DAY 7

Rain this morning. I sat under the burnt out remnants of the Lean-To and sulked. This had been a really bad week and the rain just topped it off for us...Well, I mean me.

Jesse may be losing it. He is dancing around the fire right now, humming some strange tune to himself, waving his spear around.

Chancey bagged a couple of rabbits. Petey the Pomeranian just acted like he was carrying part of it. She actually shared with us this time. Good dog!

We found badger tracks around the camp. Is the badger stalking me now?!? Jesse sniffed the ground, looked at me and grunted with a shake of his head. The badger IS stalking me! Well, I won't be bullied by no badger! Jesse set traps around the camp, just in case it came back.

Where did he learn this? Spring loaded log traps, a trip wire with a noose that grabs the leg of the animal and one with a tree branch bent back to act as a heavy whip. pretty incredible. He just keeps humming that same tune.

It's dark now and Jesse must have found make-up left behind by our Sheila when we got stranded...War paint?!? He is wearing war paint?!?

He just stares into the fire...A tree limb snaps on the forest floor. Chancey and Petey raise their heads and Jesse's head snaps up quickly as sniffs the air. Chancey grabs Petey in her mouth and runs.

Jesse stands slowly, looks at me and points to the spear beside me. I shake my head "No", but it was actually more like "Noooo". He points again, this time with more force and a grunt. I roll my eyes with a sigh and pick up the spear. When I turn around, he is gone. Another limb snaps in the darkness. I'm not feeling really good about this. "Jesse?..."

I don't leave the fire, I know that badger is out there. His beady little eyes probably watching me right now. That's when I heard the growl behind me. A spear just passes by my head as Jesse tries to take out the badger. I panic and run into the darkness screaming, inadvertently tripping the log trap.

The first log knocked me to the ground, and as each log rolls across me, battering my body, I think to myself, "Why did he use so many logs?!?" As the last log rolls across me, I slowly stagger to my feet, searching for my spear in the dark and hear a "Whip" sound in the air as a tree branch comes around and hits me in the chest, knocking me backward. I think I just found the second trap.

Jesse jumps from the brush and rushes toward the badger, the war cry I heard from yesterday fills the air again. That is when I hear the load snapping sound...And as Jesse runs past me, the noose catches our legs and pulls us up into the air. Well, that would be the third one.

There we were, dangling from the rope upside down. We hear chewing and look over to see the badger is eating our rabbit!

Jesse turns his head and just stares at me.

The badger gone, we finally got out of the trap. Jesse had pulled himself up and chewed through the rope. he held on but let me fall. I guess he thought I had that one coming.

He now sits at the fire, his back to me. I try to explain, but he doesn't move. I just lean back dose off a moment, only to wake to see Jesse standing over me with the spear. Was he going to kill me? He leans down and pats my head, speaking in broken English

"You sleep Old Bald One...I hunt now..." With that, he whoops loudly and runs into the forest with Chancey in tow. I think I will take him up on his offer. Petey and I curl up and the crackling of the fire lulls us to our dreams.

Somewhere, out there in the night, Jesse the Hunter is on the prowl. Who knows, maybe tomorrow, we will be eating rabbit flavored badger for dinner.