The last 48 hours
October 10, 2008 at 8:53 pm 7 comments
Let me tell you about the last 48 hours I have spent. Okay, let me vent and complain about the last 48 hours.
A few posts back (quite a few actually) I mentioned that I have some weird hobbies. One of my hobbies is brain tanning hides. (yes that isn’t a typo. I tan hides using brains and smoke) But one of the key ingredients in that hobby is the hide itself. I have found the best way to store the deer hides is in the freezer.
Well it was a great idea until the freezer dies while I was away for a few days. I get home weds. night and smelled a strange odor. I fearfully walked into the room and looked at the huge freezer that I knew was filled to the brim with hides and brains. In dreading anticipation, I lift the lid ever so slightly……And slam it down again. Yes that strange odor was indeed 50 hides and 12 pints of brains decomposing in a freezer that wasn’t freezing.
Now what am I to do with that mess? I can’t just take it outside and dump it, my dogs would be dragging that gross stuff up for months, the garbage man would rightfully refuse to take that stinking mess and it was way too much to throw out at one time anyway. So that left me with incineration. But that takes some planning on my part.
So I get into town the next day and buy 4 cans of lighter fluid and vicks. The lighter fluid is to get a hot fire going and vicks to keep me from dying from the smell. I have dust masks I wear at work and I took one and smeared the inside with the vicks. It helped alot but didn’t completely kill the smell. Thank you C.S.I. for that good idea.
Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my brother, he got home from work in time to help. My mom came out and she cleaned out the freezer while I played fire bug. It was not a pretty sight. Today I went out to the fire and noticed some hides were still left so once again I was burning stinking rotten hides. Not a pleasant way to spend a day.
So tonight I am tired, half sick from the smell, and just plain frustrated. But at least I found it before it got too bad. And at least it is done and gone. I think maybe my next hobbie will be flowers or perfumes, or a sweet smelling anything.
Entry filed under: stories, Uncategorized. Tags: complaining, grossed out, grumbling, venting.
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A wonderful Journey 
1.
e2tc | October 11, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Oh man…. sounds horrible.
How did you get started on this, anyway? 😉 (Also, isn’t this the way that Indians tanned deerskins?)
2.
wvhillcountry | October 11, 2008 at 11:53 pm
It is said that every animal has enough brains to tan it’s hide except buffalo and some people. 😉 Yes it is a native american way of tanning but also for a lot of other cultures. I was drawn to it because there were no harsh chemicals or anything that could hurt my kids. I just hated the thought of anything going to waste. If the deer made the ultimate sacrifice then it should be honored and everything possible used.
I am not a hunter, but I am not against hunting. It just isn’t for me, but if hunting is done, then why not use everything possible? Why waste anything? That is why I got into tanning hides. I have made some beautiful buckskin, some nice rugs and some rabbit hides that I made into teddy bears. Everything has a use.
I rightfully admit that I am strange and weird, but there are a lot of people who are going back to the natural way to tan hides. It is using something that most people throw away and it is green, (doesn’t hurt the environment) Besides, it keeps me out of trouble LOL
3.
Jones | October 12, 2008 at 12:23 am
I’ve never heard of doing anything like that but then I am a city girl. The worst thing that ever happened around here was when a skunk got into our backyard and sprayed the dog. Good on you for being kind to the environment.
4.
Eliz Anderson | October 12, 2008 at 1:43 am
Oh my, I can imagine how bad that smelled. (I used to work at a landfill so I have some rotten fridge – freezer tales too.) Glad you managed to get it all cleaned up.
Do you use the bone scrappers when you scrape your hides? I’ve never tanned myself but I lived on Native Reserves growing up and have seen the traditional way of tanning.
5.
e2tc | October 12, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Kelli, I don’t think it’s weird at all – and would have *loved* to have met someone like you when I was very young and absolutely fascinated with everything about Indians and the way they lived. (The area where I grew up had a lot of their “main highways” running through it, from far upstate NY to Maryland, Delaware, etc. – and it was famous as a hunting ground for many tribes.) People here hunt; my brothers, dad and grandfather all did – and I miss having good venison roasts!
So to me, your method of curing seems like a smart thing to do (no pun intended!), though I have to admit that something in me flinched when I saw the part about rabbit skins…
(FWIW, one of my cousins is an expert on the early history of this part of PA and his wife has a *very* authentic buckskin dress, leggings, the works… he has a lot of speaking engagements and she helps out with them, partly by standing in for all the Indians who were driven out of PA…)
6.
wvhillcountry | October 12, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Jones, Skunk on a dog ranks right up there, but the funny thing is, after about three weeks when the smell is little more than a memory, it is isn’t too bad 🙂
Eliz, Water Goddess and a landfill worker? Wow you continue to amaze me 😉 But I bet you do have your stories. I was afraid to set out those hides for the garbage man…he might think I had cut up a body and call the cops LOL. I used a bone scrapper once, but it kept losing it’s edge and was hard to work with. (Right now I am planning on starting a few bear hides that I have, fortunately they were dried and not frozen)
My buddy E, I’m sorry, I should have warned you to cover nibbles eyes when you read that comment. I knew a guy who raised rabbits and he just threw the hides away (they were not pets unfortunately) So I still have about 50 hides or so in the other freezer.
I have to admit that I have a hard time doing rabbit hides because some of my best friends were rabbits. I had a bun named midnight, he was black, when I was a kid and he used to ride around in a baby carraige and let me put bibs and things on him. I would take him out in the yard and let him run around and eat grass. He was the SWEETEST thing.
I also had a bun named snowball, who was white, who was a sweet thing. Unfortunately she was stung by a bee and died of shock. And a confession here, but I have raised orphaned wild rabbits because I believe that everything deserves the chance to grow up. But my mom made the biggest sacrifice, she was chasing my dog to get a baby bunny from her and fell and broke her arm. 6 weeks off work. But they survived and grew up 🙂 So I really do have a soft spot for buns.
7.
e2tc | October 16, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I think you’ve got a soft spot for most animals – and hey, why not?
I try to avoid even thinking about rabbits that aren’t much-loved family pets, though… I’m also interested in rescue. (But I’m not doing it – for now, that is.) I stay away from local agricultural shows because I know I would just want to rescue all the buns, and I can’t.
Midnight sounds like he was an unbelievably chilled-out bun!