Rotten Elk Hide

Don at work gave Owen and I an Elk hide / head that his buddy in Dillon shot about three weeks ago. We were almost done tanning our whitetail hide with hair left on…we scraped the meat and membrane and fat off and threw the thing into our buckling black bucket to soak for a bit. A bit turned into three weeks, and last night we pulled it out ready to scrape the hair and grain off…HOLY HELL! It smelled rotten…it was rotten. We poured the rancid water out in the far corner of the yard and went to work. The grain layer came off fairly easily, but it still took us several hours into the dark to get it all off. The cold was encroaching, and i went inside to hold my hands under the facet to thaw them out several times. Kane kept mild company with us and not even he tried to go for these hide scraps. We got used to the smell after a bit, and talked about our hide and about going antelope hunting with my father this weekend. We switched off a few times, but Owen did most of the scraping, and I re-positioned and stretched it tight for him. I went inside and sat with Bill and his colville girlfriend for a moment after rinsing my hands again…they told me I stank, and we watched a short music video on you-tube with cheerleaders in gasmasks. The music was okay…but I really liked the cheerleaders in gasmasks dancing around.

Back to the hide. Another hour or so of scraping and we were satisfied, discussed what should be done with it at this point since we’d be gone over the weekend. Decided to just throw it back in the water, and let it soak…Owen told me that when he tans at home, he goes and crawls in bed with Ashley right afterwards and she growls at him or gives him the stinky eye. I told him how I ambush Mariah and stick my tongue up her nose…not enjoy…eewww ewww, she usually runs away and doesn’t let me close to her for a while.

It is tomorrow now, and I am at work. I didn’t take a shower beforehand, I just smudged myself with lavender and put some eucalyptus oil on my wrists. Haven’t caught any complaints yet…We’re leaving tonight when I get off, I still have to pack. My dad says it is a four or five hour drive.

I’m trying to fix a botched install of symantec’s backupexec 10d…I’ll go find Alex…he will know how to deal with it. Pitter Patter…