01.23.06 work, life, school, ducks

This weekend was my last duck hunting expedition before the big move. It was really sad to watch Robby and Sarin standing on the shore waving goodbye, and to watch the duck blinds and favorite hunting spot disappear around the corner as we were ferried up the Winchester Wasteway and back to the launch. The hunt really wasn't very good, Saturday was mostly spent picking at small groups of divers, and Sunday was so bad that only two (long) shots were fired all day. Happily, I got 2 Goldeneye Drakes and a Shovelnose Hen on Saturday, one of which I nailed with a classic pass shot... I was really happy about that one. The other two were acquired more in the sluicing method, and while it's irresistible in the moment, I frankly don't feel too satisfied after the fact.

Regarding the low number of potential shots, I suspect that more is at work than Hernandez luck. The guides say that Moses Lake hunts have been hit and miss all year, and from what I can remember, they've been hit and miss for the last few. I don't think that duck populations are down in general, I just think that the farming practices in the Moses Lake area are not supporting the volume of ducks we once had. I do know this: since I got back into hunting about 4 years ago, I have not seen a set of more than 1 dozen ducks come in to a blind I was hunting, and even groups numbering a dozen have presented themselves less than a handful of times. Generally, I have shot at small sets of 2 to 5 ducks, and this last weekend's level of shooting has been more common than not. I'm beginning to wonder if Moses Lake is just played out? I hope not, but I am considering that my next trip will be to somewhere like Mexico or Canada. It's sad, because I remember shooting at groups of 30 or 40 ducks regularly as a kid... much of that was in the Skagit, but Eastern Washington had similar productivity when I was out there. We'll see. Maybe I'll give old Moses Lake another go this next year, if I'm back in town for the Xmas holiday.

Of course, the upshot of this weekend's activities is that I now have to cram in a bunch of Accounting homework tonight and tomorrow, hence the title of this post. Balancing the fun stuff I like to do with the work I want to accomplish is going to be different in an academic setting than in the work setting I am so used to.

I have to get some minor surgery in the AM tomorrow, but I'm hoping to feel OK to finish up the assignment before class that night, even if I just email it in. My hobbies are going to have to really slow down in order to support the level of studying I want to do... weekend-long getaways are not going to be possible over the next few months, and even less possible when I start at Oxford. I just need to get into that rhythm of studying all weekend, which I actually enjoy to a certain degree. The other issue is that my focus is weak right now, and I need to get it up into good fighting shape: I can't be half spaced out and hope to grind through a ton of study work at the same time!