Hunting Adventures in 2008

I've not posted any pictures of hunting trips this year. I'll try not to bore you. It has been a great duck hunting season so far. Kolbe has really become a great hunting dog. Last year was his first full season of hunting and he did pretty well. Pretty well meaning after a duck was in the water I would have to throw a rock at the bird for him to see it, he would see the splash and go get the bird. Fast-forward to this year; Kolbe usually sees and sometimes hears the ducks well before I do. After we have a duck on the water I send him off. He knows what to do. Several times this year we had a duck land in the tall grass and we could not find them. After giving up we would send Kolbe in and he would smell them out. I did not mean for this to become a "my dog is awesome" post but he his.

I took this picture this morning (12-28-08). Thought it looked really good.
Kolbe watching some ducks in the distance.

Good bunch of ducks!!


Kolbe sporting our bounty!!!


This was taken on December 27, 2008. That is Brandon walking. A storm came through wild and fast and we had to walk out in the rain. I stopped to take a few pictures. This one came out really cool.
This was the calm before the storm.
Brandon
Aaron, Austin, and I in the pit blind in Quinlan.

Another cool sunrise.

It is hard to describe the alure of duck hunting. You have to get up earlier than most farmers. You hike long distances carrying your gun, decoys, and other gear just to wait, watch, and hopefully shoot some ducks. Why??? I don't have a good answer for you. I know that it is not shooting ducks. It is not "getting away from it all". It is not because I don't have anything else to do, Lord knows I have more than enough to fill 2 peoples plates. I think that it has something to do with the adventure of it all. I like getting up early, throwing on 4 layers of clothes, loading the truck, driving out to "the spot", hiking with 10-40 lbs on my back, wading out in the water to throw out the decoys, setting up a blind, and then waiting. I like the time between being ready for the ducks to come in and sunrise. I like talking with my buddies, being able to hear ducks whizzing by but not being able to see them. I like watching Kolbe search the dark horizon for flying birds. I'm sure that this all seems a little bit silly. I know that it is. I can't wait untill Joss and Trip are old enough that I can take take them with me. I hope that I can teach them an appreciation for the things that I love about hunting. Before I end this post I have to extend a big thank you to Keri for putting up with my crazy antics. I know she thinks that I am like a little boy playing fort. She is so good about trying to understand my crazy habits.

Adventures with Joss and Daddy

Well I don't think we ever posted pics from our weekend at 1000 Trails with the family, so here's a few. Joss loved every minute of our time there-even considering the few injuries (she had her 1st busted lip & a good bump on her noggin). She is so active now, Joss & Luke are quite the duo. He finally has some one who can keep up with him. It will be fun when baby boy comes so I will have some one who is as inactive as me to hang out with-well at least for a few weeks! :)

Super Prego

Well, for those of you who've always wanted to see a whale-here's your chance. I mean when can you ever pull off being this large as cute?! Pulhease! And people insist on touching it, which is the funniest part to me. I don't mind though...babies bring so much joy to so many people, even strangers in line at the grocery store. So, i will probably not post another picture until baby is born, because Lord knows it'll only get bigger from here on out! 3 weeks left...

The Arboretum

I just love the arboretum, but I guess it's just not meant to be for me to be a regular guest. Papa Danny, Grandma Sue & I braved the traffic & the slums to get down there a few weeks ago, hoping for a pleasant picnic & some great shots of Joss with the pumpkins. But Joss had other plans. So I won't ruin the image you have in your head of her as an angel by posting all the pics. I think the one pretty much sums it up. But the flowers were still just as gorgeous as they would've been with no screaming Joss.

Pregnant in Vegas

Yes, I hauled my heavy self all around Vegas, seeing the sights, Shirly Temple in one hand, battery powered fan in the other. Yes it was quite the site I'm sure, but it was soooooo worth it. I had an absolute blast. Of course I had the best travel companions in the world (my work buddies). We went for Kimmie (work friend)'s wedding & it was so nice. What a treat to get to be a part of it all. I won't bore you with many pics, but here's a few. And a really neat video of the fountains at the Bellagio. (Don't tell Luke, but I closed my eyes & pictured Brad on one side & George on the other, our casino robbery successfully behind us, the golden future ahead......oh hello, back to blogging).

The Many Faces of Josselin

Yes, for those of you who know her, she changes with the wind (moods of course). She hates it when you won't let her handle the camera. That's what was happening in this series. Then of course she was distracted by the dogs barking & hamming it up again in seconds. Silly Jossie.

Word update for the week: "bundlebee" bumblebee; "gogogogogo" go, go, go, go, go!; "ot" hot; anything she's not allowed to have, she assumes is hot, because why else would you deny her?

There's a fungus among us!

Look what I found growing in our yard. At 1st i though it was bowl of swollen, water logged dog food that Luke had dumped in the yard. Then next day I thought, why would Luke have dumped that there? And there's no ants on it, that's odd. So I went out to check it out. And it's a giant fungus forest that has taken over the log stumps in our back & front yard. Fortunately Kolbe & Joss were neither interested in the growths. But as you can see, I was fascinated! It was actually kind of pretty. The 1st pic is after it had been out there for nearly 4 days. Then it opens up even more like the latter pics. Then there's Joss running with the fungus forest in the back ground.

A Walk with Dada

These are some cute pics I got of Luke & Joss on a walk last week. She finally has some hair-so I love the pic of it blowing in the wind. It is a baby mullet, but we are still in love with it! It goes in a ponytail, so it has it's perk. Luke won't let me cut it-he thinks it's so cute.

Playing Ketchup

Yes, of course, I know that I spelled catch up like a condiment. I actually started to spell it correctly but I changed my mind. I had a moment where I thought "It is kind of funny that we have so many spellings for so many words. Thru and through and threw. Dear and deer. I'm going to use the wrong word on purpose." Silly I know, now back to the post.

Every nite for the past few weeks I have wanted to make a new post. Well hear it is. So much has been going on but sometimes it still seems like the status quo. Since the last post, I've been to Baltimore, Atlanta, and Tulsa for work. Keri's gone to Las Vegas. Joss has been saying more and more words and is getting more and more coordinated. Hunting season started. We picked a name for Luke Jr. (Luke Jr. is not it) Crazy political business has been going on. Stock market craziness. And on and on.

Baltimore was a cool place. We went to a whole in the wall crab shack that was awesome. They just piled pounds and pounds of steamed crabs on the table and the only silverware we had was a wooden mallet and a strong plastic knife. I learned to clean the crabs and man-o-man were they good. Had it not been for my co-worker who lives there I would have been starving at the end of the nite. We also went to a Orioles game at Camden Yard. That is an awesome stadium. We played the cup game while we watched the game. There were 15 of us there and each person put in dollar in a cup. Basically, you get the cup fore one at-batt. If you batter gets a hit, you get all the money in the cup and everyone puts another dollar in the cup. If your batter does not get a hit you put one dollar in the cup and pass it to the next person. This continues for the hole game. It really gets you into the game. I won the cup once witch meant that I almost broke even for the night. Won guy one the cup 5 times. He won close to a hundred bucks. Cool game. Try it next time you are at a ball game. You can play with as little as 2 people.

Atlanta was a weird trip. I went down there for a sales blitz that was not really a sales blitz because of the economy. I was supposed to be the tool expert to sell local lumber yards our tools. Well it was the same story almost everywhere we went. One place said that they had not shipped a frame pack (a shipment of lumber for a new house - this is a lumberyards bread and butter) in 4 months. I like to think that I can overcome a lot of sales objections but what can you say to that, other than man that is rough. I could not sell these guys anything when it is really questionable weather or not they will be in business in a few months. It was an eye opening experience to see how bad the economy was in Georgia. That really made me appreciate the relatively strong economy we have in Texas.

Keri went to Las Vegas for a friend/coworker's wedding. It was pretty much a girls trip. And while she had a really good time relaxing a bit, I became very appreciative of single parents. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved spending 4 days with Joss. But, man that is some work. It's not that it is hard work, it just does not end. Dishes can weight, I can mow the yard tomorrow, I'll take the trash out in the morning, and I can skip a meal if need to. A baby, however can not do anything later. It must be done now. Hunger, better feed that kid now. Tired, don't miss that window of opportunity for a nap. You just can't put off anything baby related for more that 1 minute. I am not complaining and this was all stuff that I already knew. When your spouse/teammate is not there for a substitution you get to really understand it. Confucius say "Here it and you will forget, See it and you will learn, Do it and you will understand it." I don't really know if he said that or not but I think he may or may not have.

Joss has been a blast lately. She is really developing a lot of personality. She can say google, banana, duck, dog, mom, dad, quack, and several others. She is an awesome sleeper still. Often when I get up in the morning I can here her playing in her bed. I'll call Keri after I get to work and come to find out Joss went back to sleep in her bed and did not get up till a few hours after I first heard her. She loves animals and playing in the yard. She knows where her belly button is and where her boobies are(I might should not have said that but if you ever get lucky enough to see her point to them you will understand.) She has noticed that Keri's belly has been growing and she likes to pull up her shirt and point it out too her. I can't wait two see what she does with a little brother.

I am getting tired now. I will end with some pics you may or may not want to see, but I like them so take a look.Awesome hair Joss

This is the parking lot at Texas Stadium. Check out the Grip-Rite banners.


Camden Yard, Baltimore MD

Fiestas Patrias a Texas Stadium

Our little water bug

Joss has been in "swim lessons" at the Denton natatorium the last 2 weeks & it's been so fun. It's actually been more like prenatal water arobics for me, since I have to be in the water & holding her the whole time. But hey, at least it's kept my weight gain at bay! (Last time I gained 50 pounds and this time i"m 20 weeks & I've only gained 6.5!!!) Side note there. Ok so here are some pics. We all know that's why everyone looks at blogs anyways. Let's just be honest.

The 2nd pic has Jenn & Caden Wardlaw in the background-our buddies. Caden is a week older & Jenn & I work together. She might kill me for putting her on the internet in her swimsuit, but she's just such a cute mommie I couldn't resist! The last pic is of Zach & Caden on the boogie board. He was loving it. The 2nd to last pic is the dads enjoying "Mommie and me" swim lessons. Such good daddies we have. My Mom and dad were at lessons today so we should have better pics soon.