Dear, Dates @ Olive Garden, & Wedding Bells

I must admit to a deliberate misspelling in my title. I spelled "Deer" as "Dear" so that it would go along with this post's theme. But, for those that didn't know, here are our family's hunting adventures: Heidi and Dad went hunting together during muzzleloader season. They took both muzzleloaders. They thought both had been (muzzle)loaded. Some deer came walking along. So as to avoid having Heidi blown into the next dimension, Dad was the one that raised his gun to shoot one of the deer. Dad drew a bead on it. He pulled the trigger. BANG! The cap went off. The main charge didn't. It wasn't loaded. He grabbed the other gun (which was) and tried to aim, but the alerted deer had vacated the area in record time. Benji got a deer in the woods that uncomfortable, old fashioned way with a muzzleloader (which btw are .54 cal with .50 sabots). Another time Dad was sitting in the office and he saw some deer run across the field, so he went out on the porch with his .243 to shoot them. He forgot to take the safety off. So he spent a few desperate moments trying to get the safety off. He then shot one. Another time he was on the phone with Lorene when he saw two deer run across. He stuttered, stammered, and yelped something to Lorene on the phone and slammed it down. He ran out and shot both. He has said before that he needs to write a book: Hunting for Dummies or City Slicker's Guide to Hunting. One night as Patrick and Michelle (Michelle lives in our basement, works at at GRT/GRC, is Patrick's gf) were coming home from church, they saw an injured deer dragging its hiney across our yard. It's total back end was injured. Another deer was running along beside it. The other deer would run a bit, and then wait for the injured one. They sat and watched it for a while; Michelle was begging Patrick to put it out of its misery. So he finally got his 12 gauge and put a load of buckshot into it. At this point both deer took off. When we came home, Patrick asked if he could use our flashlight to find it. We gave him a spotlight and a big flashlight, and we all (Myself, Benji, Kristi, Michelle, and Patrick) went down in Patrick's truck to look. Later Dad brought our truck down (with Heidi, Darren, Brandon, and Dietrich in it) to help look. Finally after about an hour, everyone except Benji and Patrick went in. They finally found a puddle of blood and tracked it for a long (1/2 mi, through woods) ways. They lost it at Cedar Run. They finally came in about 1:30 AM. Now IMHO someone had some messed up priorities as far as sleep and deer are concerned... =) btw, I misspelled (purposely) two words in this paragraph; if you find them, leave a comment. (Pretty sly trick to get people to leave comments, eh?)

A couple of weeks ago Mom & Dad went on a date to Olive Garden. As they were eating, their waiteress came over to them and asked them if they knew the man that had been sitting across from them. They said, "No. Why? Didn't he pay?" The waitress laughed and said, "No! On the contrary he paid for yours, too! He handed me two $20 bills and a note saying that this is to pay for the dinner of the couple across from me: the man with the beard and his wife." Mom & Dad were a bit shellshocked. Dad, in typical fashion, had compiled a total bill of $20 for the two of them. The rest went as tip to the waiteress. Later we speculated: Did this guy do this regularly? Had he decided to give because he saw Mom's veiling? Had he seen the hole in Dad's sock and felt sorry for these poor people? Had he just been in a generous mood? In any case, they greatly appreciated it, as did, I am sure, the waiteress.

There has been an interesting comment thread over at 'Nina's blog:

LOL christmas is a comin and the bells begin to ring . . . ( uh we wont say WHICH bells)
Posted 12/6/2004 at 2:31 PM by JOYOFTHELORD

Wedding bells?
Posted 12/7/2004 at 8:55 PM by cowgirlfan_15

Who's getting married? I wanna go!
Posted 12/8/2004 at 10:52 AM by gospelpianist

It's me. [hey! you never told me!]
Posted 12/8/2004 at 6:50 PM by klone343

Yeah right, Ted! Naomi, I would think you would know the answer to that one...JUST KIDDING!...Love Comes Softly!......I am just teasing! [trippy, you are a trip as always! It was such fun reading your comment! I'm still trying to figure out what you said, though.]
Posted 12/8/2004 at 8:40 PM by TRIP_ME_UP

Ted is getting married.. to Nina! [Sisters....]
Posted 12/9/2004 at 6:57 PM by CJ91

Who told you? [Who didn't tell ME would be a more pertinent question Mr. Robb!!]
Posted 12/9/2004 at 6:58 PM by klone343

An angel.. the bells are already ringing up there! [It took me about five readings of the entire comment thread before I realized what you were saying...]
Posted 12/9/2004 at 7:00 PM by CJ91

Hahaha.
Posted 12/9/2004 at 7:00 PM by klone343

I'm so funny
Posted 12/9/2004 at 7:01 PM by CJ91

Ok guys, the wedding is in 10 years from now and you're all invited. We'll be having chocolate cake with white icing and yellow decorations and all the cups will be pink. So make sure you don't miss it. [Way to take charge!]
Posted 12/9/2004 at 9:58 PM by klone343

are you sure it isnt more like just three years? [A change of plans? erm, Susie, that would make 'Nina 18 and Ted 20... Don't get in such a rush...]
Posted 12/10/2004 at 12:43 PM by JOYOFTHELORD

Funny - I'd had the same thought - about the couple, I mean - but didn't say it first. Obviously. [Yeah, that was obvious. Very witty comment. That last sentence wasn't sarcastic; I don't think...]
Posted 12/10/2004 at 6:08 PM by gospelpianist

Hey, I'm rotfl!!! [Uh, no offense, Naomi, but it's ROFL. =)]
Posted 12/10/2004 at 6:11 PM by gospelpianist

great minds think alike [so do the not so great]
Posted 12/10/2004 at 8:32 PM by CJ91

Ted, gross decorations. [Ha! I found an out!] The wedding is [so like totally] off. well in [you know, like] 10 yrs. I will be 25 [oh, my goodness] :S and than i will probably be married by than [erm, isn't that supposeed to be "then" not "than"?] soooo.....
Posted 12/10/2004 at 10:00 PM by cowgirlfan_15

Whoops, Ted, looks like your bride's getting cold feet! [praise the lord! I was starting to think he was a goner... *whew*]
Posted 12/11/2004 at 10:17 AM by gospelpianist

Doh, [Doh?!?!? Doh!?! Is this to say that you wanted this?] guess I should've check w/ her before I decided on ze decor. [glad you didn't]
Posted 12/11/2004 at 11:59 AM by klone343

In case nobody knows it was 'Nina who suggested 10 years. Also in case nobody knows 'Nina coulda deleted all these comments, but she preferred to keep them on. =)
Posted 12/11/2004 at 4:39 PM by starrsoft

Update:
Ted IMed me and asked me to add his latest comment. I think that he was getting worried after I told him that the Youth Group was talking about it this morning at breakfast (we all met and had a wonderful breakfast).

In case nobody knows, it's all a big fat joke. [Yep! We know! And it sure is funny!]
Posted 12/11/2004 at 5:34 PM by klone343

Update #2:
As Ted said: "you tried to misspell misspelling but misspelled the misspelling" I tried, in my first paragraph to misspell misspelling and misspelled but I accidentally spelled them right!