Tradition.
It’s the watchword of the season.
On one side of this season, we have the leftovers of
Thursday’s turkey, with the residual cold turkey sand
wiches, hot turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey pot
pie, turkey salad, turkey etc. Our 16-pounder was a free
bie a “thank you” from the supermarket chain where I
drop the bulk of my food-shopping dollars for which
we are most appreciative. It continues to provide tasty
fodder for us traditional holiday-roast bird lovers.
On the other side of this season comes Christmas card
lists demanding our attention, challenges to find just the
right gift for those special loves ones, extra goodies to
prepare and the Norfolk Island pine to lug in from the
greenhouse to plunk into our living room for our instant,
fresh, and live, holiday tree. The grandkids will enjoy
decorating it.
But before we can hang our first cow tree or
nament, we have to deal with yet another tradi
tion which hangs over our heads like mistletoe
in the doorframe of annual events.
Deer hunting.
As a child, I was well aware when deer hunt-
What’s Going On
At Child Care
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Your
child will spend many hours at child care while
you work. Do you know what he will be doing
all day? Have you seen the play areas? Children
need to play to learn. They need to be safe. Out
door play is important. Make sure the program
has safe areas for outside activities on cool fall
and winter days. See if the activities are right for
your child.
Children need active play. They need large
spaces to run, jump, and climb inside and out
side. There should always be enough adult su
pervision. Play equipment needs to be in good
shape and anchored to the ground. Make sure
there are no sharp edges. See if there is cush
ioning material under climbing and swinging
equipment.
Toys and play equipment can be simple, but
should be right for the ages of the children.
Basic things like blocks, puzzles, art materials,
and lots of books are needed for children. Bro
ken toys need to be thrown away. Art materials,
such as paint, markers, and crayons, should be
non-toxic.
Toys should be cleaned and disinfected regu
larly to keep germs away. This is even more im
portant for items used by babies and toddlers,
who are always putting things in their mouths.
Cleaning toys can prevent colds from spreading.
Your child’s caregiver can get information
and ideas from free educational materials that
can be ordered by calling 1-800-452-9108, the
Penn State Cooperative Extension Better Kid
Care Program.
There is information for caregivers and par
ents on the Better Kid Care Web site on the In
ternet. Go to www.betterkidcare.psu.edu to find
out what is available.
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ing season was approaching. Dad would get out the rifle
he rarely touched any other time of the year and spend
an afternoon or two “shooting it in.” j
I vaguely recall the year someone noted to a guest who
stopped by that dad was “out shooting mark.” (Since I
have a brother named Mark, that got' a quick, laughing
clarification).
Dad would also start accumulating days ahead the
food and non-perishables he planned to take along, pack
ing them in brown paper grocery bags. Though he passed
away a few years ago, memories of Dad’s paper bag
packing always make me smile as hunting season ap
proaches.
Though The Farmer is a hunter, the daily demands of
dairy cows and often with com still standing in the
fields have always discouraged lengthy stays away
stalking white-tails. Still, he tries to manage at least a day
or two each year at the Lycoming County hunting camp
to which four generations of family have belonged since it
was built in the early 19405.
In my opinion, few things smack more of tradition
than deer camp. At least from my second-hand vantage
point. Certain members of the group traditionally assume
certain leadership responsibilities, going early to warm
up the 20-degree cabin (some years, anyway), organizing
the hunt, assigning teams and positions during deer
drives, deciding which group plays the evening social
card games at which table.
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Not to forget that most crucial tradition: meals. All
that battling the elements, the mountains and the deer
snickering as they high-tail it over the far horizon drum
up a powerful appetite, m’am. Tradition dictates that a
certain menu will appear on a certain day, allowing at
least for easy planning from year to year. Tradition
usually also carries through the cook does not do the
dishes, which seems a fair plan to me.
When you put today’s reality up against tradition,
however, it seems that hunters are as likely to spot white
tails hanging around farm fields as hoofing over the
thick, wooded, steep terrain of mountaintops. And, who
can blame those bucks? Why slip and slide your pointy
little hoofs over rock outcroppings and jagged cliffs when
you could snooze snugly inside a briary, woods-edge,
fence row and leisurely dine in an alfalfa field 10 yards
away?
Knowing full-well that, the moment his pickup leaves
the farm to point north toward hunting camp, something
at the barn will break (and it will probably be before or
after business hours), I ponder why one would drive
hours away when there are deer hanging around much
closer at some of the “back forty” fields we farm.
(And it sure isn’t because we’re hungry. There’s still
that turkey lurking in the fridge.)
But even before 1 ask, 1 already know the answer.
Don’t mess with tradition.
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