Update
There isn't much ot update on. School, work, homework, and no social life. Gar. I have this cough and it sucks. I am tired and need to go to bed, but I have one more chapter review to do.I haven't been having too many deep thoughts. It hurts to do that.Here is the descriptive essay I wrote for English (sorry for the semi messed up format): Lucky Charm
A voice called to me from somewhere in the land of Awake. I rolled over as my eyes fluttered open. There stood my father, telling me it was time to wake up. Something did not seem quite right. It was too dark for it to be morning. My sleeping bag held me tight by its warmth and would not let me go. I smelled the coffee Dad had put on and could hear it just starting to perk. He, his buddy, Bruce, and my cousin Ben, were talking about where they would go that day as I rolled out of bed with a groan. The floor of our camper sent chills up my small body. Through the grogginess if the morning, the excitement of the day started pushing though. This weekend was time with Dad without my other siblings. My older sister has always had that bond with my Dad. They think a like and are a lot a like in many ways. I have never really understood Dad and how he works. I am more like my Mom in the way that I think and act. This hunting trip held a deep meaning for me. There were two other people who were with us, but Dad and I got today to ourselves. I was going to be Daddy’s hunting buddy for the day.
I scarfed down some oatmeal and drank my hot chocolate, knowing my stomach would be screaming by the time we got back. Dad handed me some camos that I pulled on over my clothes. Here goes another day of tromping around the woods. That is what we were doing. Not a single deer had shown us so much as an inch of fur. They were not here and if they were, they were laughing at us. The sun had just started to come up when I stepped out of the camper. With bow in hand, Dad came around the corner. “You ready to go?” I nodded.
“Alright. We are going to go up this road, turn on this other road, and cut up this hill. Then we will go from there,” Dad said as he pointed out the directions.
I had no idea where we were or where we were going. My sense of direction was all turned around. Not to mention I was still trying to wake up. I followed Dad up the gravel road. He looked so… so… alive! This is one of his favorite things to do. Tromping around the woods looking for the deer that always seem to disappear when hunting season opens. I personally don’t understand what makes Dad come so alive when he is out in the woods. Being the girly girl of the family, I would rather sleep in and go shopping on the weekends. Yet here I was, out in the middle of the foothills that surround Mt. Rainer at some ungodly hour in the morning! I had to be snapped back to reality to climb over and duck under a few logs that had fallen over the road. Apparently this road is not used all that often.
We kept climbing up the road for what seemed like forever. When I looked to see how far we had until the top, it ended at a blanket of fog. My legs had started to burn. My breath was getting short. And then Dad stopped. Oh thank heaven! He looked up the side of the hill like we were going to climb it.
“We’ll go up there to that clump of trees. I bet there are deer bedding down after their morning feed. They are just waiting for us,” he said with a sparkle in his eye.
I could picture my dad nimbly sprinting up the hill like a mountain goat, leaving me at the bottom staring after him. As I looked up, it looked like someone had painted a picture. The hillside was covered in ferns. Some of the leaves were green and some were just turning orange, giving a two-tone effect to the hillside. The fog hung over the hill giving the air an eerie feel. I did not want to disturb the peacefulness, but I had to follow Dad, who had started up already. I trudged along behind him, taking in the view. The top grew closer and I grew more tiered. Quietly we crested to the top and crept around looking for the deer that were supposed to be there. As Dad looked around he saw hoof prints, deer beds, deer dung, and places where they rubbed on the trees. They had been there at one time, but not when we were.
By this time, a few hours had passes and mid day was coming. The deer would soon be bedding down for their afternoon nap. It would be impossible to see them if they were lying down, so Dad decided that we should head back to the camper. We would go back out later in the afternoon. After walking around the top for a while we started our way back down. I could feel the cold start to creep in. My feet had gotten wet when we went walking through the ferns and my coat was not very thick. My stomach started to growl as I started to shiver.
We started back down the hill, down the road, and back over and through the fallen logs. Dad suddenly signaled me to stop and be quiet. I looked down the road. There was a mule deer, long ears perked up, staring up the road. I stopped dead in my tracks and held my breath. Here was the first deer any of us has seen all weekend! Dad moved closer as he drew an arrow out of his sheath. The doe just stood there, sniffing. He knocked the arrow and drew back the string. For a moment the entire world stood still. TWANG! The arrow whizzed just under the doe. She jumped and disappeared in the brush. Dad motioned to me, as he started down the road in the same direction as the deer. I almost moaned as he found a trail that pointed in that way. We followed it for a little ways. My feet were sloshing around in my shoes and my jaw was clenched, because I was really starting to get cold. Dad turned to look at me, “Well, I think she plowed over the side of the hill. We won’t be able to find her now. Why don’t we go to the camper?”
Luckily the camper wasn’t that far away from where we were. Bruce and Ben were already there when we came in. I got my wet shoes off and put a dry set of clothes on. As I sat sipping a warm cup of hot chocolate, Dad told our story to the others. How all this weekend he hadn’t seen a single deer and the day he takes me out he sees one and gets a shot in. Sure he missed it, but hunting isn’t just about finding and killing. As he was talking I felt two feet taller; I was the reason he had seen the deer and shot at it. I was Daddy’s lucky charm.
Since then, I have not been on another hunting trip with my Dad. I soon lost interest in tromping around the woods looking for the deer that were hiding from us. Now I have school and work that keeps me from going on these weekend outings. Even though I cannot go, I still treasure this time I got with my Dad. We don’t talk much, but I love my Dad. The next chance I get, I am going to go on the next trip with him, whether that is fishing or hunting. Who knows? Maybe the Lucky Charm will come out once more!
