Two in one, Little Buck and Thanksgiving.

I went deer hunting again on Saturday.  I got into my ground blind on Saturday afternoon early and was amazed at how nice it was in the woods.  Very little breeze, temp about 55, sun shiny day.  Blue jay and crows occasionally breaking the silence.  At about 2:30 or so, I noticed some movement back in the woods.  Sure looked like a deer walking toward me.  After he cleared a few trees and bushes, I cold see it was a buck.  Antlers glistening in the sunlight as he raised his head to lick a branch.  I raised my rifle slowly but could not see a clear shot in my scope.  He disappeared behind some bushes and tree trunks, so I waited.  It is common for deer to just stand in one place for several minutes.  A bit later I saw movement again, a flick of the tail.  I raised my rifle once more and scoped his hind quarters as he walked away.  I'm guessing he was about 150 yards away, through a lot of trees and limbs on the ground.  I tried  a little rattle of the horns to draw him back in, but he did not turn.  After a few minutes, I tried again, with a grunt call ... nothing.  I waited, 5 minutes became 20 and nothing.  Then I saw another deer, up hill to my right, I'm sure I saw it, but when I turned, nothing.  It disappeared, like the buck I'd seen a few minutes earlier.  So, i watched that patch of brush from where I thought I'd seen movement, but nothing.  5 minutes became 10, 20, 30, and then, I heard some leaf rustling behind and to the right.  Slowly I turned and there he was.  A baby buck with little button humps on his noggin.  This guy grazed on acorns for the next 2 hours, till dark.  I watched him, hoping he'd let me know that a bigger buck was approaching.  He got alarmed when a herd of wild pigs ran through the forest in the valley below us, but he did not run away, just raised his tail high and watched the pigs until they were out of sight and we could hear them no more.  He plopped himself down at the base of a tree and chewed his baby cud for at least 30 minutes.  I made kissy sounds, bleating sounds, even buck-grunting sounds and he hardly even acknowledged me.  I took 10 minutes of video, but it is all pretty boring, just watching a little baby buck browse.  Anyway, it got dark, so I rattled my horns, which sent the little buck bounding off into the forest in escape of what he thought was a monster buck attack.  Walked back to my 4-wheeler, spooking up the pigs again.   Randy shot a pig by his stand earlier that evening.  

I'm glad OU put it on Tech yesterday.  It will make it that much better when OSU beats them next week.

Zach is home for the holiday.  Shannon will be home wednesday.  What a great time to have our two youngest children back home for a bit.  

Thanksgiving is here.  It is the season of thankfulness, introducing the season of giving.  I think that giving of gifts is right.  Some have decided that the gift giving is atrocious, making a commercialization of the birth of Christ.  but if you are truly grateful, then what should you do?  Give. Give back.  Give to others.  We bless because we are blessed!  therefore, thanks ... giving!

We had a pastor when we first got married, who said all the time, "You can't out-give God"  Only he said caint.  I loved brother Al.  Any way, that may be a bit redneck, but wow, how simple and true that is.  If Jesus would have been born in a castle, and laid in a golden cradle, he still would have been humiliated, compared to the Glory he gave up in order to take on humanity.  And then, he gave up his life.  He gave up glory and traded his life for mine.  How could I ever out-give God.  I gave him my kids when they were born.  I gave him my business.  I gave him my voice, my mind, my everything.  It's weird though, because even though all I have and all that I am is his, I still have it.  It's kinda like it's borrowed, and someday I may have to give it all back, but not really like that.  Its more like he gave me all that I have and said, now go and share it with everyone you know.  share the wealth, so to speak.  Only, not like Obama.  He wants to take wealth from others and share it.  God wants me to take what he has given me  and be a good steward with it.  Wow.  I think i might be a little wastefull with what he has given me.  

I was just thinking, some people give from their problems.  I mean, like the sacrifice of the lame lamb, or the rotted grain.  It's easy to say, when your child is bad, 'Lord, I dedicate this one to you'.  It's like saying 'you can have him or her'.  When you can't deal with a problem such as health or finance and you say finally, It's in the hands of the Lord now.  Maybe we should have put it into his hands to begin with.