Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

This morning we awoke to 3 to 4 inches of snow covering everything.

Of course there was about a half inch of ice underneath it that made it a little slick.

I ventured out this morning to get a gallon of milk for breakfast. Later I went to Rudy and family to find them out enjoying the snow. We played in the white stuff for about 40 minutes and then we went inside for coffee and hot chocolate. A little Nester the long eared donk donk and back to the house I went to see what Needles was up to.

Here are a few pics that I took during my outing.

ME.

Winter Storm Part 1

Last night it started snowing during the night and by morning we had about an inch or so covering everything. Shortly after 9am we started getting the sleet and rain which has decreased the snow amount but as the temperature drops tonight I suspect it will get nice and slick out there. Needles and I are planning on staying indoors where it is nice and warm. I only ventured outside once today to get the mail and back inside I went. Today was predicted to be snow most of the day but it turned into mostly rain. Tonight we are supposed to get more snow but with the rain that we have already had I doubt we get very much. Maybe pictures tomorrow if we get ambitious enough to go outside.

White Weekend.

Well the weather outside is fine now but looks like it is going to go downhill over the next 12 to 24 hours. The local weather and weather channel is giving 1 to 6 inches of snow in our neck of the woods. I guess we will see what we get. Last weekend Ragged and Cynical visited and Cynical loves snow. Maybe another visit this weekend???? Probably not but you guys are welcome anytime. Needles and I have plans to go out to the Trace Inn with Rudy, Brando, Yin & Yuri tonight for ribs. Then we are going to watch the Bourne Supremacy at their house. Looks like its going to be a nice night before the snow storm.

Dirty Ditch Nanner!

This weekend we had house guests. Our company arrived around 7 ish Friday night in the rain. After catching up with each other on whats going on in our hectic lives, and some kitty scritchin we enjoyed Needles vegetable soup and homemade bread for supper. We then felt like braving the cold nasty night and visit Rudy, Brando and the kids. After catching up, a couple of rounds of Guitar Hero and a few laughs we returned home for some late night chatting followed by a good nights sleep. Saturday morning we had beacon and eggs. Needles and Ragged decided to make a run to the local yarn shop so off to the big city we went for the ladies to get their yarn fix. Shortly after that we stopped by Garfield's for lunch that stuffed us to the point we were almost miserable. It was very good and we had lots of fun drawing on the tables with crayons. A quick stop by Starbuck's for a tasty hot beverage on a cold wet Saturday. When we arrived home and decided to watch a couple of movies and stayed up late into the night. Another good nights sleep and we were up again for cinnamon rolls for breakfast and nice lounging around the house before the unfortunate hour that our guest had to leave. It is a shame that when you get together with friends and family that you really enjoy the time races by so quick that a couple of days seems to flash by in an instant. It was a rainy weekend but with Ragged and Cynical here it made it a great weekend.

TIN MAN Dreams

I have been having nightmares of booby monkeys flying after me. Needles says they are not booby monkeys they are babboobs.

If you haven't been watching the mini series on Sci-Fi called Tin Man. The show stars the bad witch Azkadellia played by Kathleen Robertson. She has markings like tattoos across her chest that she can call on. The markings turn into flying monkeys and do her bidding. She frequently sets her monkeys free. She sets her monkeys free more than on Witches Gone Wild.

Pictures from the weekend hunt ( Not for the sqeamish )

A Four Deer Season

This is Needles Uncle "B's" deer he got Saturday 12-1-07. A nice 2 1/2 year old 9 point, it is the biggest deer he has ever harvested and he was very happy to get it. This fellow made a trip to the taxidermist and will be gracing his wall in several months as well as he should. I hope I get a chance at a nice one next year. I had my chance last year and wasn't able to get a good shot.


This is my doe from Friday evening. I was just about to think that my season would end with just one deer and then in a matter of seconds that all changed. This 1 1/2 year old doe and 2 others ran straight in on me. When I first saw them from about 300 yards away I didn't know what they were in the fading light but once I realized what they were and they were heading my way I stood up and my seat cushion fell out of the tree stand. I was afraid they might have seen it and would run another direction but I lucked out and was able to fill my tags.

This doe was harvested by Needles Uncle "K". She had been shot by hunters in the field next to us and "K" made the right decision to put her down.

All of these deer went to Needle's Mom "L's" freezer and will help out greatly on the grocery bills.

Here is the 6pt buck I got first season.

Xmas called on a count of rain.

The Xmas tree will be postponed due to rain. The tree and ornaments are in the garage. Thanks you for your patience.

A new member of the family.

Needles just finished configuring and ordering a brand new laptop. We have been looking for one for awhile as her lap top's A/C connection has been a problem for a month or so now and her laptop is over 4 years old and feels like your lugging around a cinder block. It also has been having some slow down issues that we can't seem to figure out. It is time to put the old Compaq Presario R3120US laptop down. It has been a good one but time to move on. Her new one will be much lighter with 120G hard drive, 2G RAM and 12 cell battery that equates to 4 to 5 hours battery life. I think it will serve her well and of course we are loyal to HP Compaq Presario laptops as this will be our 3rd one. The new one is a customized Compaq Presario V6500Z with all the bells and whistles. I am excited and with build time and delivery it should be here before Xmas. Needles justifies the purchase by saying she is keeping the economy going but her computer really did need a upgrade. My laptop has been rejuvenated with some added memory. It did have 512 MB but I recently upgraded it to 2G which seemed to speed everything up a lot. Even surfing the interwebs has been improved with quicker download and loading of pages. I was very impressed with how much it can speed up your computer and the memory was installed in just 5 minutes.

Deer Season Part 2

Overall the season was very successful. Needles Uncle K killed a young doe Friday morning and will be good for the table. Apparently she had be shot just before running by his stand but wasn't hit good enough for a quick kill and he thought he would go ahead and put her down as she wasn't going to survive anyway. Last night I was in my stand when 3 does got jumped up and ran straight for me. I was able to get one and that was the end to my deer hunting. After Needles and I had taken the deer to the meat processors we wondered about going on home or staying the night and going home this morning. I am glad we decided to go home today as Needles Uncle B killed and nice 9 point buck this morning and had to pull it out of a dry ditch about 5 foot deep. We got all sorts of pictures and I was very happy for him as this was the biggest deer he had ever killed and was going to get it mounted for the wall. This was the first year that all of us had killed a deer. Unfortunately Needles Uncle C didn't get to hunt. That is it for now. I need to get cleaned up and shave my 10 day old deer season beard off my scruffy face and maybe get a nap. I didn't sleep well last night.

Back from the South.

Today we returned from my parents house and I am glad to be home. The trip home was very rainy and hazardous at times but we managed to make it home without incident. We did see a truck that must have hydroplaned and was in the ditch facing the wrong direction in the South bound side. We got to spend some time with my parents and we got to ride the extended safari trail back up into the woods. It was fun and I was amazed that the golf cart would negotiate the hills and water crossings. We went to my Grandma's house and enjoyed pizza and I got to see my Aunt Rs new puppy named Lil Bit. It is a chihuahua and terrier mix very cute and gave her kitty's a rough way to go. This week we will be back to life as usual until Wednesday and then it will be 2nd deer season. I hope to end the season early and enjoy a couple days to relax. I have been able to sleep late for a couple week. I need a couple of days to get back into my old sleep schedule. Looks like the weather over the next week or so will be good for sleeping and not much else.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner....RUN!

In just a couple of days it will be Thanksgiving and Needles and I will be down at the homestead. We are leaving tomorrow night so that Needles can be down there to help with the preparation of the feast. I am going to try to restrain myself and not eat so much this year but I seem to say that every year and by the time it is over I am in full triptophan coma with a side of belly ache. We will have to return because I have to work Friday but that evening we are going South to the promise land and spending the weekend with my parents. Hope everyone has a great Turkey Day.

I am back from my hunting trip and I would have to say that it was a successful one but frustrating. We arrived at Needles Mom's house Thursday and stayed the night and I headed out to the tree stand Friday morning. I sat it the stand for 3 hours that morning and saw nothing. Not even a deer far off in the distance. Frustrated yet anxious to get back in the stand for the evening hunt I left for the stand early and sat another 5 hours and again saw nothing. Very frustrated and perturbed that the recent irrigation work around my hunting area the week before by the farmer that leases the land may have just screwed my whole hunting season I returned to the house to warm food and a nap. Saturday morning started the day anew. I was in my stand for almost 2 hours when the first deer of the season walked within range. It was a young doe and I heard something coming up behind her. I let her walk and waited on what else was coming into range. I could see it was a small buck but not sure since he was behind some brush. I shot and upon investigating my harvest it was a nice young 6 point buck. He will be good for the table. I commenced with what needed to be done and returned to the house excited at my success. Needles and I took the deer to the processing place, made decisions on how we wanted the meat prepared and returned home. I took several pictures of me and my kill and I even did a short video of me standing over my deer in the field and told how the hunt went down like on those big time hunting shows. I looked at the pictures that were taken and enjoyed flipping through them until I accidentally hit the format button and erased them all. I have no pictures of my deer. The only saving grace might possibly be Needles uncle K which took a couple of pictures which I hope turn out. So you see it was a successful hunt but a frustrating one. We will see what 2ND season has in store for me.

It's almost here.

Tomorrow is my last day of work this week. Needles and I will be heading to her old homestead for the first deer season. I have yet to pack any clothes but everything for hunting is ready to go. I am going to be worthless at work tomorrow. My mind is already in the woods and in a short while my body will follow. I probably won't sleep a wink tonight. It's like I am a little kid and tomorrow I am going to Disney World.

With the way this week has gone and some of the frustrations at my work, my co worker says I need to go and kill something. Nah It's not that. It's just setting in a tree stand and feeling the stress of life drift out of your body every minute you spend in the woods does a body and mind good.

I am ready.

This is the pattern I am shooting. 4 shots at various yardage all within a space about the size of a saucer. The first shot was without adjustment from last year at 30yards and I shot 2 3/4" shells. This year I am shooting 3". The yellow center dot is roughly an inch. If the deer walk within 75 yards of me, they are game. Can't wait til Friday.

It won't be long now...

Before to long I will be too anxious and not sleeping the night before the big day. I will be walking into the darkness, and feeling the bite of cold on my face. My breath will be like white puffs as I exhale in my hike. I will walk for what seem like forever to get to my stand. I will walk as quiet and deliberate as I can until I get there. I will then settle in and lean back again the tree and stare out into the blackness. Slowly the pitch black will give way to dull gray shapes and distant birdsong . Within a few minutes colors will start to come into focus and the foreign shapes reveal a more recognizable view. The frost of the morning will be clearly seen on tree limbs and leaves, birds in full song interrupted by the far off report of others on the hunt. If I am lucky a squirrel might stir from its den. He will scramble down a tree and across the leaf litter on the ground making as much noise as a elephant in the early morning stillness. I will fight off the last cold shiver as the sun shows it's crown over the tree lined horizon. It starts to melt off the frost and give the woods and everything in it a pinkish hue. Before long my stomach will start to day dream of breakfast while all along my fingers will twitch to be wrapped around a hot cup of coffee and my toes to seek a warm heater. Even if the hunt isn't successful there is nothing like watching nature come alive in the early morning. I can't wait.

Do Nuthin Weekend.

This weekend was a Do Nuthin weekend, but it is amazing that for a Do Nuthin weekend we have had stuff to do. Yesterday we HAD to rearrange all the Halloween stuff in the garage in order to get my Jeep inside. I have to say that I think we gained more room and things are more organized than they have been in the past. We also went to the big city to do some long needed grocery shopping. With all the goings on in the last couple of months we haven't been able to do the necessary evils of life, ie. grocery shopping, house cleaning, kitty pestering, sleeping, you know what I mean. I still have a couple of jobs to get done this weekend and have been procrastinating. I have to change the oil in Needles truck and mow the lawn. Two jobs although not difficult, but it seems to take a stick of dynamite to get me off the couch to do them. This morning we had a nice B'fast of cinnamon rolls and 89er's blend coffee. Tugger is laying in the floor with his eyes squoze shut and Copper in his own little world pouncing dust particles moving through the sunbeam streaming in the window. (He's not right.) This is a great DO Nuthin morning...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween and I am beat down dog tired. After the Cache Slash Fest then there was our Trick or Treat night last night and this tonight. I took several of my more benign props to the Hospital for their Trick or Treat night. After my 8 hour day I went home drove out to Gary's took down some of my props drove down to Rudy's house to borrow the truck then loaded it up with the props drove to my house loaded up a few more and then off to the hospital. Started set up at around 4:30 and was ready for the first of the ghosts and goblins for the night. The official start was 6 pm so we slipped off to the local Chinese place for supper. We got back to the hospital at 6 and the ghouls was out in force. It was pretty much non stop kids for most of the 2 hours we handed out candy. The staff had to make 2 runs to Wal-Mart for more candy. They said that they usually have about 80 or so kids.....Tonight we had at least 250 kids. At 8pm we started tearing down and loading up. We got about of there and 8:35 and got home to unload and take the truck back to Rudy. Thanks Rudy for letting me borrow the truck. Have a Happy Halloween Everyone! I need a nap.

This is the pumpkin I submitted and won 25$ for first place. I didn't have much competion with only 4 submissions.

This is some of the props in the yard for Trick or Treat night.

Electric chair with new costume this year.

New bloody stump surrounded by severed heads.

New Count Dracula.

Front enterance of the Hospital.

This is the information desk.

This is the main hallway of the Hospital.

Some more Trick or Treaters.

More ghouls and goblins in the night.

Night before Trick or Treat.

Tomorrow is Trick or Treat night for our backward community. I have the fence up and just have a few items to put out for display. I bought enough candy to last us tomorrow night I hope. I am anxious yet tired. i think with all the activity of the Cache Slash Fest I am not as giddy as I have been in the last few years. I am glad that I took tomorrow off to get the yard in good haunted order.

PS I have been working on a Cache Slash Fest slideshow DVD. I have a some success with it but for some reason now, I am burning DVDs that work fine in the program but after I burn them a portion of the DVD doesn't work... This has happend the last few DVDs that I have burn so now I am fed up with it and I am calling it quits. I have invested way too much time and effort into this and now feel like it was a waste of time...

CACHE SLASH FEST 2007

Thank goodness it's over.

Saturday began in a frenzy of moving 3 truck loads of Halloween items to King of Halloween's place. After unloading the haul we setup registration tables and photo back drop. Around 12:45 our first arrivals rolled in and we started registration. Over the next couple of hours we registered roughly 40 groups of cachers. Our final tally of attendees was about 125 and we kept our 5 states that we had last year without gaining any more. After registration we had them sign the Cache Slash Fest pumpkin, name tags and move on over the the photo area.

At appoximatey 1:30pm we explained what we were going to do with the Murder Mystery Cache and gave them their coords. for the caches. We were going to start the bon fire at 4pm but the Murder Mystery solutions were due at 6pm. We had cachers stroll in starting around 4:30ish and continued until after 6pm. After the majority of people got their bellys full we started the prize drawings.

This lasted way too long and by the time it was over, it was dark and we were struggling to read the numbers on the prizes. When we got all the prizes handed out it was time to goto the Night Cache. At the night cache Gary drove them out to Red Hill and the start of the trail head. The started down the path and followed small tack reflectors in the trees down the path. When they got to the cache area they found George Caches body. On their way out we had 3 scare stations set up and a video camera with night shot at my station. After the Night Cache alot of the attendees left to continue caching but some returned with us to the event and enjoyed a compliation slideshow of the last 2 years.

The cachers all left at around 9:30pm and I was exhausted from all the work that it took to get this event together. All in all it went somewhat smoothly. One coord of the 8 caches was off by about 300 ft and we had a few prizes that were handed out wrong that screwed up the count but other than that and running around like a chicken with my head cut off it was worth it. I think next year we are going to scale back a little so that we can enjoy it and not be soon busy. We have gotten nothing but goood reviews so far from our fellow cachers and we hope that everyone had a good time.

As for now....Time to take a nap......ZZZZzzzzzzz.

Halloween Fast Approaches.

Today while Needles went south to meet up with Ragged and others for a knit day, I went to a friends house to help with Halloween preparations. We got a lot accomplished in the 6 hours I was there. King of Halloween said he would probably have everything lite up and going tomorrow night. All I know is that I am home and dog tired. This doesn't feel like October. Hotter than Hell and the ground is so hard we had to water down areas to get stakes in the ground for some of the decorations. I think we are in the home stretch with the Cache Slash Fest 2007. We just have to place caches and do some more scouting for the night cache and I think we will be ready. The rest of it will just have to sort it out as it comes along.