November 2001
I really hate deer season. Don't get me wrong, if I was hungry, I would hunt. But the fact is, it's cheaper to buy beef at Wal-Mart than to hunt deer in the woods. I also hate being blown out of bed at 6:30 on a Saturday morning by the guys over on the lease. The closest stand to our house is close enough to see and the sound travels right up the power line to us. Sounds like they're right outside my window.

I bought a bright orange sports shirt for Oak. The kind that's sort of double-knit with little holes in it. He doesn't like it much, but he wears it. We don't go into the woods any more, we have to stay on the road that leads back to civilization. It's only about a mile to the lake road, but it's good for our walks. We can deal with it for two months.

The persimmons are ripe and Oak likes them very much. I didn't know about the persimmons last year but we have two trees with hundreds of them. We waited until the first frost and then Dad showed me how to shake the tree. Anything that falls is ripe. My only previous experience with persimmons is green ones so I was a bit hesitant. When I finally put one in my mouth I was pleasantly surprised. They're very good in spite of being the wild variety.

I have never walked our "driveway" very much. We call it that because we are the only house on a dead end road - we live at the very end of it. Just past the open space that is our yard, a gully starts on the north side of the driveway. I have never noticed it before. It gets very deep very fast. The problem is that the county trims the trees on either side of the road about three times a year and the underbrush is very thick consequently. We finally found a place where we can get into the woods without getting strangled by briars but now we have to wait until January to explore it.

Deer season is so aggravating.

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