Fuckin Leaves...and my weekend

All in all, a fairly good weekend but the weather is turning to crap and the damn leaves are piling up....again, as I type.

Saturday morning, did my usual coffee and newspaper...inside though because of the temperature....and the freakin wind. Now, I know its not cold yet, 29 degrees Saturday morn, but fuck, last Saturday it was 74!

I sat there looking out the window....cussing every fuckin leaf that was on my yard. Oh, yeah...thats how I refer to them....."fuckin leaves". Every sentence I say when this topic comes up with any of my buddies, starts off with "Fuckin leaves......" As a matter of fact, they start theirs off the same way.

It's not like I don't try to stay on top of this shit...I've already done the fuckin things 3 times and it's extremely likely I'll have another 3-4 times before its all over with. I have a few trees, 7 of 'em....not as many as others, more than some..but most of them are over 80' fuckin high...and trees that large do produce a lot of fuckin leaves. I wouldn't mind it so if two of my lazy-ass fuckin no account neighbors would bother doing their own fuckin leaves...instead of lettin them sit there til they blow over into my yard. WTF?? Don't people have any sense of responsibility? Sheesh....can't even believe I asked that question....of course they fuckin don't.

So, I put my on my 'cold-weather shit' and go outside...geez...the fuckin wind was brutal. Didn't take all that long to get done, maybe 3 hours. I only 'bag' the front yard. The back, I just keep going over them, mulching, til they're gone....tempted the whole time to bag it all and then dump the shit in my neighbors drive.....but, they'd just fuckin blow back to mine anyhow.

Got that shit done and went to Best Buy. My Dad's remote quit working, well, it worked some, but half-ass. I told him I'd get him a 'Universal' remote that operated his shit. Found a pretty decent one for $20 (fuck...they had some that were $300!). Went by there, programmed it with his TV and his DVD player (couldn't get his VCR to work with it but I don't think he ever uses it anyhow). Works fine and now he doesn't have to get up and manually change stations or adjust volume. Then I dropped by "SV" for abit. Not much going on there, so I was home by 3:00.

Next weekend is the start of firearms Deer Season here. In the past, I fuckin lived for 'Opening Day'. The excitement and the anticipation that I felt back then is something I really can't put into words. Ask any hunter, he'll tell you.

However, the last couple of years I haven't gone. More to do with location of where I used to go than anything else.....its almost 4 hours away, well, the 'hassle factor' is also there. To me, anymore, I pretty much weigh everything on the 'hassle factor'. If I spend more time aggravated then basically, the hassle isn't fuckin worth it.

But....a friend of mine recently purchased 200 acres only about 30 minutes from my house...very wooded and pretty secluded. He called me a several weeks back and said I could hunt there, if I wanted to. I drove out there, looked around for a few hours, and then put up my portable tree stand. For those of you that are uninitiated to the world of deer hunting...a 'stand' is sumthin you climb up and sit in, when you just walk around hunting, thats called 'still' hunting. I prefer the former.

Anyhow, yesterday I thought I'd drive out there, just to walk around and look for 'signs' (No Elle, not the neon type ;) and also to make sure my 'stand' was in the right spot. Spent about 4 hours walking his property and, much to my surprise, turns out my 'stand' was in a pretty good spot, so no need to move it. When I'm in 'the woods' especially when by myself, I always take a backpack, filled with all my 'just-in-case' shit....flashlight, knife, small first-aid kit, water, some food..ya know, just-in-case I fall and break my fuckin leg at the bottom of a ravine or sumthin.

So, I find a comfortable looking log and decide to have lunch. It warmed up some and I was just sittin there, relaxing and watching the birds....when I heard something walking in the leaves towards my direction, not real loud but not super quiet either. I figured, unless it was another guy walking out here, it was either a deer or a couple of turkey. I reached in my backpack for my camera (never know when you'll come across boobs in the woods ;) and sat very still. Maybe 10 minutes goes by when I see what I've been hearing...an 8 point buck. He's upwind so I know he can't 'scent' me and he's not acting likes he's spooked or anything. He's just walking along with his head down, scrounging for acorns, not a care in the world. I bring my camera up slowly. He just keeps meandering ever closer....until he's no more than 15-18 feet away, THEN, he just plops down...ready for a nap.

I took this picture of him just before he spotted me and took off. Nice looking deer..but I already have one bigger on the wall here at work.....besides, I saw 'signs' of a big one and hopefully that'll happen next weekend......That is, unless I decide that the 'hassle factor' has again, reared its ugly head ;)