I love hunting and 18th century English.

"The housekeeper at Netherfield had received orders to prepare for the arrival of her master, who was coming down in a day or two, to shoot there for several weeks."
-- Chapter 53 of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

There are very few modern movies or TV shows that I like, and I really miss my Netflix subscription which allowed me to watch the movies that I like. This evening I was flipping through the channels looking for something to watch and I found the movie Pride and Prejudice and watched it. I enjoy this movie. I really like the clothing they wear, and their customs. The artwork and the scenery is spectacular. But most of all, I absolutely love the language. Their speech is like music to my ears. I think the BBC version of this movie is even better than the Hollywood version.

This past week I have been very sick every day and not able to hardly anything. But this morning I woke up feeling a lot better; so I cooked myself a breakfast of bacon and eggs and toast, and drank a cup of strong coffee to give me more energy. It is a rare thing for me to feel well enough to cook and eat a real breakfast like that. Then I got all bundled up in my warmest winter clothing and went hunting. Last night we had about 3/4" of fresh snow, the temperature today was 21 degrees, and there was a cold north wind blowing; a perfect day for bird hunting but I don't know of any places to hunt pheasants around here, so I went rabbit hunting in the public recreation area about a mile away on the edge of town. I started hunting around 11:00 and quit at 1:00 because I was too fatigued to do more. I carry a small cushion with me and I have to stop every so often and sit on my cushion for a while to rest.

I frightened away four deer that were bedded down for the day. I never saw them, just their fresh beds and their tracks. I think that is the place where some bucks bed down. I would like to go deer hunting but I can't afford a deer tag.

There is a big rabbit that lives in a large patch of blackberry bushes and the last three times I went hunting he has eluded me and ran away. So today I approached his hideout from the other side and slowly walked through the bushes but I could not see him. Then I turned around and started walking back and he ran out from under a bush that I had just walked by. But he was too fast for me and was out of sight before I could shoot.

I saw several squirrels running from me, but much too far away to shoot at. Eventually I came upon a squirrel who was on the ground not fifty feet away. We both saw each other at the same time and he took off running. I fired a shot at him but it was a clean miss.

Hunting is my favorite thing to do, especially hunting with antique muzzleloading guns like they used in the 18th century. Even though I came home empty handed, I had a very enjoyable time stalking through the woods, and seeing the wildlife. This did a lot to lift my spirits. I slept all afternoon and my depression was gone.