That's a mama with triplets in our backyard on Wednesday. Though somewhat unusual, triplets aren't rare.

Posted on Thursday morning but mostly written on…

October 24, 2012 – Wednesday evening

59 degrees

Pentoga Road

I thought I’d write tonight since Sargie and I decided we’re making a trip to Title Town tomorrow. We’re running low on several things and decided it’s time. Really, no one has to work too hard to talk either of us into going to Green Bay. I mean, c’mon, home of the Packers? Duh. Just driving by and seeing the heavenly glow emitted from Lambeau Field is worth the trip. (OK, when proof reading this, I may have gone over the line, but we both enjoy going.)

I’m feeling a bit spunky tonight. FINALLY, I trapped a raccoon. He was a big ol’ buck that had stuck a paw into a dog-proof cuff trap. Also, a coyote came along during the night and sprung one of my foothold traps, so the action is picking up. It’s been two weeks and nothing, then suddenly, the trap line is producing. Just call me Trapper Tom.

Other than muskrats, it’s been years since I’ve trapped and I assumed my sets were poor. They may be subpar, but were good enough to trick at least one raccoon and make a coyote look twice. I’m satisfied.

I took my five-mile walk this morning in heavy fog. Sargie left almost half an hour early for work anticipating the need for extra driving time. I stuck a hunters orange cap on my head and took off down the road. It was eerie, but in a strange sort of way, fun. I only saw three or four cars the entire time. Not many folks were out joy riding in that soup.

I checked my traps and harvested the raccoon. Since it’s been a few years, I spent a majority of the afternoon skinning, fleshing, and stretching the hide. It’s now drying and I’ll sell it later this winter. I was fairly happy the way the hide came out. There’s a bullet hole in the head where I dispatched it, but otherwise, I managed not to put a nick in the skin.

It's actually stretched and dried with the fur in. I had the hide this way to let the fur dry before turning it.

I’ve always dispatched my animals by quickly hitting them between the ears with my trapper’s trowel. It doesn’t make a hole and is very quick and effective. Years ago, in northern Maine, Luke was home from college and we were checking the traps. I’d caught a nice coyote and started to dispatch the animal with my trowel. The coyote went down, but managed to grab hold of my boot and attempt to make a meal of one leg. It didn’t bother me, but it sure did my second son! Luke was a bit disconcerted and has since made me promise to use a small caliber rifle. Yooper Mark loaned me a children's sized .22 he'd gotten for Jerad and Sarah years ago, so I put that to use. 

There was a deer in the orchard this morning when we woke up. I’m not sure how he got in there; I’m guessing he hit the electric fence and probably bolted through after receiving a 7,000 volt shock rather than back away. When I yelled at him, he quickly ran and escaped between the wires. I put another strand on this afternoon and tightened the others up.

Then this afternoon, a doe and her triplets were grazing in the back yard. The three little ones were absolutely precious when they were first born. They’re still undersized for this time of the year, but I’m happy to see all made it through the summer months. Now if I can just keep them from eating me out of house and home.

I spent the remainder of Wednesday straightening the house and doing a load of laundry. It’s going to be a busy weekend. We’ll be celebrating Sargie’s great niece, Aubry’s, first birthday on Saturday. It promises to be a huge Milligan Family gathering. Hopefully, Sargie’s boys will be coming and we’ll get to see them. 

October 25, 2012

54 degrees

I thought I’d get this finished last night, but…

We received a package in yesterday’s mail; buckwheat flour from Aunt Sue and Uncle Terry! While they were here last month, we were talking about buckwheat and I expounded on how good ployes are… an Acadian buckwheat pancake. While living in the St. John Valley, we occasionally dined on ployes and enjoyed them a great deal. I’ll be making some this weekend. Thanks, Aunt Sue and Uncle Terry!

It’s raining. No, it’s POURING outside this morning. This is our last day of warm weather before a cold front comes marching through bringing with it more seasonal temperatures.

Time to wrap this up and get ready to head south towards Green Bay. No doubt, Sargie has a list a mile long of things we need, so she’ll be navigating us through the highways and byways and not missing too many bargains available in Title Town. Me? I’m just along for the ride.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…