As I just pulled the turkey from the oven it reminds me of a Thanksgiving years ago.
My Dad , James Henry Arnold had his first surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was to be operated on in the upcoming months. My wife and I had traveled to Alabama a little early for Thanksgiving and were spending time with him.
It was a hot day in Pine Hill as can be expected. My sister Lesha had come up on Wednesday evening to see us ahead of the rest of the gang. I had got out and grilled some ribeye's on the grill and we were all at the kitchen table.
Lesha looked across me at the table and said "what is wrong with you? " I had huge whelps coming up on my face. The word chicken pox came up. Chele and I rushed down to the then emergency room in Thomasville. To make a long story short------I had chicken pox and I was 37. My cousins, Sherry and Jackie got them down the road but I never had them.
It was the hardest thing I ever did. I had to leave my dad on what I knew would be the last Thanksgiving I would ever spend with him. Chele drove home and I admit that I cried most of the way. Missed the last Thanksgiving with the old man and honestly the last time he was sort of himself.
This blog is about Outdoor Nonsense however......................... I had a good boss Keith at the time that let me create safety talks for several weeks and work from home. I made the most of it of course. It was hunting season.
Late one evening during the harrowing event of adult chicken pox, I was sitting behind my house and was wearing PJs. Sorry, I rarely hunt only in PJS. A group of does came into the feeder. I picked out a big one and BOOM! I was not very much myself do to pain meds and self medication (I had hives and even had them on my feet). I heard the doe crash and go down. It was dark and I said ----tomorrow.
The next day, my dog Jake and I went to track down the deer. I put him on the trail and we went in the direction I heard her go down. No deer. You could see blood where she laid down. Old dog kept making funny circles. I got mad at him and went searching and looked for miles. Nothing! Came back to the last place and the dog walked over 20 yards and there she was covered in leaves. Something had covered her up and not started eating on it. Somebody tried to say a CAT and others said a Bear.
It was strange but I found my deer.
Happy Thanksgiving to All. If you made it this far, thanks for sharing in a sad and funny moment of my life.
