through 4 again. Hydrogen Perixide might discolor the fur of your pet.
You are welcome. Gold, you guys! Pure gold!
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A. would be so disappointed if I forgot to mention that we sat next to Wilfred Brimley when we stopped in this itsy-bitsy town for lunch on Saturday, just a few miles north of where we were hunting. He will forever remember us as The Skunk People, as we still smelled from the night before.
Good times! when we went into this
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