I love the fall. The air feels cleaner--perhaps because it is colder, I'm not sure. It is as though the world is being transformed by bright hues of yellow, orange, and red. I find myself wanting to take long walks--just as night is falling--so I can breathe in all the deepness of life before winter sets in. Here in Blanding it is a sudden holiday in mid October. Fall means only one thing to true Blanding-ites: hunting. As I walk around town I smell barbecues cooking and see orange hats thrown across dashboards. Four wheelers are mud spattered and my classes are emptier. Everywhere there is the thrill of the hunt. Boys come to school dressed in camo and chatter about the buck they need to go home and gut during lunch. Kids pull jerky out of their backpacks and munch on it as class starts. Many look haggard from getting up at 4:30 a.m. multiple days in a row. And me? I am in awe. I have never experienced anything like it. Hunting season in Blanding has turned life upside down. This is it--the favored time of year. It is better than Christmas, they say. I'll let you know if they are right when I taste the jerky...
4 comments:
Did you take the picture? I love your posts because you write so well. It still just cracks me up all the hunting "even better than Christmas" and then there is my Carly Jane in the midst of it all. Kind of crazy! Little did they know they were getting a crazy redhead teacher that is against guns! I love it!!!!
wow. i cant imagine anything better than christmas, especially if it involves sleeping outside, shooting and blood. i do love jerky though . . .
I found the pictures online--but they are authentic Blanding does. Blanding deer are called "mule deer" because of their large, mule-like ears. I think they are beautiful; I love to see them running and leaping over fences.
Hey Carly Jane ... I love that you're having such fun in Blanding ... you'll have to let me know if you like venison jerky ...
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