Starting Off 2009 Right...

…with 110 pounds of venison sausage! Every New Year, we take the meat from hunting season and turn it into food that lasts us for the rest of the year – how green of us!

The big event is held at Uncle John’s ranch in Hye with, I believe, seven different families all gathering to make 1200 pounds of venison sausage! Unfortunately, Tim and I could not make it to the ranch until they were just about half-way through with everything, so we didn’t have to get our hands too dirty, but we helped as much as we could!

Everything was ready for the smoke-house by Thursday afternoon (the day we came in), and since we let it smoke for about 24 hours, we had some free time. On Friday, Tim and I slept in, grabbed a late breakfast and headed over to the Rock Hole so we could try out my new pistol. That is right readers, Lydia is armed. Let’s just say it is the Wagner influence seeping into my lifestyle. Tim got us a dinner from that excursion, too – a couple of ducks!

We came back just in time to watch the terrible Cotton Bowl. In hind-sight, I should have kept practicing my shot.

That night we unloaded the smoke house and sealed all of our links up for a year of freshness! I went back to our cabin early to rest and finish reading the book I had about a serial killer terrorizing a small town. I mention that because it comes into play later in the weekend.

By Saturday, all we had to do was relax, so Tim took me into Johnson City to some of the shops and to eat at the highway café. Because the weather was so nice, we really enjoyed just walking around. I found a Santa Claus wall-hanging that matches our stockings from when we were babies! That night, everyone (Tim and I, the Wagners and Aunt Ruth) drove to Albert Bar and spent the evening just hanging out and talking. And people watching.

After we went t sleep, Tim and I woke up with a jolt to gunshots in the middle of the night. Gunshots are not that unusual in the country, but pistol shots in the middle of the night are, and it got us worried. Not only that, but we were both certain we heard a knock on the door of the house Aunt Ruth was staying in. With the story of the serial killer in the back of my mind, I asked Tim to go get our gun, which was in the truck. Tim got his flashlight and snuck around the house to the truck. Of course, in true dramatic form, he bumped into something which made a loud noise causing me to almost pee my pants. When he got back he said, “Lock the door, I’m going to go check on Ruth.” I felt like the guy in the movie Scream talking about the rules of a horror movie. At least he didn’t say, “I’ll be right back.” While he was up there I heard more gunshots, and this time I could tell two guns were shooting. Of course, I imagine Tim sneaking up on some murderer and getting into a gun fight with him. So I’m half-hiding behind the door when Tim arrives back to our room. He said, “Did you hear that?” I replied, “Of course! I thought it was you!” “No – it would have been a lot louder if it was me.” Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

Thinking back, I was about 40 percent sure that some crazed person looking for revenge or a stash of money or something was after me. What did I do? I half-way hid behind a door. Nice. The thought flashed through my head that there really wasn’t anything I could do. I think I specifically thought, “This is it.” I could have at least grabbed a chair or something. If I was Doug, I would have already come up with 5 different plans of things I could do. I should start thinking like Doug. Ha! That's funny.

Oh, and we concluded the next morning that it was most likely some people on the land next to us who had run into some hogs as they were making their way to their deer blind early in the morning.

It was a very dramatic ending to a very non-eventful weekend. We drove home and watched Tropic Thunder.