Surviving Fall School Confinement

Last week’s NL touched on how the great pine nut season helped us get through September, the first month of being confined in a classroom all day. However, being 100% genuine McGill heathens, we were still lamenting the loss of our freedoms when October started.

We needed other distractions, so that our brilliant minds wouldn’t be corrupted by the school agenda.

Luckily, October was the month of Baseball’s World Series, the start of football, deer and duck seasons. During our middle school years, the principal would make students listen to the Series in the teachers lounge. Then of course on the weekends, most of us reprobates were hunting.

Our Dad’s took us hunting even before we were old enough to get a deer tag. They would show us how to handle deer rifles safely, how to stalk deer, how to dress one out and how to get it back to the car. When we turned 12 and had our own license, we had to do the whole process without any help. You don’t ever forget when you do it yourself.

We did not use a side by side, 4×4, dirt bike or have a powerful scope and tripod—we had hunting boots and iron sights. It was called HUNTING.

It was the same with duck hunting. We learned how to set up a blind and set out decoys properly.

The main thing was not to be in the same area as Keith Murphy or Dale Cottrell. When they used their homemade duck calls, ducks came in from all over the region. The air was so full of ducks that many of them had to walk over to Dale or Keith’s blind.

Without being able to daydream about hunting, baseball and football, I don’t know if we could have survived the month of October back then.

November was easier as we had sleigh riding, snowball fights, Thanksgiving and being able to build an ice slide on the sidewalk between the two school buildings.

Note—John Mesic sent me an email about pine nuts. He used to cook them in the oven with a little olive oil. He said that he and his sister would shell the hot nuts but not eat them until they had a sizable amount in their mouth. I remember doing this also. Lots of good memories.