Onamatapeia, leaves...and other things

There are things that are just inexplicably pleasurable to the senses. Things like popping bubble wrap or squeezing those little squishy things that are supposed to relieve tension – and they do! Certain words are pleasurable for the way they sound; others for the way they roll off the tongue. One of my favorite words is onamatapeia, pronounced on-uh-mot-uh-pee-uh. I may have the spelling wrong, but it’s the pronunciation that counts anyway, because it gives me great pleasure to say it..., to savor it as it rolls off my tongue.

And this time of the year, one of the things that gives me the most inexplicable pleasure is the sound of dry leaves crunching under my feet. My front yard is full of Maple leaves, and I haven’t had any urge to rake them up yet, or to have the kids or Thomas do it. They’ll have to be raked up sooner or later, but for right now I go out of my way just to crunch through them. I crunch across the yard purposefully, taking the long way to get to or from my car or the mailbox. I love the smell, too.

Of course there are times when you don’t want that crunch sound. Like when you’re making your way to your tree stand early in the morning, trying to get settled in before the deer come by. And that’s what got me to thinking about my leaves – tomorrow is the first day of gun season, so we’re getting Thomas all ready to head out early in the morning. Hope he gets one, because our freezer is finally empty of venison.

There are probably readers out there who don’t care for hunting, and I respect that. I grew up with fresh meat as a big part of my diet, and so did Thomas. We never buy beef anymore, unless it’s ground beef. Thomas usually gets three or more deer a year, so we fill our freezer and then give meat to our families and friends, and especially to people we know who are struggling to make it. It’s good, lean meat, no additives, no preservatives, and we process it ourselves so we know it’s clean and unspoilt. And it tastes great too! When it’s our deer, processed by us, there is no strong, wild flavor. And we don’t make much of it into ground meat or salami or whatever – it’s roasts, steaks, stew meat and ribs for us!  We don't hunt for the "outdoor experience", or for socializing puposes (no drinking, no smoking allowed), it's not a "get out and do something with the guys" type of thing.  (Actually, there are only a couple of men that Thomas will hunt with.  He's very particular when it comes to his hunting.)  And it isn't about the rack either.  We both prefer a doe over a buck.  So it's all about the meat with us!

Saves some money through the winter months as well.

Our kids have grown up with deer meat. When Andrew was little he wouldn’t eat anything unless you told him it was deer; so I had to preface everything with the word deer: deer-bacon, deer-chicken, deer-turkey, etc. Once when Eler Beth was little we were having dinner at my Mom’s and when I asked her if she’d like some roast beef she said, "What’s beef?"!!! She knew hamburger was from cow, but roasts and steaks were venison as far as she knew. She was about three years old, and when I told her what beef was she went running to Andrew, "Andrew, Andrew guess what we’re having for dinner! Beef! And guess what beef is! Cow!" Boy did Thomas and I feel guilty!

So I guess we’ll see if the great hunter takes one tomorrow. He probably will, but then you never know.