OH, DEER, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE?

My husband greeted me early this morning with this.




He leaves the house by 6 a.m. everyday, while I am still pondering getting dressed at 9 a.m. He came back today around 9:00 and said, "There is a leg of deer in the refrigerator from O___. Just cut it up and put it in the convection oven." Whaaaaaat????

After awhile I took a peek and yes, there was a "leg of deer" in the fridge. Granted -- it was probably only half the leg, or maybe a small deer, which even made me feel worse about the poor creature. Now, I am not a vegetarian nor am I tremendously opposed to hunting (I guess). Hunting is a pretty big deal around here. Mostly duck and deer. I think it is mean to do it, but if it is legal and you need it to eat or thin the herd, or whatever the reasons/excuses are, well I don't get on the bandbox about it.


So I quickly closed the refrigerator door and called my sister. When in doubt, I call my sister. What am I going to do about this? She suggested marinating it or taking it somewhere and having it ground up for hamburger meat. Nah. I don't have a pan big enough or a saw to cut it up with and I doubt that a regular butcher would grind it up for me. I waited a few hours and took another look. No, I am not dealing with this.

I think I prefer meat that doesn't look like the original animal - meat that is nicely packaged in a grocer's freezer. Well, yes, I do dream of living in a log cabin, but no, I guess I won't be doing any hunting.

I called my husband and told him to thank the man, but that his wife is a "vegetarian" and won't cook the poor creature's leg and please give it to someone who will appreciate it. My husband didn't even balk or complain. I don't think he wanted it either. He doesn't like hunting and can't stand to watch anything on television that shows a suffering animal.

Right now? It is still in the refrigerator, but not for long.....I hope.

TODAY ON BEECH DRIVE

I know I haven't written for awhile. In a nutshell: there was Thanksgiving, a real estate class, several doctor's appointments, a funeral and....and....is that all?? I feel like I have been SO busy.

My daughter and son-in-law and grandsons and my granddog came down from Massachusetts for the holiday. How wonderful it was to spend some time with them. The boys are growing so fast, but are still my little boys -- the same with my daughter. She will always be my little girl. I was in a funk for a few days after they left because I missed them so much. I think the older we get the more we miss our children if they aren't close to us. For those of you who have your family close by, treasure this because you are very, very lucky.

I am now recuperating from something -- the flu, bronchitis - something. I went to the doctor and am on antibiotics. I came down with it on Wednesday and am just now starting to feel better.

We attended a funeral on Saturday for one of my husband's very close friends. He was only 58. It was a graveside service -- very cold. I was bundled up and I hope I don't have a relapse. There was a bagpiper which only added to the sadness of the occasion. We just can't believe the friend is gone.

This is what happened to my Sunday dinner:

Since I haven't had much appetite I had made a beautiful chicken noodle soup and was planning to have it for dinner. I had chunks of chicken in it, along with pastina and some corn. I had a cup of it this afternoon and was really looking forward to it at dinner. My husband wanted stuffed green peppers and he had brought home the peppers and the ground beef last night so for his dinner I went to some bit of trouble and attention to make the stuffed peppers along with some creamed corn. I don't like stuffed peppers or creamed corn. He had been out working on his boat all day and when he came home he was in the kitchen and I called to him that the peppers were in the oven and would be finished in thirty minutes. He didn't answer so I yelled out "THE PEPPERS ARE IN THE OVEN"!!. Did you hear me? Yes, he said. He proceeded to come into the family room with bowl after bowl of chicken soup. I said, "Aren't you going to ruin your dinner with all that soup?" He said, "Isn't this dinner?" To make matters worse, he had dumped the entire pan of creamed corn into the soup and declared, "This is delicious!" So - gone was my chicken noodle soup and after he ate one of the stuffed peppers I asked him how it was. "Uh, so-so." MEN!!!!

ANDY WARHOL AND THE WEATHER CHANNEL

Andy Warhol said that everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. Well, I don't know if that is true, but yesterday may have been one of my husband's few seconds.

I was sitting by the ocean yesterday and noticed a Weather Channel van parked nearby. I did not think it unusual because we often get news cameras by the beach to film a storm. We had just had that nor'easter and the beach was eroded as a result. I knew my husband was working a few blocks away and I thought of calling him to let him know his favorite channel's news was in town. I didn't call, but the next thing I saw was him standing by the news van. They hooked him up to a microphone, turned the camera on and there he was being interviewed and taped. This was a big deal for him, since as a retired Air Force pilot, weather was and still is important to him. We called our family to tell them, and about 7:30 last night he was on television. His interview on site took about ten minutes. After editing, he was on the screen for about ten seconds. Following him was an interview with a surfer who happened to be walking by. He got more air time. So much for television.