Mountain Lane Homesteaders

If you've been reading my blog for a while you may remember a while back when I posted a story about my son called "Can I shoot it mom?!" Yesterday offered me a chance to tell a another great Caleb story.

Here are a couple of pictures of the creek that runs through our property.

Caleb has been claiming to see some fish in the creek that he wanted to try and catch. Since fishing isn't high on our list of priorities right now all the fishing equipment is in storage. This morning Caleb set out to see what he could do about finding his own way to catch a fish. Here is what he tried.

First of all he had to get permission to go to the creek by himself since neither of his sisters were interested and the dog seemed to be afraid to go. We had a neighbor tell us that a mountain lion had been seen nearby a while back so had been only letting the kids venture away from the house if they were together. (You know, so that the others could report back should said lion eat one of them for lunch). Anyway, having played it safe for quite a while I told him that if he promised to keep his ears listening for unfamiliar sounds, run if he heard them, and not stay gone too long, he could go. So off he went.

The first attempt at fishing involved his BB gun. Yes, he was trying to spy the little fishes out and shoot them for dinner. This seemed to prove unsuccessful because he came back to the house, enlisted the help of a sister, and set off again. This time the method was to strap a knife to the end of a stick. I believe the plan was for Caleb to scare the fish into action and then Mara was to jump into the water and spear it. Not too long afterwards they came back unsuccessful yet again and Mara had to clean up the cut she managed to get on her leg. As the cut was minor I decided not to ask any questions! By this time we were getting ready to have lunch and then head into town to go to the library, pick up our mail, and stop at the grocery store. A girl can be out of cream for coffee only so long (I really think we need a cow but I must not get sidetracked from my story).

We enjoyed our trip to town, got a bunch of reading materials, and came back home. Caleb spent quite a while outside reading in the hammock but he just couldn't forget about those fish. Pretty soon he was asking me if he could cut up one of his shirts to make a net to catch them in. Since I didn't appear overly enthusiastic about that he decided he would just take the butterfly net. Off he went again.

Minutes later I hear loud shouting from a distance and as he came nearer I could make out the words "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Of course the girls and I all came running to see the prize. I admit it wasn't quite as big as I had imagined it would be but he did get it. So we found a container to put water in and he let it go to swim. I got to hear the victory story of how he put his net in the water and captured it. We tried to identify it from a Montana wildlife booklet we have and think it is a small brook trout but aren't sure. Of course NOW the girls were excited so the three of them headed back to the creek to gather bugs or worms or something for this fish to eat. No way was this little thing going to be dinner but he was fun to watch. I'd say about 7 inches long or so. Anyway, to keep this from getting WAY too long.......they came back with another fish, put it in the container, went back again and got a third fish which was the biggest of all, and had the best time "decorating" the tub they were in with rocks and gems and things. I'm sure the girls were the ones inspired to decorate.

As soon as Sam came home he had to check out the great excitement of the day. On my way back inside I heard Caleb say, "I persevered and I got it!" Wow. What more could a mother ask for than a boy who has had the time of his life and learned a great lesson all at the same time?