Well, it's not Tuesday, it's Monday, but I'm moving my Tea On A Tuesday to today because I want to catch up after falling off my blog challenge last week.
Drinking: Gatorade (not right now, but this week).
Elk Hunting Season
I knew it would be hard to keep up with the challenge during last week, because I had an elk tag for hunting, and I knew I would be out of the house for the whole weekend and probably one or two weekdays as well. Elk hunting tags are not very easy to draw, and I was excited to give it a try again! It's been probably 15 years since I've been elk hunting.
A couple year ago I went deer hunting and was successful, but elk hunting is so different. Deer tend to be all over in smaller groups, but elk are often clustered together in one big group at this point in the year, until the bulls start to go off on their own. Elk also tend to like rougher terrain, so it's often alot more work to find them and to get to where they are. Often during elk season it's famine until it's a feast. You don't see any at all until one day you suddenly do.
That's pretty much how my elk hunting season went. We went out there consistently over the weekend, and we tried road hunting during the week (driving the roads and using binoculars to try to find some elk - had to do it that way when we had no one to babysit the kids). I went out for another full day with my dad during the week since Derek had to work. We saw literally nothing the enire time, until the very last evening when we spotted five bulls...on private land. So I didn't get anything. Se la vie.
Losing Harvey
But there was a sad memory from last week too, because our sweet dog, Harvey, died. Even though I knew it was coming, the whole thing was harder than I thought. We first got Harvey a year into our marriage, before we had kids. He's been with us a long time. It hurts a little to go home now, because for my entire life (literally, since I was born), I've always had a dog waiting there to greet me when I arrived home - and now there is nothing at home except a quiet and dark house.
The kids took it hard, but they have seemed to bounce back well. We buried Harvey on our property, under a young pine tree, and the kids decorated the place where he's buried. Then we gathered around and prayed and thanked God that He gave us Harvey as our dog. Dogs are just gifts aren't they? Their great purpose for us is for comfort and companionship, and I think that's a gift from God for however long He lets us have them.
We've all been missing Harvey quite a bit, but I am glad that the kids have this experience of having and losing a dog. To own a dog is to know that one day you will lose them. Their lives are too short; it's unavoidable. I've long thought that there is a really good lesson for kids about life and death to be had through owning a dog. You have this creature, you love them, they become a part of your family, and then one day they are gone. There is real pain there, it's a real grief. But in going through that, it's a relatively safe way for kids to experience death and learn how to deal with it. To go through that sharp pain of loss, to feel devastated and sad, but to come out on the other side of it too. Then they have that memory, that map through grief, in their pocket when they'll really need it - for when they lose a loved one, a human being that is more valuable than a dog. Because they've loved and lost a dog, when a larger sorrow visits them, they'll know through experience that even though the pain is so great, there is a way through it, and they'll eventually be okay.
After all that last week, I decided we all just needed an easy week, so we've been doing alot of reading books together for our homeschool, and I've cleaned the house quite a bit (apparently my coping mechanism). We saw friends for a hike on Friday, and my father-in-law for lunch on Sunday, and we're getting back into our routine this week. Every now and then a pang of sadness hits me, like when I'm eating cereal and thinking about how I'll give the leftover milk to Harvey, and then I remember he's not there to drink it.
But overall it's been a beautiful fall week, spicy scents filling the air, I'm working on baking some bread, and there is snow in the forecast, a dusting of white to freshen up the world again. I bought Christmas decorations last Friday, getting a head start on the season.
There is always the next thing to do, and life rolls on.
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Hope you've been having a good week, friends, and here's what I have coming up on the blog this week!
Tuesday: How We Do Once-A-Month Grocery Shopping
Wednesday: {Review & Giveaway} African Pearls: A Story Of Faith In Uganda
Thursday: Homeschool topic (TBD)
Friday: Book Catchup
I don't know much at all about hunting, so it was interesting to read about it! If you do get something, do you process it yourself or hire someone? I saw about your dog on Instagram, that's such a tough loss! :( Especially those moments when you look over expecting to see that family member and they're not there.
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