Deer

 Last week Parker got a deer.  I always have mixed feelings about this.  I've never cared for deer meat.  It tastes like grass......and dirt.  But I've really felt like we need to get a hand-up on our food storage, and a deer would be a great way to do that. 

 Except our freezers are full of breast milk.  With infant formula selling around 20.00 a can, I just can't afford to let my milk dry up.  AND if this post-pardom period is anything like the other two, my milk could dry up by the time the baby is only 4 or 5 months old.  That being said, I've had to store as much breastmilk as I can....so that when the time DOES come that I've got nothing left.....I still won't have to buy formula. 

So with the freezers busting at the seems....what on earth were we to do with all that deer meat?

Well I'll tell you.  We canned it!

Looks pretty gross doesn't it?!  But it's actually my favorite way to prepare deer meat.  It gets rid of the "gamey" flavor quite well.  And in a jar, it's all prepared and ready to go.  Warm it up if you want to...but you certainly don't have to.  You can throw it into a stew, or mix it with some cream of mushroom and serve it over rice.  Anyway.  Best of all, it can sit on the shelf, and not in the freezer.

Parker and I got home from our weekend (I went to Boise, and he went hunting near Pocatello) on Sunday night, and Monday after work, we started butchering that deer.  Parker skinned it in the garage, which actually only took about an hour.  Then he quartered it and cut all the meat into little cube-sized pieces that would fit easily in the jars.  THAT took forever.  We didn't start until 9:00 at night, after the kids were in bed.  I stayed up till midnight with him, helping however I could.  But then I went to bed and he stayed up and finished cutting it up.  He was up till 3:00 AM.  I felt so bad.  The following morning he had orientation at work....which meant he had to go in early, and spend the entire day on his feet.  Poor Parker.  The following day Angie was dealing with extreme constipation.  She work up every  hours saying "I go potty!"  Only when I took her, she'd just sit on the toilet and cry.  Nothing ever came out.  Between that and taking care of baby Garrett in the middle of the night....I had a sleepless night as well.  Oh man we were zombies.  The next morning we decided we were going to have to do something for Angie.  Parker and I went late to work, and he ran to Walgreen's to buy an enema so we could get her to go.  I hope I never have to do that again.  The poor girl.  So much screaming and crying.  About 30 minutes after the enema, she started to go.  It was diahrea, and it was.....bad.  Like.....water.  I could hear her stomach churning like a dishwasher.  I felt so bad.  Another emotional break-down followed about how I shouldn't have to go to work.  Parker's sister, Jayne, was kind enough to take Angie and Garrett for the day, since there was no way I could send her to daycare like that. 

The following day was my day off....thank goodness.  And it was a good thing, because Angie threw up so many times I lost count.  Where is this coming from?  I missed 2 days of work last week too because she was throwing up.  To top it off.....Caleb had a doctor's appointment after school to get his warts removed.  That wasn't too bad, but I decided to have someone look at Angie too.  While we were waiting for Angie's appointment (Caleb moaning and groaning about the new sores on his hands from the cryotherapy), Angie informed me she was going to throw up (AGAIN).  I'd brought a bowl, which she'd already puked into a couple times while at Caleb's appointment.  At the time I had GArrett in his carseat in one arm, my purse and discharge papers in the other hand....AND the bowl.  I dropped everything and she emptied her guts right there in the hallway.  Caleb's appointment card was sitting in the bowl when she lost it.  To top it off....I hadn't eaten anything all day, and I was literally SHAKING because I was so hungry.  I was completely famished.  A gentleman walked by and looked at the 4 of us and said, "can I help you?"  Humiliated, I told him that I just needed someone to stand with my kids while I cleaned out the bowl.  He said, "I'll take that." 
"Oh no.  You REALLY don't have to do that."  he insisted and tooked the bowl full of puke out of my hands.  What a saint.  Another lady was walking by and offered to stand with Caleb and Garrett while I got a new appointment card.  (I was now carrying Angie).  Oh my goodness, sometimes there really are good people in this world. 
When I got back with the appointment card, the lady had some disposable barf-bags for me, and the man had my bowl in a grocery sack.  Wow.  Thank you whoever you are. 
After the doctors appointments, I went to WalMart because Caleb had behaved SO ADMIRABLY at his appointment.  He didn't even cry while his warts were being frozen....although I KNOW he wanted to.  I could see his pouty lip, and his tear-filled eyes.  But he never faltered. And I was so proud, I just had to buy him a little toy.  (This is the boy who screams and goes stiff as a board when you tell him he has to get a shot......yes he deserved a toy).  But first I had to get some food.  We went to the Subway located in the Walmart, and the 3 kids sat there and watched me stuff my face with a sandwich.
Relief.
No longer shaking, we got the kids their toys and a few groceries and headed home.  And to think we had originally planned to go to the temple that evening.  So much for that.  Angie was just too sick.  Once we got home, she went to bed, and didn't have any more incidents.  No more puke.  No more runny poo.  Everybody cross your fingers that she's really over it.  Because on Tuesday night we're going on vacation to Las Vegas, and we're going whether we have sick kids or not...because I am ready for a BREAK!