Where do you find peace? - Painted Hunter's Blog

  I reckon I've been a bit tense lately, which is understandable...lack of sunlight, being stuck indoors ... and yearly audits are coming up where I work so I've been racing to get everything ready. I don't know why I stress over it. They come and go every year and I always do well, but I worry anyway.
  So, I guess I've been bringing my stress home lately because last Friday my wife pretty much met me at the door ... holding my shotgun. I know I haven't been quite as sweet over the past month but I hardly deserve to be shot over it. Ok, obviously she wasn't planning on shooting me. She just wanted me to relax and go to the woods. I asked if she wanted some squirrels ... or maybe a rabbit. She said she didn't care what I brought home as long as I left my stress in the woods. Darn, I love that woman. She knows I'm happiest in the woods and always have been. I don't think about anything, but I see and hear everything. I'm focused, and clear. I'm content to walk along with my turkey cannon(shotgun) over my shoulder. Every limb on every tree stands out to me, its creeping growth over the years. I can see shapes in the bark. I can walk along and notice a drop of water clinging to the edge of a leaf on the ground ... and a thousand more like it, but completely different. I can pick up a trail as easy as someone would notice a road sign, and with a glance and touch, I know it was a doe with a young one, less than an hour ago. I can bark at squirrels and they answer. I can fashion a crow call from a twig and a piece of grass. I can hoot like an owl and breathe in the scared silence after. When I hear a woodpecker, I can tell you how far he is, and if he pecks on hard wood or soft. I can sit by the edge of a creek, listening to the trickle of water, and wind through the hollow, like one would listen to their favorite song ... over and over again. I can stare into the floodwaters of a cypress grove and watch drops of water fall from the tops, and the tiny ripples they make, with all the enthusiasm of a teenage girl watching "Twilight" for the first time. I can creep up behind an armadillo, poke him in the butt with my boot, watch him jump two feet in the air, and laugh harder than the best comedian could ever make me. I can make a bow drill out of three sticks and a shoe string, and start a fire. I can make a spit out of hickory limbs and roast a rabbit, or a squirrel, a duck, or a fish ... and the finest restaurant in the world wouldn't interest me a bit.
  And that's the beauty of it. I can just be ... me. I don't worry about deadlines or bills. I don't wonder if the day will come when I can't take care of my family. It doesn't bother me that I'm raising my children in a violent world. In these moments, I wish that the peace I feel could spread, and the whole world would just be content to enjoy the simplicity of what they love.

So ... where do you find your peace?


I had tried to post some pictures here. I got a good one yesterday of a ray of light hitting the pond where I was fishing...and one my wife took of me trying to fix my spinner bait..haha...now that's concentration. But...I couldn't figure out how so i just posted them on my blog photos.

Donna Jones Date: 1/16/2014 8:40:00 PM Sitting beside the red Arkansas river ..toes in the mud...shad scales shining on my fingers....watching the curls of the current as I wait for the blues to bite..or not..:-) :-) long legged cranes of some sort standing motionless for ever just waiting for one chance to catch dinner...such patience....watching the sun go down...and knowing it will all be just the same again tomorrow....:-) :-) peace lil bro...:-) :-) Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/17/2014 9:54:00 AM Sounds like home to me...that Red River is COLD, huh?!..haha.

Karen Anglesey Date: 1/14/2014 8:16:00 PM Books, music, walking in nature, writing and other distractions to take the sting out of life. Great blog :) Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/16/2014 2:32:00 PM Thank you Karen!

Carol Eastman Date: 1/14/2014 11:47:00 AM I loved to ride my horse through the woods and down the bluff to the river. Deer didn't run away when I was on a horse... Went by 6 in a herd once and they didn't blink an eye... A family of skunks walked in front of me... But I stopped in respect of their tail ends... And boy were the little ones CUTE following Mama!... At twilight the owls hoo... and it runs right thru you... And the over shadowing trees are beautiful. Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/14/2014 2:21:00 PM Ridin' horses?! My kinda stuff!

Andrea Dietrich Date: 1/14/2014 12:15:00 AM also, love to lose myself in books and writing of poetry. but I have become such a huge fan of movies that those have replaced my love of reading in the past few decades. And of course, when I write, my mind is totally focused only on the words. It annoys my husband to no end, so I try to do it when he is asleep!! Login to Reply

Andrea Dietrich Date: 1/14/2014 12:12:00 AM Caleb, Can't wait for you to post your Bio info so people can see what a hard working man you are!! Personally, I could not take your life style but I sure admire your enthusiasm for a way of life that is back to nature! I find MY peace in the movie theater. I like to go when very few are in the theater, midday. I put my feet up on the seat in front of me, settle back with my Subway sandwich or whatever I have snuck into the theater with me that day, and lose myself in the story!! for me, I am a big sucker for stories, and I get lost in them. Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/14/2014 7:29:00 AM Yep, I knew you loved your movie time! That's also one of my wife's favorite things to do...y'all would get along just fine..;) And yeah, I wish I could make a living as a hunter...lol...but I gotta work too. Bio time?

Deb Wilson Date: 1/13/2014 11:37:00 PM Very often I find my music soothes me .I just love playing my guitar even if it is only simple tunes that I strum.Petting and playing with my funny little cat Layla makes me happy and de-stresses me.I also adore cooking new things so I cook at all hours of day and night when I need to unwind. Browsing delightedly through a book store with a dear friend who also loves books is really awesome too!I know peace really comes from within yet these things help me find that peace at times.Lovely blog Caleb! Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/14/2014 7:26:00 AM Thank you for sharing, Deb!

Lori Hopkins Date: 1/13/2014 5:55:00 PM nature. yoga. music. meditation. books. crochet...even better when i can blend two at a time Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/14/2014 7:24:00 AM Awesome...Thanks Lori

Debbie Guzzi Date: 1/13/2014 4:00:00 PM yoga, yoga, walking in the woods too & petting my cat & reading a book surrounded by friends in a fav resturant Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/13/2014 4:40:00 PM Oh yeah, yoga is good. I was so mad the first time I tried it...couldn't do it, but once you get the groove, you can't beat it.

Charmaine Chircop Date: 1/13/2014 12:27:00 PM I was going to take a break from reading blogs for awhile so I could make time to read more poems..but the title got my attention.I find peace anywhere with nature...or when everyone is asleep and i am reading a book..I find peace in hearing music at times too,or on my own drinking a cup of coffee.I love being on my own as much as I`m scared of it..I do find peace in my solitude. Re rabbit or squirrel..I never eaten a squirrel..I dont think. I ever will..Go for the rabbit : )Tnks for sharing your thoughts. Login to Reply Charmaine Chircop Date: 1/13/2014 5:56:00 PM I mean tru eating squirrel : ) Charmaine Chircop Date: 1/13/2014 5:55:00 PM Maybe when I visit my mom's cousins and aunt in U.S.A..in the coming years..I woulld give it actry : ) Painted Hunter Date: 1/13/2014 4:39:00 PM I like my solitude as well, Charma....and hey, you should try squirrel...;)

Eileen Manassian Date: 1/13/2014 11:57:00 AM Caleb....thank you for sharing.....I'm very low at the moment....but this write touched my heart....I hope the stress relief did you worlds of good...I'd be more exuberant about the beauty of it all but can hardly think straight.....hugs Login to Reply Eileen Manassian Date: 1/14/2014 6:56:00 AM Thanks, everyone....LOVE YOU CALEB, CHARMAINE, AND FLO!!!! :) Yes, FLO...I'm better. The cloud has passed...my poor sensitive soul...SERIOUSLY!!! Poetry gives me peace....Poetry gives me joy.....friends....and the GOOD BOOK! I haven't been reading that for eons..perhaps that explains my state....Peace...illusive, but beautiful when you are immersed in it. Charmaine Chircop Date: 1/13/2014 12:29:00 PM Hope these arms could reach you from so miles afar Eileen..A warm hug....Hope you feel better dear.. Painted Hunter Date: 1/13/2014 12:12:00 PM Eileen, I sure hate to hear you are down. You're so sweet and it's always my pleasure to hear from you. Take care, hon...and feel better!

Cyndi Macmillan Date: 1/13/2014 11:52:00 AM I find it all around, often when my girl is playing with her dolls, chattering away in that happy lingo of her own. I find it when I wander through the aisles of a bookstore, allowing my hand to pick up whatever I want (only when Miss Chatter is at school or with her dad) Every time I see a tree alone is a farmers field, whether it be spring, summer, fall or winter, it INSTANTLY fills me with a sense of peace. Not sure why. It's something about its solitude and simplicity, its silence... thanks for the peaceful blog. Now, I'm not a hunter..but gimme a fishing line and you and I could spend a happy afternoon. Cheers! Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/13/2014 12:08:00 PM Right on, Cyndi!

David Williams Date: 1/13/2014 11:49:00 AM Caleb I am searching for a flight now as I type this, bloody hell man that's my kind of life...you too should write your life in each generation it would make a great linked poem...David Login to Reply Painted Hunter Date: 1/13/2014 12:07:00 PM David, I'm blessed to be able to live this kind of life. We've got a friend from London...Paul Buckley, who loved to go hunting and fishing with us. He loved it so much that he moved here, but he now lives in Florida. My dad and I will be setting out yo yo's this weekend. Wish you were here!!