Sunday, January 28, 2007

Here Kitty Kitty

Well, the Trifecta didn't quite come to completion. There was really no opportunity to go back into the Congo with the bulldog to find my deer. It pretty much rained every weekend since the incident. Weather in the Deep South is so unpredictable. It is clear and cool all week, but the rainclouds will always open on Saturday. Not very conducive to successful tracking. At any rate, I did happen to go hunting again with my old hunting buddy in search of another fuzzy forest creature to replace the lost one. We got into our enclosed elevated shooting house very quietly around 3:45 and just like clockwork the deer started coming to feed around 4:00. At first two twin yearlings emerged and then a four-point appeared at the opposite corner of the field seconds later. The trail the buck used was fairly open just inside the woodline so I was able to notice the back of another animal creeping towards the field. We really thought we hit the jackpot. Suddenly the year and a half old buck started getting really nervous. Of course I was thinking old sad daddy (a really old mature buck to you novices) was going to slip in on us. The new guest happened to not be very popular with the party crowd.

Dynamite in a 50 pound package. The meanest, nastiest, gnarliest, bad to the bone, Eli's Coming critter in the woods. These guys don't go to the store to get their Kibbles and Bits, they get theirs direct. You seriously can't intimidate these dudes and you don't want to be in a briar thicket with one. They have a growl (yes growl, they don't meeeow) that will turn even a human's blood cold. As Nicholas (one of my esteemed groomsmen) puts it, "You don't wanna be tied up with one of them. That'll put you in a bind quick." Anyway, little bucky could just tell that he was being followed. He went full alert and started stomping and snorting (of course the whole day was shot now). Too young to know any better, he went to investigate. Adolescents! About two steps later, felis rufus comes over a a small ridge and flicked his claws at the face of the youngster, who happens to be three-and-a-half times his size. Bucky wasn't all too keen on this mess so he skirts on out of the way. In the meantime, the little devil sees the fresh meat in the other corner of the woods so he breaks back on another trail. Seconds later, he eases out across some water that was ankle deep on us (they aren't afraid to get wet either). Being the expert stalker he is, he slips totally undetected less than ten yards behind the twins making not a splash or a ripple trying to get downwind of them. Knowing what I know now, I should have flipped him with the 325 grain Hornady's I was slinging, but it was only 4:15. He never showed his face again, but the twins were restless for the rest of the afternoon. By far the largest and darkest of that sort I had ever seen, he was seriously pushing 50 pounds and was almost pure coal color. I had always heard that deer were terrified of them, but I had no idea until I witnessed this fiasco. Trappers have told that they were the fiercest and fearless of all southern predators. They have been known to pounce on deer from branches and take them down to the ground using their inch long teeth and razor sharp claws, which happen to come five to a paw. The wonders of the Delta flatlands.......

Friday, January 19, 2007

Homegrown Trifecta.....Almost

Over the last five or so years, the family project has been developing the habitat for the benefit of the deer herd on the part of our farm that we refer to as "The Johnson Place." While I have been in the Metro area for the most of the last two plus years, Dad and Shelton have spearheaded the food plot efforts. Fittingly, the story begins with them. Going backwards to come forwards, the first several years were pretty bleak with minimal deer sightings at best. If any deer at all were seen, they were slickheads (does to those who aren't familiar with the term). However recently, the select cut timber has provided unpenetrable briar thickets complete with cane and palmettos. As a result, the deer have more food sources in the woods and much more cover to hide from predators (that's another story within itself). This has by far been the best year as we have struck a homegrown trifecta....almost. Dad was the first to strike with the .45/70 during the first muzzleloader season. We have complete footage on camera to support the facts that it took about eight bullets to finally take the 9 point down for good. It was very entertaining to see Dad and Shelton playing the Geronimo twins on this deer, which later happened to be so old that the teeth were completely worn. Thanks to deer management, this buck could expire in a humane manner without starvation. Shelton's deer (photos to be included at a later date) was a 7 point that we claimed putting a slip on one afternoon. We had been searching for one that he hit the day before on another one of our select locations. We had just enough light and the perfect wind direction to come within 75 yards of Shelton's victim. Finally, last sunday I had the opportunity to sit in our shooting house with my Dad. It gave me the opportunity to have the type of conversations that is a blessing for a son to have with his role model. It was a little warm so we both knew that it may not be our day for hunting. About ten minutes before dark, Dad noticed a good buck sneak down the edge of the field in my direction. There was a little nook where he was going to come out that would provide a car's width of shooting room before he would reenter the woods. Pops instructed me to have my gun out the window waiting since it was so close to dark and so little margin for error. Several seconds later, I saw a brown object emerge in the near darkness. Through the scope, I saw antlers so I placed the crosshairs on the shoulder and squeezed off. Water and back legs flew high behind the deer indicating a chest shot so we went after him. After fours hours of looking the next day in the freezing rain, no pictures yet. Maybe Jeff's bulldog can help us out. To be continued.........

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Reed's Nursery




I am working on painting canvases for Reed, our future nephew, to go along with the theme of his nursery. Here is a picture of the bedding Abbey and Jeff picked out and they have already received it all! They are going with a green, brown, and blue color scheme. Here are three of the canvases I have already painted and next is a frog! I haven't decided if I'm going to repaint the monkey yet. Brookie's favorite is the giraffe and mine is the elephant!






Monday, January 15, 2007

Cell Phones....

I had limited use of my cell phone this weekend. If you called me, you could hear me, but I couldn't hear you. I've had the same cell phone for almost two years now and I've been very pleased with it, but I had to get a new one. I went during lunch to upgrade my phone and of course they make you sign another 2 year agreement. That's a long time! Anyway, here is a picture of my new little cell phone and it is little. It's only 1 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches. I am sure it will be very easily lost in one of the huge purses I always carry around.




















Be sure to check back soon- if all goes well, we're going to pick up my new car tonight after work!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Fiesta Chicken Pasta

Brookie and I have been doing good this week cooking at home instead of eating out. Monday night we had the steaks I've already posted about, Tuesday night we had Chicken Enchiladas, and last night we had Fiesta Chicken Pasta. It was pretty simple and we both liked it! Tonight we are having Chicken Parmesan. Here's a picture of our completed dish:


And the recipe incase you're interested:
Fiesta Chicken Pasta
2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 Tbsp. oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups chopped red peppers (about 2 medium)
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 cup TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Salsa
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese
COOK pasta as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken. Cook and stir 6 min. Add peppers, dressing and chili powder; cook 3 min. or until chicken is cooked through, stirring frequently. Stir in salsa and sour cream.
DRAIN pasta. Toss with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheese.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Monday night...

On Monday night, Brookie decided to grill steaks on the grill. He comes home from Kroger with two steaks- one that was 2 1/2 lbs. and the other one was an 8oz. filet. Can you guess which one was mine? We didn't eat until 8 because it took so long for his steak and for the potatoes that I made to cook!
Here's a picture of Brookie grilling:



















Here are the steaks wrapped up in the microwave keeping warm while waiting for the potatoes to finish. In case you were wondering mine is on the right.














We finally hung the picture above our mantel:

Our First Christmas Tree

Even though Christmas is over, I figured we could still post about our first Christmas tree together. I took pictures of it in three stages.
First: Right after we put it together and fluffed the branches.


















Then after we wrapped lights on each branch. It took forever!


















Then, after we got all the decorations on it!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Happy New Year!



Check below...we finally updated our blog!

LM '06

Yes we are finally updating our blog! We've been quite busy the last few months!
Here's our first update....Moving out of my apartment!

Here's Dad filling up the U-Haul- they gave it to us on Empty. They also gave us a truck a few feet longer than I ordered which later we were very thankful...















Dad and Brookie loading up the truck!















I'm just goofing off while they are loading up the big stuff.















Here's why we're glad that they gave us the longer truck! We (I mean Dad and Brookie) packed it to the very edge! Thanks to Dad's expert packing techniques everything fit!
















We'll have some more updates soon! Including the situation with my apartment complex and the $1200 carpet bill! We've now included the family lawyer on this one.