The One Where We See Some Elk

Our trip to Benezette, PA last week was really wonderful! We had a good time with John's sister and her husband, and we were lucky and got to see some magnificent elk. 

First, we headed to the Elk Country Visitor's Center where we got maps, brochures, and plenty of useful information from two helpful employees. There are several elk viewing sites set back in the trees where you can set up with your binoculars and wait for elk. They are crepuscular, meaning that they are active at dawn and dusk, feeding on grass and a herbivorous diet. After feeding at dawn, they retreat to the cooler woods to rest and digest their food; elk are ruminants. 

Elk live in male or female herds for much of the year, but in the fall, the female cows come into heat. Male bull elk gather female cows into "harems" and compete with other bull elk to keep their harems intact. This competition consists of posturing, bugling, and sometimes even confronting each other with their antlers. During this time a bull may have up to 20 cows in his harem which he defends fiercely. A bull with a harem rarely feeds and he may lose up to 20 percent of his body weight. (Crazy males and too much testosterone!)

We were lucky to see two mature bulls with massive antlers meet each other in the field in front of us. No actual confrontation took place, but it seemed as if they were each taking stock of the other and sizing up the competition. There were several cows and calves that the larger one tried to keep confined to the wood's edge.

Breeding season is just beginning, so this activity will continue through September and October into early winter. The elk prefer wooded areas and sheltered valleys during the winter, and then the calves are born in the spring, and the cycle repeats. 

I mentioned bugling but I wasn't able to get any good audio clips of this unique elk vocalization. The YouTube video below provides some good examples of this sound. We didn't see any elk close up on Saturday morning but heard lots of bugles in the early morning fog. It's an eerie sound from an inspiring animal. I would definitely go back to see and hear the elk again and hope maybe you get a chance to do it in person someday. 

Something New and Different

Long ago, Ryan advised me to try one new thing every once in a while. I did this for a while but gradually let it drop by the wayside. In checking back on the blog, I was surprised to find that this conversation with Ryan happened six years ago, and it was definitely time to try something new once again. John gave me the opportunity to get way out of my comfort zone last week and try something very new to me. 

Welcome to shooting sporting clays. We went to Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in Coplay, PA. John has been here five or six times before with guys that he used to work with. He was anxious for Justin and I to go with him for his birthday. Justin was happy to go; I went along grudgingly, and Ryan wanted no part of it. But much to my surprise, it was interesting and I did have some fun. 

The object is to take your shotgun and shoot at clay targets at 17 different stations (these are called "houses"). It's all electronically controlled with a card that you put in at each station and then someone in your group pushes a button to release two clay targets. You have three chances to try this at each station. 

The clay targets are thrown (electronically with the push of a button) in lots of different ways. 

Some come from close by but fly high overhead away from you; others are nearby but end up rolling along the ground. (These are called "rabbits".) 

Some stations are wide open, like the one above, but others are more contained, as pictured below. 

The whole place has been built in an abandoned quarry, and they've kept some of the remains of buildings. There are also several stations over water. Both John and Justin liked those because you can get a better idea of where you've shot and adjust your aim on subsequent attempts.

John thought I needed to give this a try also, so I did pick up his shotgun on one of the first easy stations. It felt way too heavy and I couldn't even use the sight pin because the stock of his gun is made for a man and too long for a woman who is a good six inches shorter than he is. It didn't feel safe to me, so I ended up not shooting, but did enjoy keeping score. John asked and they do rent guns made with smaller stocks made for women, so maybe someday he'll talk me into going again and actually shooting with the right gun for me.

It does seem like a testosterone-fueled sport, and in the three hours we were there, I only saw one other woman. She was actually shooting and seemed to be enjoying herself. So maybe I will go with John again someday. Hopefully, this would be on a nice crisp fall day and not a sweltering, sweaty one, and with a gun that was made for a woman. Sporting clays could use a little more estrogen. 

One New Thing, Once Again

 A long time ago Ryan advised me that I should try something new every month. This was about five years ago, and I did just that for a while, finding an English brewpub nearby that served good fish and chips and taking an archery seminar at Cabela's and beginning to shoot a longbow. But like many new things, this idea faded away and I never made it a habit. I would love to continue to eat fish and chips, but the local brewpub has become just a brewery and doesn't consistently serve food anymore. I have kept up with archery although I haven't shot my bow at all over the winter.

But I've decided that it's time to revive One New Thing. This was my own decision and not due to any nagging by Ryan. I've been stuck in a rut, and one of those ruts is food. I seem to make the same boring things every week, and I'm tired of it.

So I'm back to trying new things. This week it's a big one (just kidding) - quinoa salad. I had never prepared nor eaten quinoa before so it was definitely time for me to give it a try.

It was easy to make the quinoa, chop a few vegetables, and put the salad together. I added a couple of diced cucumbers, used chickpeas instead of black beans because that's what I had, and left out the cilantro because that is not readily available in NJ in the winter. I loved it! The dressing with lime juice and cumin is delicious and definitely a new taste for me. I was excited to serve it with chicken for dinner, but both John and Justin wrinkled their noses and wondered why it "smelled weird". Justin cautiously tasted a spoonful and decided he didn't like it, but John didn't even want to try it. That's okay, more for me. And there really is more. I'm going to have to eat it for lunch, dinner, and snacks since I'm the only one who will eat it. But maybe John and Justin will get on the next One New Thing bandwagon with me. I'm searching for a sour blueberry beer that comes highly recommended from a very small NJ brewery. The closest place it's available seems to be at a tap and grill 25 miles away. Fifty miles round trip is a long way to drive for some beer, but I just might do it in the interest of One New Thing. Stay tuned (and I'd welcome any suggestions you have for New Things; they don't always have to pertain to food or drink!)

Small Success

This weekend I assembled my new bow limbs into a bow that could actually be shot. It looked pretty good lying on the dining room table, but then came the hard part -- I had to actually shoot it. John and I took it over to my mother-in-law's because her closest neighbor is at least a mile away and I didn't want to scare my neighbors (or have an audience). I'll just post the photos, in hopes that someday after quite a bit more practice, I can look back at them and see improvement.

First round:

One arrow barely in the corner, two arrows in the grass behind the target

Second round:

Two arrows in the target, one far beyond the target buried in long grass that took 20 minutes to find

The third round was so bad I couldn't even bear to take a photo.
Fourth round:

Three arrows in the target

Triumphant fifth round:

Three arrows in the target again!

This probably doesn't look like much, but there are a lot of things to remember, all at the same time. How is my stance? Is my arrow nocked in the right place? Am I anchored correctly? Am I anchoring consistently? Am I gripping the bow too tightly? How is my string hand? Do I have the bow canted just the right amount? Am I sighting in front of where I want to hit, taking trajectory into account? Why are these arrows I bury in the grass so hard to find? I have a long, long way to go, but I think that learning this new, complex skill can only be a good thing for me. It's going to be quite a while before you can call me Katniss or I've got bullseye photos, but hitting the target with all three arrows on two consecutive attempts felt like an accomplishment, so I'm going to call it a small success (and fun, too)!

A Few New Things

Way back at the end of June I wrote about Ryan's encouragement to try one new thing each month. I have been making a real attempt at this, so it's time to catch up. None of these are earth-shattering or major, but just getting into the mindset of trying new things has been a very good thing for me.

Thank you, Kym! This daily reminder on my refrigerator is just what I need!

My new thing for July was an archery seminar at Cabela's. Both John and Justin shoot bows and it's always looked like something I might enjoy. The seminar was okay, but it was a long four hours that didn't really teach me anything new. I had hoped there would be some hands-on time actually trying bows at their indoor range, but that wasn't something they could do with 30 women. I did learn that archery is an expensive enough hobby that I'm not sure I'm ready to invest in just yet. I have been looking for used bows on ebay, but then there are also arrows, a sight, an arrow rest, etc. I keep thinking that money could buy a lot of yarn, but a bow is still under consideration.

In August, my new thing was that I finally got rid of our land line. I have been ranting about and threatening to do this for several years, and since we very rarely got calls that weren't somebody selling something we didn't want, we had basically stopped answering it. I was expecting a semi-important call but I wasn't sure how the name/number would show up on caller id, so I actually answered the phone for almost two weeks. That experience showed me that we were getting at least five or six nuisance calls every day, and paying $50/month for that privilege. As soon as I got the important call, I cancelled the land line and it's been fine so far. I have to make sure to keep my cell charged and keep it nearby but I don't regret the decision. Cable TV may be next.

For September, I went out to dinner by myself. My desire for fish and chips overcame my reticence, so I went back to the English brew pub, ate, took some photos as proof for Ryan, and found it was wonderfully pleasant. I went yesterday and was feeling exhausted after only three hours of sleep and my airport drive, so I didn't risk having a beer and falling asleep on the way home, but I took my Kindle, read a bit, and had a great dinner. John leaves again for work travel on the 24th, and since I'm no longer afraid of going out to dinner by myself, I will definitely do this again.

Have you done anything new recently? It's much more fun than I thought it would be!

One New Thing

This is the wall in the park in Colorado where Ryan and I had a great talk. We had been on a long hike, and because John was still fishing, we sat down to rest and drink lots of water. We started to chat, and the conversation flowed easily from one topic to another. I mentioned how much I was looking forward to dinner that evening, as we had plans to visit an English pub-like place for their delicious fish and chips. Ryan commented that I should look for a fish and chips place at home, and I explained that much of my enjoyment was really due to having dinner with my oldest son while on vacation. The conversation progressed and Ryan eventually declared that he thought I should make an effort to try at least one new thing every month. Now that's an interesting idea ...

We've been home from Colorado for almost a month, and I haven't really done anything new yet. I tried to explain to Ryan that I've switched from drinking half lemonade/half iced tea to raspberry iced tea, but he wasn't having any of it. Due to Ryan's reminders during phone calls, I finally searched for and found a surprisingly close English brewpub and we I will be heading there this weekend. I've invited John, but he seems to be dragging his heels for some reason. Maybe one of my new things in June will also be eating alone in a restaurant!

I recently came across a women's archery course given at the end of July, and began pondering this as a new thing. Both John and Justin shoot bows, and I think I like archery target shooting, but I'm not sure. I have shot Justin's youth bow because it requires less upper arm strength, but it's really too small for me. I signed up for the course, so archery safety, recurve vs. compound bows, determining the correct draw weight and length for me, and trying out some bows will be my new things for July.

I'm very grateful to be Ryan's mother because he will push me (gently, but still insistently) to get out of my stagnant mindset and try one new thing. He's helped me to start looking at things from different perspectives and I'm seeing new possibilities. Your suggestions are welcome!