Opening Day

Opening day of the deer gun season in Wisconsin. A sacred day for thousands of hunters who would not think of attending a wedding, a funeral, an anniversary or a birthday party on this day.

I am at my trusty deer stand, at the crack of dawn. Except dawn hasn’t cracked as it is cloudy, dark, and cold. And quiet. So quiet. No bird sound. No wind rustling the tops of the naked oaks. A dusting of snow covers the landscape and the frozen, snow-covered pond that is to my left. I am sitting near a much-used deer trail. It includes fresh tracks, made last night? Promising. Surely a deer will wander by.

A half hour goes by. Nothing. No squirrels. No bluejays. No crows And no deer. I pour a cup of coffee from my thermos. Inevitably a deer will wander by when I do not have my rifle in hand. That’s when they usually show up. Not this time. Still nothing.

An hour goes by. Nothing. I pour more coffee. And then, strange as it may sound, I begin enjoying the nothingness of the morning. No phone ringing. No radio blaring. No loud talking. I can’t remember when I have experienced such absolute quiet, such complete “nothing happening” time. I sit back and relax. Enjoying the morning. Long ago, I concluded that deer hunting is so much more than bagging a deer. This is one more of those times.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes nothing can be everything.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 15, 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Macfarlanes Sauk City. Presentation, radio show, and book signing.

Christmas is just around the corner. Order your Apps books and DVDs for Christmas presents from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org


Featured Books of the Week

Jerry’s Seven Novels

Cold as Thunder
A look into a challenging future when climate change is denied and one political party rules.

Tamarack River Ghost
Plans for a large industrial hog farm upset the nearby rural community

Blue Shadows Farm
A Family fights to keep control of their farmland with mounting pressures to sell.

Cranberry Red
When research results in unintended consequences that cause food safety concerns and raise havoc in Ames County

In A Pickle
A Story about the demise of the small family farm and how their disappearance affects the people who own them

The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County
When a sand mine has its eye on a rural community and the uproar it creates among the Citizens

The Travels of Increase Joseph
A historical novel about a preacher who advocates the need for soil conservation in the 1850s

All copies of these novels are signed by the author and available for sale at the Wild Rose Library as a fundraiser for the Friend of the Library.