The Thrill of the Chase Fall weather seems to have arrived right on schedule. The temperatures have dropped at the same time the calendar said it was supposed to. This is both unusual and nice. It is good to get the hunting dogs out on a cool morning to practice their skills. Small game season is open so a person can hunt squirrels and rabbits.
On Saturday mornings, our son, Damon will usually come over for coffee. On the way down the hill to the house, he will turn loose his two beagle hounds to hunt our resident rabbits. By the time we all get our cup of coffee and settled in on the porch, the dogs are on the trail of a rabbit. We enjoy watching and listening to their baying as they go from one place to another in hot pursuit. We can also
watch the rabbit as it stays just far enough ahead of the dogs to keep things interesting. It is not what one would call actual hunting as nobody shoots the rabbit. It is more about the chase than getting a rabbit. The dogs have a good time practicing their tracking skills, we enjoy listening, and I also believe the rabbit has a good time. When it
gets tired of the game after an hour or so, it disappears over the hill into the heavy timber. The beagles then come to the house, get a drink, and usually take a quick nap on somebody’s lap, getting ready for the next hunt.
Our grandson, Zane, has been training a squirrel dog. Red has figured out the sport and loves to tree squirrels. It is
even more fun for him since now Zane will occasionally shoot a squirrel that Red has treed. The little dog is a bundle of energy that loves nothing more than to be in the timber. He can be sound asleep but if someone says the word “squirrel,” he is up and ready to go. Since squirrel season has opened, there has been several fried squirrel meals at their house. The little dog is good at his job.
Though Damon and Zane have dogs that could almost be classified as professional hunters, we have two dogs that enjoy hunting also, even if they are not that good at it. Billie, the poodle, and Jag, the antique terrier, both love to chase anything that is willing to run away from them. Billie hunts primarily by sight and Jag is mostly a scent hunter. One would think that would be a good combination for hunting, but neither are highly skilled. Jag will get confused and hunt the scent trail backwards
(Outdoors cont’d on pg 4)
BARN RESTORATION
WAGLER BUILDERS
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
Mathew 9:37-38
We didn’t ask the Lord to send us laborers, but we did put out a message on social media that we had radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, aronia berries and Macintosh apples free for the picking (or some already picked) and, oh boy, did we have takers!
One morning I was out picking tomatoes and there was a farmer mowing the ditches with one of those flex-wing mowers. I had a five-gallon bucket full of tomatoes, so I waved and tipped the bucket to show him. He stopped mowing, came over and admired the tomatoes. Politely, he didn’t say a word about our weedy garden, except, “It’s a good year for everything.” He went away with that bucket full of tomatoes, happy for the surprise he had for his wife. I was pleased to get rid of the tomatoes, because I knew I had another bucket-and-a-half of tomatoes to pick, from just a dozen plants. Even the cherry tomatoes are as big as small tomatoes this year. Mercy! (Great for impulse eating.)
A couple of times while I was picking one thing or another, the mailman arrived at the mailbox. Seeing me in the garden (my happy place), he drove out and went away with buckets full of tomatoes and cucumbers. Always take care of the mail-person!
Ginnie is not a “canner.” She has a pressure cooker but is afraid to use it, having heard so many stories of pressure-cooker blow ups. She does something called “water bath canning” and has put away a good stock of apple pie filling for apple pie whenever the mood strikes, and apple butter—my stomach is smiling. I have never been an apple butter fan, having eaten only storebought apple butter, but this home made version, from our own Mac apples, is out-of-this world. I can eat it by the spoon full (and do).
Which reminds me. Ginnie made apple
cake out of our Macintosh apples. For heaven’s sake! I don’t believe I have ever tasted any kind of cake as good as this. The nuts, brown-sugar topping and moistness make for a taste extravaganza akin to a roller-coaster ride of the taste buds! You hit a peak, the bottom drops out, leaving you salivating for more. I’ve never heard of anyone foundering on apple cake, but I believe I could. And then I would have to be put down— happy.
All of this gardening served us well for Ragbrai (I define “Ragbrai” as a word like the word “laser” came from the acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”). We had two Ragbrai teams staying overnight, and Ginnie cooked both supper and breakfast for them. For supper (in Iowa it’s “supper” not “dinner”), along with Sloppy Joes, Ginnie fixed cucumbers and onions, sliced tomatoes and home-cooked green beans with chunks of bacon and onion. One Ragbrai rider nearly cried at the deliciousness of the green beans. Ginnie beamed, and I bragged that I had picked the blue lake bush beans just the day before. For breakfast,
Ginnie had two different casseroles with a side of sliced tomatoes. One rider quipped, “Is this heaven?” In unison, they all chimed, “No, it’s Iowa.”
As I write this on September 17th, there’s a full moon—a Red Harvest Super Moon. The harvest is bountiful, but the absence of workers is not a problem, when we have friendly visitors who enjoy our produce. From my recliner, as I look out the picture window, I see the field of seed corn next to us being picked. Because of the angle of sunlight, there’s a sadness to fall, but also hope. Hope for the future of all manand-woman-kind. Be at peace with yourself and others.
Harvest Galore for ‘24!
harvest.
Curt Swarm, Empty Nest
Pella Regional Health Center le da la bienvenida al Dr. Martinez, quien practica Medicina Familiar con Obstétrica.
“Mi pasión es proveer excelentes servicios médicos en el área rural, con un enfoque especial en obstétrica, obstétrica quirúrgica (incluyendo cesáreas), y trabajar con las comunidades marginadas,” dijo el Dr. Martinez. “Yo creo en proveer una experiencia positiva a través de todo el embarazo, empezando con los servicios prenatales hasta llegar al momento de labor y parto, y a los cuidados del puerperio.”
El Dr. Martinez habla con fluides el inglés y el español. Él está casado y tiene dos hijos. El disfruta de pasar tiempo con su familia, ver películas, y ver ó jugar deportes (especialmente el fútbol). Ahora viendo pacientes en Pella y Ottumwa.
Para hacer su cita, por favor llame al 641.621.2200 o visite PellaHealth.org.
(Outdoors cont’d from pg 2) and if Billie loses sight of the prey, it is as if it simply disappeared. For the longest time, I was certain that Billie would not know what to do with a rabbit if he did happen to catch one. I was wrong about that but there was no chance of us having rabbit stew when he got done with it. He caught it, it was his, end of the discussion. The pair are only slightly better at squirrel hunting. If Billie sees a squirrel, he will chase it up a tree and Jag will come check out the scent. The two of them will then sit at the bottom of the tree wondering where the squirrel went. If the squirrel did not jump to another tree and a person wanted, they could probably get it as the two dogs are not letting it come down. As with Damon and the beagles, we enjoy the thrill of the chase when Billie and Jag go after a squirrel and do not really care about getting it.
Mario Martinez, MD, PhD
Bienvenida a nuevos pacientes
