Opening Weekend 2011

It was the opening weekend for deer hunting (with a rifle) this weekend in ND.  I did what I usually do and went to meet Justin at his cousin's farm.  The weather was pretty warm and the deer were not showing themselves they way they sometimes do.  It seems that the horrendous winter we had last year was hard on the deer population.  I love a fun "class B" weekend.  The chili dinner with friends and family on Friday night, crowded bar later on Friday night, roaming around outdoors on Saturday (where a buck emerged from the grass right in front of me only to meet his demise seconds later) and the lefse making at my mom's house on Saturday afternoon added up to a lovely weekend.  Oh, and there was the "smoker" on Saturday night...if you are not familiar, a smoker is an event, historically attended only by men but now open to women, where you buy a ticket, get a meal, unlimited booze, and the chance to win some big prizes.    If you go back to my opening weekend post from last year, you will see my mom's big win from last year's smoker!  Also, there are plenty of gaming opportunities including blackjack and other card games, a wheel of chance, and dice games.  The proceeds are used for the purposes of the volunteer fire department and the event is held at the fire hall. 

This was my first time at this event.  Fortunately for me and my current condition, the smoker became smoke free recently!  The stogey fog has lifted!  The lone smokers had to smoke outside!  I was unsure about attending this sort of event sober because it really is an all night booze fest with no set ending time.  Apparently some guys stay up all night!  I was concerned that I would be the only sober person there and I think I was.  I know no one else was reaching for the O'Douls that was stashed way in the back of the one of the refridgerators!  It was enjoying talking to lots of people I grew up with and pretending my O'Douls was something else when I learned that I had won a wheel spin!  I had purchased a $10 chance and ended up winning $100!  Yeeaaaahh!!!!  Then my brother-in-law won a 50 inch TV!  I guess this event is lucky for our family.  I later ended up losing $9 while playing dice but I played for about 2 hours so I thought losing $9 wasn't so bad.

  The next day my mom went into the no man's land otherwise known as the attic and dug out our old bassinette.  I have no idea where this thing was stashed because I have rummaged around in the attic plenty of times over the years and I can't remember seeing it.  It was a mess.  Back in 2003, the roof was shingled and alot of debris and dirt fell through the bare boards of the room when the old shingles were removed.  My mom cleaned most of it up but this thing was so out of the way that it got overlooked.  Fortunately, it cleaned up nicely and the sheet and skirt were protected in a bag.  Apparently my grandma made that skirt for my aunt back in 1990 when she had her first child.  The bassinette was originally purchased for me and was used by me and my siblings and three cousins as well.  The mattress is so tiny!  I am going to get a new mattress...I researched it online and there are many varieties, from a very basic version to a fancy organic hypoallergenic version with the same measurements still available. 

In international baby related news, there are rumors that Princess Katherine might be pregnant because she has been captured on film holding her abdomen protectively like in the photo above.  Also, she turned down peanut paste (whatever that is...maybe it is like peanut butter).  Oops...I have been eating peanut products through my whole pregnancy...

If the rumors end up being true this will be so great!  My kid will be the same age as the royal baby!  I can check out Kate's maternity clothes and try to copy her look (if such a thing is possible wearing clothes from Motherhood Maternity and Old Navy and dresses from the 80% off rack at Kohls).  If she is pregnant she better stop following that outlandish diet that everyone was talking about before the wedding and start chowing down on some high calorie foods because she is so skinny! That baby will rob all the protein from her muscles and the calcium from her bones!

Oh, back to hunting...no deer for Justin yet...my brother-in-law on Justin's side got a buck on Saturday and so did my roommate/brother-in-law Kirk.  Justin's friend shot a doe on Saturday as well.  I will spare everyone the bloody deer photos.  They don't really bother me but they are not my favorite things to look at either.  I know people who aren't around hunting sometimes find them kind of disturbing so I will leave them off of here.