I'm Holding On..No Matter What!

Wow! The year has ground down to the final few weeks of December. We're trying to get into the Christmas cheer and get all those cards/letters out to everyone. As well as carrying out all of our regular Christmas season traditions/commitments that we have started. Our church has had some great worship and messages leading up to Christmas. Last night, a memory of my youth come to mind as I was considering the past weekend and it events.
First, the memory: In my pre-teen years, my friends grandparents had a cattle farm in another town about 35 miles away from where we lived. We would spend a lot of time there and there was always something to do. Lots of rolling hills on the farm, a creek running through it, {where I almost died, another story for another time} woods for exploring and hunting, and of course a great camping/campfire area. One of my favorite times to visit was in the winter time after a big snow. The place was like a winter wonderland and we were about to go on the sled ride of a lifetime. I'm pretty sure most of you have never taken a sled ride like this. My friends Grandpa or Uncle would pull the old tractor out of the shed and let it get "warmed up". While the tractor was getting ready, he would chain {yes..a log chain to be exact} what looked to be the hood of an old Oldsmobile, painted/rusted side down, to the back of the tractor. My friend had lots of family that lived in the area and whenever we went to "Grandpas Farm" it seemed like everyone showed up. Cousins, friends, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, everyone, wearing every stitch of clothing that could find and put on, would pile onto the hood of that Oldsmobile. Being from a big family, I was used to this kind of craziness, but to the newcomer, this was INSANE! When the tractor reved up and started over the first hill, it was "GAME ON!" The object to this X-Games style sled ride was to stay on. With anywhere from 6-16 people piled onto the car hood, that was quite a feat. It didn't take long to figure out that the best position is on the bottom, even if there were two more layers of people on top of you to start. Because once the tractor got up to cruising speed in the snow, the driver would start doing figure 8's, whoop-tee-whoops and whatever he could do to throw children from the wrecked Oldsmobile hood. Now, in todays world, that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. But when things were much simpler, and that what was you did for fun, I submit that this would be the best sled ride of your life.
After the first couple of layers of kids had been tossed in a snow bank or up against a haystack in the field, it was time to get down to business. Usually is was my friend, one or two of his cousins and myself as the "last men holding". That's when you had to get creative. Oh, did I mention there were "no rules" in this game? Now, while the driver is doing everything he can to throw you from the make-shift sled, the other passengers are trying to "help" you too. It's like a full blown WWF cage match taking place on the upside-down hood of an Oldsmobile in the middle of a pasture, and the only thing you can do is hold on for your life! Of couse, a swift kick or dislodging a passengers hand from the hood of the car could mean you have a little more space to battle. After a couple more guys peeled off of the hood it was down to a cousin and I. I decided right then, I'm holding on..no matter what! After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only minutes, I was able to apply an elbow just in the right place to see a dust storm of snow and carrhart overalls go end over end. I was victorious! Whenever we got down to the last person, they were declared the victor, and then we all piled on again and started all over. We would do this until the elements got the best of us, and we would retire to the farmhouse for hot chocolate. Those were fun times.
Flash forward to this weekend: This past week was the first part of the Ohio shotgun season for deer hunting. I've spent a number of days out bow hunting with my good friend Brad. The last 5 deer that I've killed has been with a bow. {If you don't count the truck. See earlier post} In fact, we have taped some hunts and posted them on my FB page. But on Sunday, I decided I was going to change the routine and head to the woods with a gun. Brad came along to video in case we called in the "big boy" we saw last time we were out. Usually, without even thinking about it, I would grab my Mossberg 500 "Deerslayer" with the huge scope that I've used to kill many deer. When I opened the gun cabinet, I took a minute to assess the plan. After calculating what my likely shot would be, I decided on taking the Remington 870 pump with the camo shoulder strap and open sights. {Old school} This is a familiar gun to me because I had one many years ago. But I have never shot this particular gun. This was one of my brother Mike's guns that he left to me in his will. I snatched the gun out of the cabinet and put it in a traveling case and headed out with Brad on the afternoon hunt. We got set up to hunt and started glassing the fields for any activity. While I sat in my stand I admired the dark wood stock on this 870, darker than most I've seen. It was mighty cold out and when I lifted my gloved hand up to wipe away a runny nose, I could take in the lingering smell of Marlboro cigarettes on the camo shoulder strap. That brought back a flood of other memories and I found myself looking down at the shotgun rather than on the fields and fence lines. I'm not sure how much time went by, but the noise of Brad moving above me rattled me back to the task at hand. As the day wore on, a couple of does moved along the fence line across the field and night seemed to be in a hurry to meet us on this over-cast day. We climbed down without getting an opportunity to shoot any video or deer. But for some reason my senses seemed so much sharper than normal. I told Brad that I could really smell the cover scent he had put on a dragline more now than when it was fresh 3 hours earlier. But I didn't tell him, that the scent of Marlboro cigarettes was still, somehow, in my nose and on my mind as I gripped the shotgun and we made the long walk back to my truck. I'm holding on..no matter what!
That's the view from my stand!