Unexpected Gifts

My MooseBoots journey certainly takes some interesting turns.  I look forward to the weekends ... like most of us, I have to work during the week to pay bills.  During these stretches, it is easy to get bogged down with the minutia of mundane, ordinary things.  I do the best I can.  This weekend was going to be about sugaring and continuing the bowl.  We don't really have much sap right now.  The weather has been crazy.  I has been above freezing for almost a week straight now.  So, the sap is not flowing.  It should correct within the next few days according to the forecasters.

Last night, as I was laying down with Precious, I heard my cellphone ring.  It was Momma Daughter.  She and Mr. Field and Stream were driving last night and saw a car had hit a deer.  They stopped.  She didn't expect they were going to take it, but ... I got a phone call. 

Of course, I want a roadkill deer!  Why would we let it go to waste?  I hate seeing things squandered.  Tonight, we will dress it out.  In preparation, I reviewed Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival.  It is amazing, even in the face of doubt and uncertainty, how similar it is to dress and clean most mammals ... large or small.  I will certainly make my best effort to use every part of her ...  what an honor to receive such a gift.  I have picked up other roadkill animals and am always on the lookout for them.  Last summer, I picked up this squirrel.  He tanned very nicely.  I am thinking that he would make a beautiful pouch.  As a side note, I would not recommend eating the roadkill animals unless you know exactly how fresh they are.

The interesting part is the cosmic synchronicity.  I was just discussing with a previous co-worker hide tanning.  He indicated that he could supply "more hides than I know what to do with" and probably some brains for tanning in the fall during deer season.  While they will not directly meet the MooseBoots goal of making moccasin boots from moose hide, they present another opportunity and materials to hone lost skills and re-connect to the natural world of which we are all part.