Like a kid at Christmas

Running:
What a nice week last week was for running. I only ran 4 days but I was able to run in shorts every day. Temps were in the upper 50’s to almost 70 degrees during the early part of the week.  I ran 5 miles on Monday during my lunch break in 40:11. Tuesday I ran from home and did 8.5 miles mid day in 1:05:50. Wednesday I ran 5 miles at work in 40:22. Thursday I again ran from home mid day and did 6.5 miles in 52:02.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I took off from running although there was lots of work and walking getting deer stands ready for the upcoming gun season. I also noticed that at least so far, my weight has held the same since the week before the Lakefront marathon. The worst month for gaining is coming up though. Over the gun season and Thanksgiving I will take my largest number of days off. In the past I’ve taken as many as 11 days off during this time and of course with Christmas and lots of extra treats and still reduced miles through December I will always add a few pounds. Mileage through last week.
WTD 25
MTD 59
YTD 1932
ODO 27098

Hunting:
Gun season is this coming weekend. The closest way to describe it for me is that the anticipation is like a kid as Christmas approaches. The nights or I should say mornings are sleepless as the day gets closer. I find myself waking earlier and earlier in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. What will Santa bring?  That fancy new bike you really wanted or that big buck of your dreams maybe?  

This past weekend I was up north getting everything ready. I also fit a little hunting in. I got up to Bayfield late on Thursday. Friday morning I headed out to a new stand we put up last time I was there. I scared a deer on my way into the stand, but saw nothing in the few hours I was out there. During the middle part of the day I put some bait at a couple of stands locations and checked out a few others. In the evening I made my way down to my favorite bow stand. I again scared a deer on my way in and saw nothing. This night was one of the quietest I have ever heard in the woods. It was so still and absolutely no creatures of any kind were moving about. Not a squirrel, grouse, crow, blue jay, deer, or any animal. The few remaining leaves on the trees were not even making a sound. Complete silence for a few hours. It was almost spooky. Early Saturday morning sometime the weather changed and some heavy wet snow started to fall. I went out hunting at dawn for a couple hours. I stayed out until I was soaked and couldn’t stand it anymore. For most of the rest of the day I spend hanging my primary gun stand, putting up another ladder and putting some final touches on a couple ground blinds we have up. The temperature was hovering right around freezing. Near the lake all the precipitation fell as rain. Up the hill where we were it was alternating between mostly rain and all snow. This continued all Saturday and into Sunday. Sunday morning I went out hunting for another couple hours and saw tracks where deer had been near my stand overnight but I saw nothing in my time on stand. There seems to be plenty of deer sign, but the amount of buck sign is down from what I have seen in the past. All I can say now is that I think everything is ready and can’t wait for opening day to get here.

Gardening:
Not much happening on the garden front these few weeks. Most chores are done other than a little leaf and pond cleanup once in awhile. I did help mom shut down her pond for the season. Doesn’t consist of much other than pulling the pump out and putting it in a bucket of water, pulling the filters out and cleaning then, and trying to get out leaves and dying vegetation the best you can. I leave my pump running all year round or at least I have the last few years. I was having trouble burning up pumps in the spring until I started doing this. Anyway it works for me.