Easter Weekend

April 10-12, 2009

For Easter, we decided to go to the farm and enjoy His creation in thanksgiving for His work. We left around 1:00 Friday afternoon and went buy Moultrie (to get lock on legs for the feeders), Lowe's (to get some more stakes for feeders), and the grocery store for weekend groceries....now more stuff in the Tahoe than last time. We made it about 7:00 down there, exhausted. The place has really changed in two weeks as Spring progresses towards the heat of Summer. We had about 5" of rain in those two weeks and the pond had come up a lot! It was now only 12-18" low, which was so refreshing to see. It looked great! We had fried fish, hush puppies, and slaw for dinner followed by an intense weather following night as tornadic activity was all around us according to WSFA out of Montgomery. It was heavy duty rain but we never even lost power.

Sawtooth Oak by house booming since last trip with greenery:

The pond is up higher than it has been in a long time!!

The next morning the I went out and had no luck to start, called up a hen and then after walking a mile or so, got to the other side of the property where the only gobbling I heard all morning was happening. Set up just right and here they came on in....with gun up and everything set for a great kill, they come into view and one by one come closer to where I was sitting....four Jake's gobbling and strutting and sporting their 2-4 inch beards. It was still a great hunt, and they circled me at 5-10 yards, shock gobbling and making me jump every time.

Amy Grace trying to start crawling:

After breakfast, we started putting out the feeders and checked the game cameras. Got some good pics as we continue to play with the different setting options for the cameras. This time we had tried 30 second and 1 minute pic delays...and of course got a ton of pics. We definitely backed off this time. The deer have about devoured the two protein blocks we set out and just in time as next trip we plan on loading the feeders for the first time and put out some more blocks. We got back and spent the whole afternoon on the dam fishing, smoking some deer and turkey on the grill, and drinking cold beer. We caught 20 or so little to mid-size bream, and decided to keep 8 for a mini fish-fry sometime. Also, maybe taking out some every time we fish will help lower the fish population and increase the size. It had been a long time since I had cleaned a fish, but we managed.

Star Baby checking in:

Sunday morning was quite windy so I did not chase turkeys too much...and hunted a couple hours against a tree near the house. Had a few gobbling way off, but it was uneventful other than some good reading time. We had breakfast and put up the last feeder, then hit the road.

Passed out:

Game Camera pics:

We need to kill some coyotes:

Lot of Jake's being seen/called in this year, should be good for next year if we can hold them on property:

I am going to set some traps here and get these coons:

Same buck from last pics coming back several more times to have some of the yummy block:

Turkey Season Weekend #3, Massages, and Misc.

March 27-29, 2009

We had our second anniversary (24th) this past week and celebrated by cooking a good steak. We decided to get a couple's massage for our anniversary on Saturday(April 4th). It has been a wonderful two years with a lot of great ups and downs. I can only imagine what it will be like 30 years from now - how well we will know and be like one another. That's the goal as we continue to grow together everyday.

We went down to the farm Friday afternoon for the weekend to check in on the new game cameras, continue to work on getting feeders ready to start feeding the animals (after turkey season), maybe bag a turkey and a few breams. We had loaded up two feeders and 200 pounds of corn and all the other gear (tools, guns, fishing polls, dog stuff, baby stuff, clothing, food, etc.) and the Tahoe was about as full as it could possibly be. The poor dogs were on top of each other. But we made it and were much lighter coming home, without the feeders. We tried to fish some Friday night when we got down, but the fish were not biting, so we had took it in. Saturday morning turned into a great hunt as I was able to get on a few turkeys and they came in after an hour or so of working them in windy, somewhat messy conditions. A nice long-beard and two of his hens came prancing in, only they came in a little bit to my left. I had my gun up, but was unable to get them all behind trees at the same time to swing around a shoot. But that encounter was a successful hunt in my book!! We spent the rest of the day painting the old feeder and putting the two new one together. AS it was closing in on dark, we got one up by the house and filled with corn. For supper we went into Auburn and hate at a steakhouse and had a good time, till Amy Grace decided it was time to go. We checked game cameras on Sunday, got cleaned up and headed home.

Picture earlier in the week, getting fishing poles at Dad's:

Sweet Olive planted by Mike Loop and Brent last April, it's doing well:

View from shed:

Pond is still 4-6 feet low even though we got 4.5 inches of rain the the past week!

Finishing up rehab on old feeder barrel (10 plus years old):
Two geese at the dam:
Some game camera pics:

April 3-5, 2009

Well we stayed home this weekend. And good thing we did, as I came down and started struggling with a fever and a head cold or something. Friday night, Ian came over and hung out for a while and helped me move some furniture (thanks!!). We are slowly moving the den furniture to the deck and moving the living room furniture to the den. As we daily reorganize to stay on top of things and make the most of the space we have, we finally got tired of never using the nice living room furniture we had as we never go in that room cept when Emily runs on the treadmill (something I need to start doing more of). Eventually we will make that room into a hunting/library/office, so we can free up both bedrooms upstairs (no there is not another bun in the oven). Still a lot of work to go, but making steady progress a bit at a time.

Saturday, we got up and Emily took AG to her parents for the day, so we could go get the couple's massage. We stopped by and ate at Moe's Barbecue...pretty good if you have not had it. We got to the massage and they placed us in a room with candles, weird music, and an odor I can't quite explain. They told us to strip down however we would feel comfortable and get under the sheet on the table. It was an interesting experience, as I had never done this before, but I enjoyed it, though I learned I was quite tense. And towards the end of the session, I asked the masseuse "what she thought of this body" only to get an odd look. Emily informed me afterwards that that might have been construed as a sexual advance, which was funny, as what I was saying to her in nub language was a joking, "how tense are my muscles in comparison to what you see daily" kinda way. What a fun experience never the less!!

Emily went to Lori's surprise 30th Birthday Party that Dave put together. I hate I missed it but was running a 101 temp and felt like crap. As I slept they partied the night away. Emily came home and let me know that her parents were keeping AG overnight. Our first night without the rascal...and I am sicker than poo. But anyways, a good nights rest and feeling better the next day. Maggie came by Sunday and brought AG an Easter present:

AG in the Bumbo chair (some kinda go between from boob to high chair)...we need to make a "nubbo" chair: