Almost that time of year again

 Yes, Thanksgiving is coming up, and Christmas is never far behind, but I'm talking about hunting season, which starts this Saturday.  More than half a million deer hunters are expected to head to the Wisconsin woods this year. The Department of Natural Resources estimates that the ten day gun season contributes $1 billion to our state economy.  

Bow season has already started, but I generally continue my hikes until gun season.  I have to admit that a recent incident in Kettle Moraine State Forest gave me pause.  A horse was shot with an arrow--while a person was riding it.  The rider wasn't injured, but the horse had to be put down.

This week, I went to Gibraltar Rock twice at pre-dawn.  Hiking in the dark is almost a guaranteed way to find solitude.  By the time that I reached the top, the sun was just coming up.

Normally, we head to Kentucky for Thanksgiving for a big family gathering.  In this year of the pandemic, it will just be the three of us at home.  Instead of having a big turkey, we are going to have a duck with lots of sides.  I doubt that that anything will go to waste.

I've read that some states are experiencing grocery store shortages.  Not here yet.  We do seem to be running out of staffed hospital beds. The problem is that they are running out of healthy staff, not beds.  We have heard that at least one area hospital isn't routinely testing its staff anymore.  Only staff with symptoms gets tested. 

I've got to take Justin to the doctor for a flu shot this week, and then he has outpatient surgery scheduled for the following week. Julia has to take him for a drive-thru Covid test before the surgery can happen.  Allie is getting lots of interviews in California, but nothing has clicked into a job yet.