Tree Stands

So Josh and I spent most of our Sunday afternoon assembling and putting up a new tree stand. This was my first attempt at putting one together, so Josh took on the role as teacher. I must say that it makes me pretty nervous that the one thing that is keeping me from falling fifteen feet to my death, was put together by yours truly. I feel like there should be a professional doing this, not some girl from Jersey who didn't know what a bolt was. (All I could think of was the movie with that cute little white dog). Josh loaded up the car and we went out to the shop to put it together. While he took all the parts out of the box and lined them up meticulously on our "tool tray," I roamed the shop to see what super cool things I could find. My favorite find for the day was this little blue scooter thing, that Josh said is used to slide under cars when you are working on them. Apparently you lay on your back and then push yourself under the vehicle. This does not seem safe to me, so instead I knelt on it and scooted myself around the shop. Much safer.

Once all of our tools and parts were lined up we got to work. By we, I really mean Josh, I just kind of bounced around for most of the beginning. Once we got into it though he taught me how to use the adjustable wrench, identify a nut from a bolt, where washers go (in between the metal so it can move), what a gusset it, and a string of new curse words that I would have never been creative enough to put together. (Kidding, that happened once he was climbing into the tree...). We got the tree stand together relatively easily, with only minor goofing off by me. I wish I would have had a camera because my creative juices were flowing! I managed to turn the seat into a pair of wings...which was awesome until I got myself stuck in them. And then I used the seat as a shield and tried to entice Josh into jousting with me. A great idea until I thought about how dangerous that actually was.

We went and got the tractor, and I came up with the brilliant way to load it in the bucket...thank you Master's degree. Off we went, into the woods. Once we got to our spot, Josh and his dad worked on choosing the correct tree, and I ate raspberries off of the bushes. The bugs were pretty bad, and I am zero help at this point, so I climbed another tree stand nearby and watched from there. I have found that there are less bugs the higher you go. This is also the part of putting up a tree stand that I HATE. They lean the stand against the tree, it is not strapped up there at this point, and Josh climbs up it, while it wiggles and jiggles, and tries to get it strapped while not falling fifteen feet. I closed my eyes. It took three attempts because the backrest kept slipping down, preventing it from adhering to the tree. Finally she was up and usable...but still a little too wiggly for my taste. Apparently it will "settle" and the wiggling should stop. I'll believe it when I see it-thank God for my safety harness.

The most amazing sausage recipe ever...

As most hunters, or wives of hunters know, deer season is around the corner and with that comes a freezer full of meat. What that means to me, is that we had better work our way through our already full freezer of meat before that happens. Unfortunately, I am sick of making the same thing over and over and over. There are only so many things that you can do with sausage. Luckily for me, my Real Simple magazine came just in time (thank you Ali for the subscription). So last night I tested out my new recipe on Josh and it was a BIG hit! For all you non-venison eaters out there, you can easily substitute the venison sausage for turkey or chicken sausage.

Ingredients:
1 lb. of cooked venison sausage cut into small pieces
12 oz of gnocchi (pasta)
1/4 c. of pesto
1/4 c. of grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. frozen peas
1 c. green beans cut into one inch pieces
oil
salt

1. Heat water for pasta with a pinch of salt and splash of olive oil. Meanwhile, brown (or cook if raw) the sausage in a skillet.

2. Drain pasta, but reserve one cup of cooking water. Add peas and green beans to the sausage and cook until veggies are soft.

3. Combine pasta with sausage and veggie mixture, then mix in pesto and Parmesan cheese.

Cody!

We had another great weekend at the cabin! Josh and I are so blessed to live so close to our family, and to be able to spend tons of time with them. We definitely operate under the "family comes first" belief, and this weekend was a perfect example of spending some amazing quality time with everyone. Luckily for us our nephew, Cody, was in town from Texas, and he was at the cabin this weekend also. He is almost five and loves every second of hanging out with his uncles. Josh and Jarrid love to roughhouse and torment him, but Cody loves it and keeps coming back for more. The highlights for the little man this weekend were: riding in the ranger and swimming in the pond. I will preface this by saying the pond is a disgusting mess of dirty brown water, teeming with catfish, snakes, and probably a million other creatures that I do not wish to know about. It was basically a four year old (and thirty year old) boy's dream!

Cody also loved feeding Jarrid's deer, and I was lucky enough to capture some of it on video. The babies are down to being bottle fed only twice a day (down from five times a day), so that leaves some more time for fun!

Old Videos!

I was transferring some old videos off of my Kodak Cam and found a few good ones!

This one is from back in the spring when Josh and I were in South Carolina. Those of you who read my snake story, this was the same night. Please excuse my horrible hog calling...I am pretty sure that is NOT what they are supposed to sound like!

New Toys!

At the start of summer, Josh and I took our arrows to Swatara Creek Outfitters to have our arrows wrapped. He wanted white wraps so that they were easier to see after he shoots. I wanted....I'll let you guess.....pink camouflage! I also had pink fletchings added, instead of the boring green ones I had. It is going to look fabulous! We finally go the call that they are in, so take a look! I am beyond thrilled at how they turned out. For all you pink haters out there, it is one of the easiest colors to spot in the woods.

Josh and I were out shooting my bow a few weeks ago, warming up for the fall. I can't believe how long it has been since I have worked with my bow. Definitely time to get started! I figured it was like riding a bike...not so much. It began with me picking up my bow backwards and trying to put an arrow in. Lucking I figured that out pretty quickly. Then I forgot to put my release on...until I tried pulling the bow back and realized something was missing. Finally I had my arrow knocked and ready to shoot. I slowly pulled back and....BAM! I had my finger on my release and managed to shoot my arrow and simultaneously punch myself in the face. Great beginnings! Luckily my bad luck ended, or my memory kicked in, and I was able to shoot about fifteen consecutive shots. All were pretty good, minus a few bummers.

Sorry it took me so long!

My newly wrapped arrows!

 

 

 

These are my fancy new deer farming shoes!

Practicing with my bow. Archery season is just around the corner!

Not too shabby!

For some reason I can't shoot without squinting up my face.

Happy July everyone! Sorry it has been so long since my last post...life has gotten away from me a little bit. We've been pretty busy the last few weeks, hope you enjoyed the updates! We will be heading out to see the deer (and Jarrid and Ali) again soon, so check back for more pictures of the babies!