Stuff planned!

This coming weekend on the 4th we are going to Fort Worth to see my boss'es brother inlaw's band play at the Mule. It looks like a dive but I'm sure it'll be fun. On the 25th we are going to my parents place for a small family get together with my mom's family. I'm pretty stoked about it. Alright, my fingers are cramping and I've got some dishes to do. Laters

The last deer hunt of the season

So the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department performed a census for our lease and decided we had way too many deer for the herd to stay healthy. They issued us Land Management Tags for 20 Doe and 10 Bucks. We still had plenty of them left and this was the last weekend before they expired. Thursday evening I finished packing and got to thinking about headed to the lease that night. I called my boss who was nice enough to let me off on Friday. I left the house around 9:15pm and drove to the lease. I arrived there around midnight and it was cold and dark. After talking to my wife and letting her know I was indoors and safe, I opened camp. I turned on the water, the water heater, and got the heater going. It was really cold in the cabin so I stayed up in my clothes and coat waiting for it to warm up enough to sleep. Did I mention it was cold? Anyway, around 2am I got to bed. This isn't a good time to get to sleep when you are getting up around 6am.

So at 6 the alarm goes off and crawl out of my bunk and into the cold air. As I'm pulling on my boots it begins to pour down rain. I don't have any rain gear so I decide to go back to bed until it quits. It doesn't. Finally at 3pm it stops for about 30 minutes and I decide that since I've driven down, taken off a day of work, and am dressed that I am going out! It turned out to be a great decision. Since I was the only hunter out there I walked around through some really dense tree and brushy areas to find any good game trails and bedding areas. I found some neat areas of the lease that I'd never been to before and found a few places that might be good to hunt next year. While climbing up a creek bed I look down the field and spot two young deer headed towards me. I'm not really interested in killing these young deer so I hunker down in the brush and wait for them to pass. Instead they turn into the brush behind me. While I'm waiting I also spot a group of turkey off at about 250 yards. I'm pretty excited by this, I have never seen turkey in the wild. I cut across the field trying to get closer and see them better. This turned out to be a bad idea. The minute I cut out of the trees and cover it started to pour down rain, and also the deer and turkey spotted me and bolted. I tromp around the hills and come up on the blind I was going to hunt and get in out of the weather. Instantly it quits raining. Funny huh?

That night Mary and her dad drove in and we got settled into the camp. Mary got to feeling sick as soon as we laid down and was sick all of Saturday. Major bummer. I hunted up on top with Bob and we both got skunked, also Nathan and Tag were unsuccessful. It was so foggy that morning that the feeder, which is yellow and only 60-70 yards from the blind was not visible, pretty thick stuff. That afternoon Mary and I try out our .380's and find they need some more breaking in, but Mary shoots pretty well with her Bersa, I am pretty proud of my pretty markswoman. That evening I head back up my hill and am unsuccessful in my hunt. I'm looking for a decent buck to put in the freezer, but don't see anything. Tag managed to kill a nice doe who dressed out at 72lbs. The bad news was she was pregnant with two bucks, but still the game warden says we are over populated so in the end we acheived our goal of reducing the deer population. Nathan, Tag, and myself tried to call in some wild pigs but they kept moving past our camp. After dinner we tried to build a fire, and my we I mean Nathan and Tag tried while I watched and offered encouragement. I was impressed of their dedication, because even with wet wood they made a pretty nice fire.

Sunday Mary was feeling better so we headed up to hunt, but we got out the door too late and the sun was almost up before we got to the blind. We didn't see any deer but hiked around a bit to see where the trails fed into the feeder and for her to see where to expect the deer. She kinda dug that. So we got back to camp and helped clean up and shut it down for the year. We drove back and got home around 3pm, and slept till 6pm, followed by a trip to Wal-Mart for our grocery shopping. The weekend was pretty eventful but alot of fun.

I'll try to post some pics of stuff from these last few posts, and repost the hunting pics from the first few posts when I get some time. I'll also try to keep my updates updated.

Ok, running behind, but as of typing this, it is last weekend.

So last weekend it got a wee bit cold here. As in it iced over and we had to break out the extra quilt for the bed. We also had guest, Miss Bets joined us for a couple of days. She had a job interview in Fort Worth and we were glad she came. We went over to Mary's parents and looked at the dog they got the week before. Its name is "Little Bit" and it a cutie. We had a bit of cabin feever (at least I did) and getting out did us a world of good.

Valentines Day

Nothing says I love you like a new handgun, or as the Beattles put it, "Happiness is a warm gun". Some guys get flowers, I got my wife a Bersa Thunder .380 pistol. Suprisingly I didn't end up sleeping on the couch, and the gift was well received. Mary made me some fantastic grilled chicken, some pin wheels, some garlic bread, a fantastic salad, and spaghetti. Wow, have I ever mentioned that my wife can cook?

Hope everyone had a good Valentines day.

Last Weekend

So I know I'm running behind on my weekly update, but only by a week. So last weekend we decided that after our security concerns that my wife needed a gun of her own. My Ruger is a bit too large framed for her dainty, lady like hands. On Saturday we head over to the Will Roger's Convention Center for a gun show. If you've ever been to a large gun show you know that there are some "interesting" elements of society there. We get there around 10am and start looking around. Mary's never been to one of these shows before but is pretty open minded. We are looking for 2 guns. A 7mm-08 for Mary to hunt with, and a pistol for protection.

The first table we looked at had the normal assortment of hunting rifles and shotguns, and a few hand guns. The next table has WWII nazi regalia. I know some people collect this stuff as a hobby, and having a bachelors in history I find it interesting, but some people collect this stuff for the regime it represented rather than its historical significance. Just strange, I'm not into it and try not to judge those that are. Anyway we walk through the whole show pretty quickly since we were there to get specific items.

By now we're a bit hungry and leave to meet some friends for lunch at AppleBee's. After a quick lunch we head over to Elk Castle's shooting range to rent a few different guns and find out what Mary likes. The first gun we try is a 5 shot .38 special revolver. The recoil is pretty violent on one of these guns, and being double action only, the trigger pull at 12 to 18lbs makes it very difficult to accurately shoot a gun weighing 2 to 3lbs. Mary fired 10 shots, I fired 5, and they all hit in the center mass but it wasn't enjoyable to shoot. Next we rented a .380 automatic. Mary shot this very well and enjoyed it too. So we decided we were going to get her a .380. While at the gun shop we priced a few used .380's and they were pretty high. We go back to the gun show and find only a few .380's that are affordable, and of those we don't recognize the brand of these. We found a couple of Beretta .380's that were very nice, but they sure were expensive. We decided since we didn't have to make a decision that day (there is another gun show in April) we left and headed for Cabela's to look for rifles, as we didn't find any 7mm-08 that were short enough for Mary.

At Cabelas we found they were clearing out the used rifle section, but alas no youth model rifles in the desired chambering. We did find out that Savage makes a very affordable youth rifle in 7mm-08, although they didn't have any in stock. We were helped by a gentleman named Bryce, who made us feel good about our options, didn't try to upsell us, and took the time to help us when so many of the staff were ignoring us or treating us as an inconvenience. We were thinking of putting a rifle on order and then on lay away, when Bryce told us we could get $30 off today's purchase plus earn money to spend at Cabelas if we got a store credit card. We thought this sounded like a fine idea since the rifle wasn't very expensive, we were getting a discount, and we'd earn points towards future purchases. We got the card and went back only to discover that Bryce had left for the day. So we ask who we need to speak with to order a gun. We were told to see "Pete" in the gun library. I must say that Pete appeared to be more myth than reality. After 30 minutes of waiting in the library for anyone to acknowledge our precense I got disgusted and put down several purchases I was prepared to make and walked out. I'll go back to Cabelas but I doubt I'll buy any guns there.

This did not ruin our day though, we'd had a fun day.

The next day we went to our friends house for lunch and for Mary's folks to see about a dog. I played XBox with their son, and whipped him at every game he threw at me. I think that is an accomplishment since I'm 29 and he's 5. We had a good time though. We ate a good meal, and Mary's folks decided to get the puppy. I think it bonded to my father in law pretty quickly. Anyway, it was a good weekend and we hope to have many more like it.

Home improvement is a grind

So on Thursday morning my wife comes and announces to me that I have to get up because our dogs are in the neighbors yard. This of course makes me nervous because our neighbors dog is rather aggresive. So with sleep in my eyes and a shirt on backwards I march into the living room to find that Mary has already rounded up the dogs and that are in the living room wondering where breakfast is. I'm not a morning person and never have been, so this was not how I wanted to begin my day. Mary went on to work and I went into the backyard to find out how my Houdini Hounds performed their Great Escape. Now Mary and I enjoy watching CSI, and CSI Miami, so I looked for forensic clues in order to solve this mystery.

Evidence 1: The screws attaching the lock hasp for the gate in the side yard were backed out and the gate had been opened.

Evidence 2: There were tracks in the side yard in front of the gate. Mary and I don't use that gate and haven't in several months, so whoever loosened the gate latch must have made the tracks.

This must have happened on Wednesday evening. I couldn't sleep and didn't go to bed until 1:30am, and Mary was sick and was up around 4:30am. The dogs were home when Mary arrived on Wednesday evening and the side gate was closed. This makes us think this was intentional and occurred in the dead of night. This is not something that you discover and then sleep well the following night.

I called the Sherriff's Department and made a report. They said they would add an additional patrol in our neighborhood. Fastforward to Thursday evening and you'll find Mary and I at Lowes. We bought a new double keyed dead bolt, that after installing I feel a person would have to be double jointed at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder to dismantle it from the outside. We also bought some chain, new locks, screen frames, screen corners, screen tensioners, screen material and curtains for our backdoor. This resulted in a bill of $260. OUCH! Thursday night I chained and locked the gates, installed the new curtain, and installed the new deadbolt. We slept well, but with a loaded gun next to us.

Saturday I start building screens. This is that black, dense, solar screen that blocks like 90% of the sun's heat at the window. It also blocks people from looking in and is quite attractive. Now I know nothing about building screens so I took great pains in measuring, measuring, and measuring again. Hell, I think it took me 3 or 4 hours to build the first one. I won't bore you with any of the details, but its harder that it looks. By the time I went to bed on Satuday I had built 6 5'X3' and 2 3.5'X 3' screens, leaving one little one for the bathroom. I'm fairly pleased with the results.

BEFORE...

AFTER!!!



As you can see, the windows are now dark. Nice huh? Oh well if you aren't impressed go build some screens and then give an opinion, Mr. "I can't tell much of a difference".

Anyone who's ever done much in the way of home improvement knows that its a pain in more ways than one. Friday Mary and I had cleaned up the house so it looked oh so nice. Bad idea. Never, and I mean NEVER clean before you're going to do any "projects".

Exhibit Z



And of course no home improvement job is complete until you've gone to the hardware store at least one more time (and spent an additional $150), found out at the end of the project you are missing some vital part and go on without it, and of course paid respect to Tim the Tool Man Taylor with a piece of your flesh or a few drops of your blood (I paid both just in case).



Hey, quit laughing, that thing looked worse yesterday. Oh, and it still hurts. Really goes to show what an idiot with a roller knife can do. I mean, who thinks up these tools of self mutilation? Hmmm, lets put a knife on the opposite end of this roller, and make it hook shaped. I never had a chance.

This afternoon we hung the last screen, and then checked the perimeter for holes in the fence. We found lots of fencing staples that were missing and I drove them back in. I also had to patch a hole in the wire. Mary (who also watches CSI) said the wires had "tool marks" on them. Meaning that this was intentional, and if we could match them to some known wire cutters we'd know who did it. I was ready to call the Sherriff again until she pointed out that wires were rusted and the cuts had been made a long time ago. I swear I'm getting her a badge and magnifying glass for Valentines day.

Anyway, thats another off the list of things to get done. So tonight the Seahawks got spanked (bad officiating) and Mary and I witnessed that travesty at her parents house. A good time was had by all, or if you prefer, they all lived happily ever after (until the next project was begun, at which point the author of the blog was sent to the hospital for emergency transfusions and stitches).

Good night all, and have a great week.