Happy New Year!

We have made it through another year (Yippee!) and I can't believe how fast it has gone! Just like a roll of toilet paper!

We have been looking forward all week to our annual trip to the Duda this week. I can't wait to get off work so I can head that way. Frank left earlier today and Mom and I will be leaving as soon as we can this afternoon. A cold front has blown in so maybe we will get snowed in and will have to stay longer! I am sure my boss would love that!

Our last trip to the Duda seems like such a long time ago but it really wasn't. Click here to see pictures from our trip last new years and here to see last our trip in September. I just love this place. I have never been much for living in the boonies, but I think I could really get used to this real fast!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe new year's. God bless you all in the coming year!

READY FOR SOME FISHING IN 2010!

End of day one Barry & Janice Bennett lead 22 something! Way to go Bennetts!

Final results tomorrow!!

Almost Time

The end of this week will take us back to Del Rio, Texas to fish on Lake Amistad again in the First Annual Texas State Bass Couples Open Tournament. It's not to late for you to join us either. Just click the link in my right side bar and that will take you to all the information you need to know. We found out last week that the Chamber of Commerce will be treating us to dinner on Saturday night so that will cut a little of the expense from the trip. We are really hoping for a great turnout from couples all over the state. Remember, you don't have to be a member of any club, this is an open tournament, you just have to be a couple of one man and one woman! That could be husband & wife, boyfriend & girlfriend, brother & sister, father & daughter, or mother & son! You could even fish with a complete stranger as long as it is a male and female fishing together!

We really hope to see you there! If you do show up, please come introduce yourself and let me know you read all about in on my blog! I love meeting new people especially if they are fisher people!

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Better Late than Never (again!)

Well, it has been weeks since the TBC Championship Tournament at Lake Amistad in Del Rio. Back then I promised pictures and results. Sorry! I've been busy farming and baking (all my FB friends understand!).

If you want to see all the pictures, click here.

If you want to see the results, click here.

You can also click the link in my right side bar to go to the main page of Texas Bass Couples and find your region on the left to get the new schedules for 2010.

And don't forget to join us at the First Annual Open Texas State Couple Championship which will be held November 7 & 8, 2009 on Lake Amistad in Del Rio! It is going to be great! Click here to get the registration form and all the rules!

Looking forward to seeing you then!

$13,555 Total Winnings!!!!

No, that's not what Frank and I did! But that was the total payout for the Texas Bass Couples Championship that we have been attending this week. This is an amazing total for our club for several reasons. This is the forth year for this circuit. Tommy and Pam have really worked hard to get this club up and running. There are tournament trails that have been around for years that that are still not having that large of a payout.

Also, this is a small circuit. We only had 37 couples fish for the championship! That's right!!! 37 couples! Seven places were paid out so you do the math! That is an awesome amount for total payout!

Congratulations to Tim Reneau and Judy Churchill who won it all with 42.60 two day total!

We have lots of stories to tell and more winners to tell you about but right now we are all sitting in the little country store sharing more stories and eating some breakfast. And I am using Tommy's laptop and I am really slow on it. Frank bothering me to hurry up is not helping. Hopefully I will get the rest to you tonight. Until then,

God Bless you all.

We have some results (unofficial, of course) for day one!

Tim Reneau & Judy Churchill 21.40
Charles & JoAnn Bradley 17.58
Ronnie & Jeanne Wallace 14.84
Jay & Kathy Driscoll 14.08
Barry & Janice Bennett 12.72
Waylon & Karla Bullard 12.70
Floyd & Tonya Kaerwer 12.56

Also, Meghan O'Bryant and her dad Jerry are sitting in 8th place. This is very exciting because she is twelve years old and caught 3 of their 5 fish that were brought to weigh in! Way to go Meghan!

Frank & I did officially have the smallest legal stringer today which makes us winners of some hard cold cash! Yeah us!

We plan on having a great day on the water tomorrow, and are so thankful we have been blessed with such great friends!

I will post official results tomorrow as soon as I can.

What a day! Blessings and disappointment. Started the morning with some awesome artwork provided by God, but got lost on the lake in the dark! Finished the day with a disappointing one fish, but was blessed by having the smallest leagal stringer! Now enjoying fellowship with wonderful friends! Yeah! The good always outweighs the bad!

Thank you Lord!

Countdown Almost Complete!

WOW! Looking at my countdown clock we are down to the final hours before we get there! I am sooo ready! We will leave here tomorrow morning traveling with the McGuire's and the Hutchinson's. We are all ready!

All the packing is done and sitting by the front door waiting for Frank to get it all loaded. He asked me if I had forgotten anything and I don't think I did. I have nothing left in drawers or the closet so I'm pretty sure it's all packed! LOL

It is really hard to pack this time of year because you never really know what the weather will be. Yes we look at the long term forecast but all that gives you is an educated guess. I like to be prepared!

Actually, I didn't pack everything we have. Earlier this summer, we found the neatest shirts at Bass Pro and got them planning to wear them to the awards dinner on Friday night. We loved the Texas flag look they have.

Even on the back.

Pretty aren't they? Frank and I both really liked them. So we got them to the cleaners to be starched and pressed, picked them up and put them in the closet. This has been several months ago. They have just been hanging there, waiting.

Well, I got everything out to start pressing and getting the closet wrinkles out and realized that the shirts didn't match. I was heart broken! So these two shirts will hang around the house alone all week while we are gone. I really can't believe neither one of us didn't notice the difference. It's not like it's a little thing that could be easily overlooked. Can you see the difference?

Yep! It's missing on the back too!

See you next week!

God Bless

We Interupt this Fishing Blog...

For some hunting!!!

September brings bird season and they are thick this year. We got to go back to the Duda for part of the long Labor Day weekend for some fun, family, fellowship, and hunting. It was a blast!

I didn't hunt, just the guys. I am a firm believer that if your going to shoot it you better eat it and I don't eat birds. So I don't hunt. They limited every day and had a great feast on Sunday night.

The Three Amigos

I just love that place and wish we could spend much more time there.

I hope everyone that has been hunting has been doing well.

The "Camo Country Club"

Be safe but have fun!

Now back to our regularly scheduled fishing - State Championship in 14 days! Watch out Del Rio!!!

WHOA! I am Way Behind!

I just realized I never finished my post from our final TBC Panhandle tournament that was August 9! Probably because there wasn't much to report. Seven couples, fourteen people and only four fish weighed in! It was terribly brutal! Hot, windy, and muddy water that would put Lake Ft. Phantom to shame. The four fish weighed in didn't even break ten pounds! I'm telling you it was awful! Floyd and Tonya Karwer won with two fish weighing 4.83. Robert Rains and LeAnn Rains had one fish weighing in at 2.74 and Frank and I had one fish that went 2.26! Floyd & Tonya also had the big fish of the tournament that was a whopper at 2.85! So do you believe me now?

We really were looking forward to fishing this tournament because Frank had fished there the weekend before with Stillwater. He didn't weigh a single fish in, didn't even have a nibble! But after the tournament, he did a little more fishing and snagged a nice 9+ pound fish!

He was by himself and only had his cell phone so he did the best he could.

So, yes, we were a bit excited to be going back the very next weekend knowing we were fishing with one of our smaller clubs! But that didn't do us much good! It was a totally different lake the next week!

So now we just wait for our next tournament which is not until September. But it is the big one, our Championship tournament. We are looking forward to seeing some couples that we haven't seen since last year and having a great time in Del Rio. Just 29 days to go! That's about 28 to many for me!

And speaking of Del Rio, check out the link in my side bar for the Open Texas State Couples Championship! I am sure we will be there and are planning on having a lot of fun. You don't have to be a member of either of the club sponsors. So grab you partner and head that way in early November! Hope to see you there!

Final Tournamet for TBC West - It was Hot!!

Frank had been to Ivie the past two weekends with no luck. Some times pre-fishing gets you discouraged instead of helping you out. So Saturday, I actually went with him. I didn't do much fishing. I hate pre-fishing the day before a tournament. I love to fish tournaments, I love to pre-fish at least two days before, and I love to just go fish for the sake of fishing, but please don't make me pre-fish the day before a tournament. So when I wasn't sleeping, I was taking pictures. It was a good thing I did, because I sure didn't take any today! It was just to hot and we were fishing hard.

We hit the lake a little later than what we intended, but we sure did enjoy our breakfast at Concho Park Marina and the visitation with our friends. We did make it out early enough for sunrise, so of course I had to take a few pictures of that. I tried to get Frank in some to change them up a bit.

If I had a dollar for every sunrise picture I have, I could probably fund our fishing habits! You just never know what your going to get when you aim the camera into the sun and can't see what you are actually looking at.

These next two pictures are reversed and I am just too tired to fix them!

We don't fish up in the creeks much. Why? I don't know. We used to fish creeks all the time. So we headed up into Elm Creek just to see what was going on. I can't remember if he was throwing a Texas or Carolina rig, but I do know he was throwing a brush hog, watermelon with the tail dipped in chartreuse. He pulled out this nice little guy probably between one and two.

He threw a buzz bait most of the morning, actually more like most of the day which is odd for this time of the year! He caught this nice little keeper about 9:30 yesterday morning. He had a few more blow ups on it, so we marked this spot and headed on out into the main lake.

We marked a few new humps we hadn't seen before and headed up into the creek. This young lady couldn't decided weather to run off or come on down and check us out. She posed long enough for me to get a couple of pictures, then she was off. We see deer around the park all the time, but not very often when we are out on the lake. Isn't she an odd orange color? All the deer are this color right now. Usually they are more brown before the turn sort of grey during the winter. They sure do show up in the brush!

After loading up and getting our showers, we headed over to Elm Creek for registration. On our way over Frank said he saw a plane on the lake. And sure enough he did. We tried to get to a good place to take pictures before they took off, but didn't make it. We could tell it was a Coast Guard plane, but couldn't figure out what they were doing. Some of our friends were still on the lake when they landed and they went over and talked to them. They are based out of San Francisco and just came over to check out the lake. Pretty neat if you ask me. It's not every day you get to see a CG plane land on a lake in west Texas!

After a wonderful dinner and some strange happenings at Big O's in Valera, we headed back to Concho and of course had a bit more fellowship with our friends before we hit the sack. Had to get up at five this morning! Two days in a row just kill me!

Most of the morning on Sunday, we threw our buzz baits into stick ups. Not these kinds of stick ups, that would be to easy.

These kinds of stick ups! What you can't see is the grass just below the surface of the water. Chunk, wind, pick off the grass! That gets old after awhile! I think you can see Frank's buzz bait in this picture. This was right at sunrise. Remember, I didn't take many pictures today.

I bet Frank threw that buzz bait until 11:30. I changed over to a spinner bait after a bit. It's easier to get the grass off one of those. And it's what I caught my one little keeper on. Frank caught four of his on the buzz bait I think. I kind of forgot some stuff today - I am sure it is the heat wiping out my brain cells!

We stayed here most of the morning then headed over to the dam to fish some of the new humps we had found with no luck. Then headed into Elm Creek. And after that we headed closer to weigh in where we finished out the day. We were going to keep fishing until about 3:10 because we were so close to weigh in, but after a check on the fish and finding we had some stressing out, we decided to call it a day. We finished the day with five fishing weighing in at 12.16. Points but no money! The story of our lives.

This was the last monthly tournament for the West Region before the Championship (being held at Amistad) and Pam said we may have made it into the top six. After checking out last months standings and estimating the points today, it will be a push. It would be nice but I am not getting my hopes up. We have one more tournament for the Panhandle region. It's in two weeks at Lake Stamford. Maybe we can catch enough there to end in the top six. I'll let you know!

Have a great week!

It is hot already! Lots of fishing going on just not a lot of catching! I really hope it's better tomorrow for the tournament! Does anyone have any suggestions?

Praying for Rain or a Cool Front

We have our last tournament for the West region before we fish the classic! We will be fishing O.H. Ivie. This is the last Sunday of July. July means it is hot! Frank has done some pre-fishing the past two weekends with no luck. So maybe we will get a little cool front to lower the temperature so we won't be completely miserable. Rain would be even more welcome!

If anybody has any clue as to what they are biting on or where they are hiding, give us a call! We can use all the help we can get!!

Busbee Math - Am I a Victim?

Welcome to Miller Creek!

We left the house at 3:45 this morning to eighty degrees. I love to see the high at 80 degrees, but eighty degrees at four in the morning is already hot. There were times today the air felt heavy, like I was standing in an oven. The sky told of what the rest of the day would be like, clear with little to no wind. That wind thing is so unusual. We almost always have a 10 MPH breeze, but today it was still, a lot. We did have some wind, and when we did it was actually welcomed, but it seemed during the hotter parts of the day it was still. God sent us several clouds to cover the sun for a bit, which gave us a little relief, but for the most part it was sunny and HOT!

We don't fish this lake very often. It has been over a year since we last fished here. There were some great things to see and some not so great. The area around the lake is mostly farm land so we had company from several cows today. I'm not sure which is funnier, Frank "mooing" at the cows to see their reaction or the cows reaction to Frank "mooing" at them. Both are pretty funny.

There were flowers blooming all around the lake. These pretty purple flowers -

Aren't they pretty? I don't remember seeing these before and I don't know what they are. I found it very odd that they were blooming in July. Wild flowers around here usually bloom in the spring, not the dead, dry heat of summer. There were also a lot of dragon flies. Three different kinds, the normal blue ones we always have, a large one that had a type of tiger stripe to it, and a very small bright orange one. I could have taken time to take pictures, but between texting my friends and taking pictures, Frank gets a little miffed at me!

If you read here, you will see one of the reasons I don't like this lake. SNAKES. I am not a fan. And Miller Creek didn't disappoint today. We say lots. None of the ugly black snakes that we saw last time but snakes none the less and they were there. Ewwww!

To tell the truth, as hot as it was, when we started cutting across the water at around six this morning, I got a little chill. But once the boat stopped that went away fast. We started the morning with some top water action, if you want to call it that. I was the only one to catch a fish, if you call it a fish. Frank couldn't believe what I had done. I actually caught a minnow! Yep, a minnow, foul hooked on my Pop'R! I had to take a picture because I didn't think anyone would believe me and because, well, that's what I do!
So there is the proof! If you or anyone you know has ever caught a smaller fish, I would love to see a picture!

And Frank gets the award for the largest fish of the day. He was throwing a crank bait into a ball of minnows, and when it hit, it hit hard. It felt like he almost fell out of the boat. His rod was bent over like I have never seen it before. I dropped my rig and grabbed the net. Boy were we disappointed when the fish surfaced...

A drum! Needless to say, we were a bit (a lot) disappointed. But he did take the opportunity to play a joke on some friends that were fishing across the lake. They were far enough away that he knew they couldn't see what species of fish it was, but close enough he knew they could hear him. He did a little Mike Icconelli on the front of the boat, a little yelling and dancing, then tossed that big thing right out of the boat! It didn't take them long to make their way over just to check out what was really going on. All in fun, guys, all in fun!!!

We had three fish (2 decent, 1 dink) in the live well when all of this was going on. We had been alternating with Texas rigged worms and lizards, with top water, spinner baits and crank baits. We each had a nice fish on a 6" black lizard with a chartouse (sp) tail. Yeah, the dink was mine, but I didn't feel so bad because I did have that other one in there and we figured it weighed about 2.5.

The day only drug on after that. Hot, no wind, hot, no fish, and did I mention IT WAS HOT! We could handle the hot a lot better if we had been catching fish, but when your not, the day just drags on.

Because of the heat, weigh in was moved up to 2:30, which is not good for us. We tend to start really catching fish around two. Today, I just couldn't make it. About 1:30 the heat really got to me and I started having that sinking, sick feeling of heat exhaustion, so I told Frank I was done. He wanted to take me to the truck but I wanted him to just keep fishing. And true to form, Frank got into some schooling fish and filled up our live well. Seven fish in seven cast. It was great until I couldn't keep up with him in culling. At one point I had to yell at him not to cast again because I had too many fish in the boat and needed help. We culled my little dink and a couple others and ended up with a nice 17.22 bag.

He is really happy in this picture, but the sweat had started running into his eyes!

We ended up in second place which isn't bad. In fact it is great! Tommy and Pam Busbee (our tournament directors) edged us out by less than half a pound (I think, check here to get the exact amount). We have been fishing with the Busbees for a long long time. We have sometimes questioned their mathematical skills and have even come up with the term "Busbee Math" when things might not seem on the up and up. And today was one of those questionable days. They assured us that they had witnesses to the weight of the their fish, but I sure would have liked to have seen the numbers on the scales myself!

Now don't go gettin' all high an' mighty on me! Tommy and Pam know what I say is all in good fun! If I didn't trust them, do you think I would still be fishing with them?

At last count, Frank and I were tied for 7th in the west region and were in 5th place in the panhandle region. We have one tournament left in each region before the Championship so all the points we get sure do help us out! July 26 we will fish O.H.Ivie for our final tournament in west and August 9 we will be fishing Stamford for the panhandle. Wish us luck! We sure would like to be in the top six for both regions!

Twin Buttes Tournament

It was a very hot weekend! Weatherbug kept telling me on Sunday that it was ninety eight degrees, but when I got in the pickup, the thermometer was reading 105. I tend to believe my vehicle!

Registration was at Field and Stream (thank you Cliff) and then most of us headed over to Logan's Roadhouse for a bite to eat and a few had a drink or two (the margaritas are great!). I think a fun time was had by all!

The tournament started at 5:45 AM which meant we had to get up at 4:00 AM! Yuk!!! But we did and we even had time to stop at Whataburger for some breakfast. The weather was nice, a bit cloudy and around seventy five degrees and not much wind. Around sunrise, we had a little rain which was nice, but I think it just rained on me and Frank. There were some people fishing about 100 yards from us and the water around them was as smooth as glass. I felt like the "Born Loser" with a little rain cloud just above my head! While we were enjoying the rain, we also noticed a promise from God, a rainbow, in the western sky. It was not very bright but there none the less. I think the worst part of the day, even worse than the heat, was being attacked by gnats and flying ants. Frank didn't believe me when I told him some of those pesky things were ants until they started biting him. I think he wanted to jump in the lake to get them off of him. Those little critters hurt!!! You should see the welts they left on him. As the day wore on and the heat continued to rise we felt as if we should have stayed home. We lost two fish a piece on buzz baits with trailer hooks and thought the day was going to be just like his pre-fishing day - no fish! The mood in the boat was not a very pleasant one, but that too changed. Most of the morning looked like this - just blue skies and the sun shinning bright! It was hot by 10 AM! We both prayed for a little relief; rain, wind, whatever He could do for us to make it through that heat. And He did - He sent some of the most beautiful clouds I have ever seen. It was still hot, but every once in a while there was a break with a cloud over the sun. It was indeed a blessing.

Bored with what we were doing, Frank decided we should change tactics. We started throwing a Hag's Tornado blue fleck, Texas rigged - IT WORKED! About 11:00 we caught fish, both of us at the same time. By the end of the day we had four fish in the live well, three pretty nice and one little dink. We had to measure him again just before weigh in to make sure he still crossed that 14" line. We had a 9.00 bag and were just thrilled. We didn't win, but after Frank's discouraging pre-fish last week, we would have been happy just to have that little dink! (No pictures - we were trying to get them back in the water as quick as possible to reduce stress on them)

We did see another unusual site. We had seen dirt devils all around. Late in the afternoon, one decided to join us in the water. My picture is not very good but you can see how the water was lifting up inside the funnel. It was really pretty neat!

Tourny This Weekend - Twin Buttes

MAN - IT IS HOT OUTSIDE!!!

We will be fishing with TBC West this Sunday, June 28. Any suggestions? Frank did a little pre-fishing last Sunday with no luck. Everyone that was there last week at least did the same as Frank. This may be a tournament without any fish! They are smart to be hiding out in the water. It is much to hot out of it!

Hopefully, I will have something to report on Monday. But seriously, if you have any suggestions, let us know!

One Fish!

WOW! I almost let the entire week get away from me before I did this post! It has been a strange week anyway but it is almost over and vacation is next week so all will be fine!

We headed out Saturday afternoon to Post, not in any hurry. We didn't want to have to pay that horrible lake fee for just a few hours! The landscape of Texas is changing, A LOT! Wind turbines are sprouting up in cotton fields and can be seen for miles away. We are (as we should be) the leader in wind energy, because if there is one thing Texas has is wind, lots and lots of wind. We are so used to it that we really only notice if it is not blowing or if it is stronger than about 25 MPH! It is just always there. They are pretty cool to watch though. If you have never been to the Panhandle Plains region of Texas, welcome. You can see how flat it is by this picture. I could take 1,000 pictures and they would all be pretty similar!

We hung around the hotel pretty much all Saturday evening. There is really not a lot to do in Post, TX. City-data.com says there are 3,556 in Post, but I think they counted dogs and cats. There are not a lot of people here. We did find a nice family restaurant to eat supper and it was really good. I wish I could remember the name of it but I can't. It is on the east side of the main street through town, south of downtown. Great enchiladas!

The tournament started at 6:00AM so we had to get up at five which hasn't been so bad on me since I started trying to get up at that time most days anyway. It was a fairly cool morning. Strange since we were expecting temps over 100! There was a little rain that kept the morning cool and the fish from biting. We threw a little bit of everything we could think of and not even a single nibble! I don't remember what part of the day it was but Frank finally had a hit. We were just excited to know there were actually fish in this lake!

We had to be at weigh in by 2:30PM and about one we decided we were going to be skunked! We hate being skunked!!! That is the most horrible feeling in the world. But just as we were having this conversation, Frank caught a fish. Not a lunker, but at this point we really didn't care. We could have 2 under 18" so we didn't even measure this little guy, just put him in the live well and took care of him for the rest of the day. He weighed a whopping 1.12 lbs. Hey, we were thrilled he weighed even a pound! We really didn't think he would.

So my first experience on Lake Alan Henry wasn't the best, but I will say this for it, it is a really pretty lake. I will try to add some pictures and edit this post to show them. Another think that really grabbed my attention about this lake is the wind and water. Most lakes we fish are as rough as all get out when the wind is up. Sunday, I think the wind was about 30MPH and the water was a smooth as glass! It was amazing. The only real rough water we got into was where there were skiers and jet skis. Luckily they didn't get to the lake until about 11, so we had some quiet time to fish.

Hope every one is having a great week. We don't have tournaments for a few more weeks, but we may try to do a little fishing on vacation, it all just depends on Mattie May. This vacation is for her to get to the beach after all!!!

God Bless!

Lake Alan Henry - Pre-fish

Frank and Poppa have always wanted to fish Lake Alan Henry and neither have gotten the opportunity. Frank has driven past the turnoff several times with drool running down his chin but never made thet turn. Poppa actually got to the ramp last Saturday, but family called and that is as far as he got. Since the Panhandle region of TBC is there next week, Frank wanted to do a little prefishing and Poppa, well I can't say I ever remember him ever turning down an chance to go fishing, so he left the plowing for the day and headed out with Frank.

They had a great time. Poppa took some pictures for me including some of the parking lot so I will know what to expect next week when I have to park. Ever since I hit a guys lower unit with my trailer, I dread parking in a place I am not familiar with. This parking lot looks great. He compared it to Bass Pro Shop parking but it reminded me of Diablo East at Lake Amistad. Lots of parking made for a vehicle and trailer combo and very well marked.

They both caught fish, just nothing of size. Frank pulled this little guy out and it was the largest they caught. I think it is the angle of the camera, but it doesn't look like a four pound fish, but as you can see on the delier, it was 4.01.
I am looking forward to next week. It will be like a mini vacation, going to a new place and all.

Oh! If any of you know a good place to stay that doesn't have a two night minimum on the weekends, let me know. I haven't made reservations yet!

TBC Lake Hubbard

Oh, Frank and I love Lake Hubbard! We used to always spend our anniversary there. We would always take off work and head over there to spend the day. Until the day Frank fell off the boat and was near hipothermia before we reached Sandy Creek Marina.

Our monthly TBC tournament was there this weekend. It was great. No we didn't win, but there weather was great, we caught lots of fish and just had a great day all together. It was a rough start. Where we started we only caught one fish and we stayed there for the better part of the day. By about one we had four fish in the boat. We had decided that we were just stuck in a rut of catching four fish or less. But then a front hit. We could see it coming. The wind had been at a minimum all day, but on the leading edge of this front the wind really picked up. The water color changed from the normal clowdy brown and turned this really erie bright green. But the fish also started biting! We ended up culling fish! It was great.

So we got out of the four fish rut, yeah us, but we are still stuck in a 12 pound rut! The last few tournaments we have fished, we have weighed in 12+ pounds, but not more than 13! Yep, we had five fish and they weighed 12.97! Oh, these ruts! Well, we will get out of it eventually, I just hope it is by breaking the 13 pound weight and not by coming in under 12!

We topped off the afternoon by taking Buddy, Katie and Mattie May on a quick run of the lake. Mattie May is now 3 and we have been trying to get her on the boat since she was born but every time the weather would turn bad and we didn't want her to have a bad experience on her first time and not want to go back out. Well it took awhile but we managed. I have attached a little video. It is pretty rough but I was sitting in the floor with my back against the front deck, holding the camera and nothing for me to hold on to. Enjoy your ride!

My Two Favorite Guys

My dad, Poppa, loves to fish and hunt. He spoiled me when I was little by taking me to catfish farms to fish. Once you go to one of those, it is really hard to sit at a lake and wait for a fish to bite! He has been wanting to go over to O.H. Ivie and fish. So last Friday, Frank took off a day that was owed to him and took him fishing.

They had a great time. The morning was beautiful. I called Frank at about 11:30 and the wind had just picked up, but wasn't to bad. And as hot as it was, they needed a little bit of wind to keep from melting. They said they caught fish all day. Luckily, I got my photography bug from Poppa! He had his camera. Not sure how many fish they caught, but here are pictures of three of them. The only one they weighed (on de-liers) was Poppa's and it was 8.08. Nice catch.


I just realized the date on my dad's camera is wrong! These were taken 05/08/09! I guess I better give him a call!

Lake Ft. Phantom

Yes, you read that correctly, we fished a tournament at Lake Ft. Phantom. TBC Panhandle Region. I don't remember ever being on this lake, but Mom says I have years ago. I sure don't remember that. And we know Frank hadn't been on it in at least twelve years. And it is only about 20 minutes from our house! There is just something about that lake.

We didn't pre-fish, we just headed out and fished a few places Frank remembered fishing all those years ago and it was a pretty good day. We weighed four fish that went twelve something (I can never remember), and we caught fish all day. We had bass, catfish, crappie, hybrids, and perch! Quite a variety!

The weather was not great, windy and cloudy all day. The water was muddy of course. That is all it ever is, red muddy water.

We felt like it was a pretty good day for the conditions and not having been on the lake in so long. Maybe we will take time to fish it more often - maybe!

Wind! Wind! And More Wind! (With a Few Fish and a Snake on the Side)!

We really thought the windy days were behind us, but then we woke up Saturday morning. WOW! I don't think I ever heard an exact reading but it would blow your wig off if you weren't careful. Plus it really has my allergies flared up and I have no to little voice. It was difficult for Frank to hear me from the back of the boat. I often thought I should just text message him when I got hung up! It would have proved to be just as quick and much less painful on my throat!

Our TBC tournament was on Sunday at O.H. Ivie. We headed out earlier than normal on Saturday so we could stop in Valera to eat at Big O's. We had each won a meal there during the tournament last Saturday and didn't want to let the certificates expire like we did last year. It was great! We even went back Saturday night to eat supper there with Russell and Michelle. It is definitely out of the way for most, but if you ever get the chance to stop, do. Lynn will treat you right!

When we got back to Concho Park, we stopped in to visit with everyone that was hanging out there and order our breakfast. It is so funny to me that when you sit down to listen to anglers, they may tell the same story every time you are around but you laugh like it is the first time to hear it. I guess it is because we have all been there. If you fish as much as we do, and have long time friends, you are going to have some funny stories to tell. And for those of us that were there Saturday night, we now have another one to tell. If you want to read about that, click here.

Sunday morning, the wind had not laid. It was wild. Frank wasn't sure where he wanted to fish because we knew we would be in the wind all day where we had planned and we really didn't know if we wanted to do that. But we decided we would and headed on over. The trip wasn't to bad. I have definitely been on worse. This time we only had about 3' swells! I wore my rain jacket all day just to keep dry from the waves hitting the boat. Frank even changed into his sandals to keep his tennis shoes dry.

There were several tournaments on the lake, but we weren't crowded where we were, but we could sure see a lot of traffic on the lake. We were basically where we fished last weekend, in the hard woods and salt cedars. Not far from where the 12+ was pulled out. We actually had fish all day, we got to cull. We just love when we get to cull, even if it is trading one small fish for one not quite so small!

We flipped a Tornado lure most of the day. I did throw a spinner late and Frank threw a crank bait. But all the fish we had came off Tornado lures. We ended the day with a total of 12.24, nothing to exciting but points on the board none the less. And believe it or not, as windy as it was, we had a fun day.

I think Frank laughed at me the harder than he has in a long time, all due to a stupid black snake! I hate snakes! And it seems the more I fish the more of the stupid things I see. You can read here and here and here to see a few more of our encounters with the slithering serpents! But this time, no pictures, my camera was to close to the snake.

Where we were fishing was in hard woods, dead trees that were left when they lake was built to give the fish some habitat for living and protection. They are great if you like to flip (which you know I hate). But sometime, they make manoeuvring a boat a bit difficult, especially if the wind is blowing, like it was yesterday. Frank tries to not run me into trees while I am back there on the back of the boat, but again, not easily done with the wind. And I TRY not to complain, but again, not always easily done.

He had his head down flipping and trying to get us through the timber with out coming crashing down on it. With the wind in his face and ears, the trolling motor groaning, and the waves crashing on the hull of the boat under his feet, it was very difficult for him to hear my whisper of a voice. I was going from one side of the boat to the other trying to flip into some timber that wasn't just right at the edge of the boat. This particular time, when I turned to my left, I saw it. There was a hugh (yes Frank it was hugh!) black snake curled up on a branch just about two inches from his shoulder. As loud as I could, I yelled "SNAKE" but he couldn't hear me, so I take a deep breath and try again "SNAKE!" Well, he hears me this time, but he thinks I see it in the water so he leans over trying to find it. He sees nothing, so turns to his left to ask me where the snake is. The snake is right at his face but he doesn't see it, but the snake sees him and starts crawling.

This makes me start screaming and I crawl up on my seat and point. Notice I said on my seat, not in it. It is still folded up and snapped shut. I am balancing my big ol' self on the top of it in all that wind! I am yelling as loud as I can and pointing. As he turns back around, he sees it this time! I am still not sure how he missed it the first time. It was so close to his face. He immediately starts to try and get us out of there. The snake has since slithered down inside the hollow tree, probably long gone, some where in the water headed to another tree away from that crazy screaming lunatic, looking for some where peaceful where he can continue his nap, but as far as I am concerned, he is laying there in wait so he can jump out on me, specifically me! I know he has a vendetta against me since I have done nothing to him.

With the wind blowing the way it is, Frank tells me I am going to have to help him get out and to grab the branch behind me. So not taking my eyes off the tree where I had just seen that snake (and he is now lying in wait) I just reach back and grab the tree without looking. I instantly scream and jump off my seat. This scares Frank and he ask me what happens. I really think he is going to fall of the boat from laughing so hard when I tell him nothing is wrong I just forgot to look at the tree before I touched it and was afraid I had touched a snake. He asked me if I felt some thing and, of course I hadn't, I just wasn't sure. Laughing, he tells me to get back on my seat and just wait till he gets us out of there. He makes a few more maneuvers and gets us out, all the while laughing at me.

We continue the day flipping in the timber, but he does manage to keep me far away from the branches. I sit here now, typing and laughing, thinking about how hysterical I must have looked perched up on that boat seat, and wondering where I thought I was going to go if it fell in the boat. I know he was not the only snake in the lake, but he is the only one I could see, and if he had come in I was going swimming!!!

I know I promised to tell you where we were fishing last week and I couldn't because that is where we were going to fish this weekend. We were fishing around Leaday. Last week we threw black/blue fleck power worms and did pretty well. This week we threw F5 Tornados and did good too, considering the weather conditions.

Thanks, Mom, taking pictures for me. We were so glad you and Tom drove over for weigh in. And Poppa and Lorraine, thanks for the burgers Sunday night. It sure was nice not having to figure out what we were going to do for supper.

I hope everyone has a great week! God bless you all as much as he has me.

First I Stole His Heart, Now I Stole His Fish

What a day! Saturday was absolutely beautiful here in West Texas. If you didn't get to be outside to enjoy it, I'm sorry. God certainly blessed us with a day we don't usually get to see here!

We fished the San Angelo Bass Busters Open Tournament at O.H. Ivie. I came real close to staying home and taking Mattie May to the zoo, but we decided to take her Friday afternoon so I could go fish the tournament. I am so glad I did.

We headed out of Abilene at about 4:30AM to partly cloudy skies and an extremely light breeze. On the way to the lake we saw about 20 deer and one fox (he was running across the road to get out of Frank's way) and one dead skunk. As we got closer to the lake we started to notice some lightening. It looked pretty far away and so we weren't to worried about it. Stopped in at Concho Marina to grab our permit and some drinks. Nina pulled up the weather for us and that storm was getting a little to close for comfort. There were over 260 entries in the tourny, and the majority of them were hanging around the store seeing what the storm was going to do.

We had a wonderful breakfast and visited a little bit. As day light broke, we could see the storm wasn't so bad and decided to head out. Just about the time I got the truck parked, it started to rain. Frank already had his rain gear on and had mine layed out and helped me get it on. Thankfully I didn't get too wet in the process. As we left to get to our hole, the rain wasn't to bad, but still hurt the face! I still don't know why women pay so much for dermabrassion (sp)! I get it on the boat!

When we stopped, we couldn't start fishing until we looked at the splendor around us. This was our welcoming shot.

Isn't that glorious? You can see the rain cloud just in the top edge of the picture, but you can tell by the lake that there was just barely any wind. The photo below is facing back to the west. A rainbow in this direction is a rare treat for us. I don't know about you, but all this just takes my breath away.

When I saw Frank pull out the rods my heart sank. Flipping sticks! YUK! But I made up my mind right then I was going to be a sport and not complain and I didn't until about 1:30PM when my back and shoulders just couldn't take it any longer.

We were fishing a mixture of hard woods and salt cedars. I caught several fish with the cloud cover that morning and Frank caught his later in the day after the clouds broke. He had 3 fish (1 over & 2 under) that went just over eight pounds. I had 3 fish (1 over & 2 under) that went almost seven pounds. What a great day of fishing!

He always accuses me of stealing his heart and he said I wouldn't have had that many fish if I hadn't stolen his fish! Well, how can I steal it if he never caught it? He flipped in a tree twice and missed, then sat down to retie. I felt he was taking way to long and flipped up in that same tree once and caught it! It was my largest at 3 1/2 pounds. It was a really pretty fish too!

We had several friends fishing this tournament too. One of them caught a 12+! I don't remember the exact weight but it was just shy of thirteen pounds! WOW! She was so excited and I really don't blame her. She won women's big fish, big fish overall, and I think 6th place! Sorry, but they weren't fishing far from us so I can't tell you when, where or how because we have another tournament there next weekend. But I promise to give you the particulars after that tourny.

Also, sorry no fish pics! We pulled up to the ramp at ten minutes til three thinking we had until 3:30 to weigh. When Frank went up to get the truck, someone told him we had to be in line at three! NO time to take pictures. When we started pulling fish out of the live well, his watch read 2:57! I almost had a heart attack running up that hill with my weigh bag just to find out we could have weighed in until four!!! Lesson for the day - always have a copy of the rules with you in the boat!

Until next time, hope you all get to get out and enjoy the weather! God is gracious to us!!!

Go Fish or Go Zoo?

There is an open tournament at OH Ivie this Saturday. It is one that Frank and I fish regularly. But there is also a temporary exhibit at the Dallas Zoo, an albino alligator, that I think Mattie May would really like.

So should I go fish with my wonderful husband at a lake that we absolutely love and visit with friends that we only see this time of year, or should I take my sweet little granddaughter, that would live at the zoo if we would let her, to see an exhibit that will not be there for long?

I'm really torn here. Give me some guidance.

Not Much to Report.

Frank fished the Stillwaters tournament at Hubbard Creek on Saturday. It was warm but WINDY! He had no fish to weigh so he didn't stick around for the weigh in and headed on home. I think he was really ready to see Mattie May. She was staying with us that night and he had missed her all week while he was in Boston.

Maybe the next tournament will have more to report.

It is getting to be that time of year where there are open tournaments almost every weekend. Maybe we will get to fish a few.

Untill next time, God bless you.

Wind? What Wind?

My goodness! I don't really remember the wind blowing like this! They just said on the radio it is blowing at 30 MPH with gust up to 48MPH! From my window it looks like a continuous gust!!! It hasn't slowed down a bit!

I am hoping it lays before Saturday. I sure was hoping to get on the lake!

Lake Leon - Better than Last Year

Tournament #2 for the TBC West Region is done, and I don't plan on looking back!

We met at the hotel on Saturday night, registered, then headed out to supper. The fellowship and visiting was great. The food was good. But the smoke was terrible! I guess, living in Abilene, I am just spoiled to the fact there is no smoking in any public places. When I go out of town, I expect the same. Not so! The little restaurant we were in was a complete smoking establishment so along with my food, I ate smoke. I did manage not to get sick and that was nice.

I am not sure if they are talking about supper, solving all the problems of the world, or telling about the one that got away!

We started with a nice day, partly cloudy skies and not much wind. As usual, a beautiful west Texas sunrise.

Frank had a decent day, three keeper fish, a few small ones (as seen in the picture below! He was so mad at me for taking this!), and one striper that went on a sailing trip when Frank got him off his hook. They put up a pretty good fight so when you get to where you can see them, you are a bit disappointed.

I on the other hand could not stay out of the rocks and trees. I had two small fish with the largest only being 13 1/2". The other one I think was smaller than the one Frank has in the picture above! All in all we had 6.03 pounds, lost about 5 spinner baits, and got beat up by the wind. Weatherbugg reported 29 mph at Dyess AFB with gusts of 45! I am beat, but poor Frank is exhausted from battling the wind from the front of the boat!

We stopped at DQ in Eastland and ate with Russell and Michelle, then headed home. We saw three grass fires to the south of the interstate. We were worried they might close the highway because of smoke.

This is smoke not clouds!

We also saw the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile on the way home. I did take a picture of it. Do you see it? I promise, it is in this picture.

There is a tournament next Saturday at Ivie, but we don't know if we will be fishing or not. It depends on how much time Frank gets to spend with Mattie May this week and what the weather does. I promise you, if the wind blows like it did today, I will not be on that lake!

Finished: Bassmaster Classic Pictures

FINALLY!

After sorting through almost 1000 pictures, cropping, rotating, spellchecking and a few frustrations with Scrapblog (not all their fault), I finally finished my scrap of the 2009
Bassmaster Classic.

I hope you enjoy it!

Fishing Lake Stamford

This past Sunday, we fished Lake Stamford with the Panhandle Region of TBC. The day started out pretty good. It was a bit cooler than the weatherman said it would be, but it sure beat last Sunday! Frank and I decided I must have had a bit of a fever because it took me a really long time to warm up and I had an extra long nap on the boat! I have gotten pretty good about not doing that, but I just couldn't help myself.

The wind was also good to us. It didn't blow to hard. The water was a bit muddy and we flipped cat tails almost all day! We caught fish all day, but for some reason couldn't get them in the boat! As Frank set the hook on one, it went through his legs (really, I was watching!), took one bounce on the deck, and off the other side of the boat she went! I had never seen anything like that before. We had several things like that happen.

I caught a really nice white on a spinner bait. Sure wish I could have weighed that one. It was a very nice size.

After Frank tried to electrocute himself (this is a story all it's own) on an electric line running across the lake, we called it a day and went to weigh in. We had three fish that went just under 9 pounds. It took 23 pounds to win. A new couple from the Panhandle won it. I really do like when that happens. It helps to get more couples in the club.

Our next tournament with the West Region is at Lake Leon on March 22. Ya'll come on out if you get the chance.

I Can Not Believe

...how cold it was! Sunday morning, when we got to the lake it was twenty two degrees!

...how many layers I was wearing to stay warm! Let's say, Randy from "A Christmas Story"!

...how unbelievably sore I am today! Who said fishing is not a real sport? I have the sore muscles to prove it!

...how close we came to not having a fish for weigh in! Weigh in starts at 3:00 on the dot, Frank boated said fish at 2:59!

...how close said fish was to not being legal! Just sweep over the 14" mark!

...how I didn't take pictures this weekend! I have two pictures of a red bird and that's it!

...how happy I was to sleep in my bed last night just after one night away!

...how miserable I was all day, but how much fun we had!

Let's Get This Party Started!

It is finally here - the first weekend of fishing with Texas Bass Couples, West Region.

Yeah!!

This month we are fishing Lake Brownwood. Saturday February 28, registration will be at Hook & Anchor Marine from 4 to 6 PM. If getting to fish isn't reason enough to come out and register, how about hamburgers? Schwan's will be out during this time cooking hamburgers and Tommy and Pam will have plenty of fixins' to go with them.

If you can't make it out Saturday, they will also hold a registration at Mountain View Lodge from 5:30 to 6:45 AM Sunday morning.

Hope to see you all there! And just for funzzies - if you come out to register because you read it here, let Pam know! I'm just curious if anyone really reads this thing!!!!

Happy Fishing!

Not the Final Note

Well I had planned on writing one final post on the Bassmaster Championship telling you all about the wonderful time we had and all the things we did. I was going to tell you about all the autographs we got. But I'll tell you what - I am tired! All the excitement of the weekend and the long drive home last night has got to me and I am ready to go to bed. So this will be my next to the last post. I will try to get all my pictures together and make a Scrapblog.

I will give you a couple of pictures though.

Of everything we did and everyone we saw, I must admit, this was my very favorite thing. I not only got to get Hank Parker's autograph and a hug, but he took my phone away from me and started talking to Katie. It was so fun and he was a really great sport.

Sarah and Traci - this is Hank Parker!

Now I had to borrow this next picture from Bassmaster.com. Their photographers have much better equipment than I do and are in great places to get these shots.

Being there for the final weigh in. I was awe struck. It was so wonderful watching Skeet Reese raise the trophy above his head and take the winning lap with his family in his boat. And I like his new hair style too.

To see more pictures of the entire tournament, head on over to Bassmaster.com or keep checking back here and I will try to get a scrapblog together of all the pictures I took.

Oh, and one more thing, last night I noticed a hit from Kalamazoo, MI. Do you think it could have been him, KVD? The world may never know!

And no, I didn't win the boat either!

So Much Fun at the 2009 Bassmaster Classic

Just one word -

WOW!!!

We are having so much fun!!! Friday we slept in and didn't go to launch but we did go to the Expo and weigh in. What fun. This morning Frank and I did get up and go to launch. So amazing! Tonight we went to day two weigh in which is also elimination day. They cut the field from 51 to 25. To my dismay, Kim and KVD were cut but how amazing to be here when the first woman is competing against the men at the big show! When you consider she finished the day yesterday just behind Kevin VanDam, you can see this is a sport where the women are on a level playing field with the men. As one of the women put it "the fish don't know if it is a man or woman behind that lure". That is so true.

Tomorrow is day three. Frank and I are going to get up a little earlier and hit the launch again. It won't take as long because of the narrowed field. Then back to the Expo and hopefully KVD will hand me the keys to the boat he has been competing in all year. I am sure I will win it (lol)! After that it will be weigh in and the long drive home.

Pictures - yes I am posting this without pictures! Yes, I do have pictures. As a matter of fact, I had to go to CVS and drop them from my cards to disc because I was running out of room on both of my cards, but the computers at the motel won't let me work with my pictures! So I will have pictures as soon as I get home!

So much more to tell you all, but you just can not imagine how much fun we are having. So much fun, we already trying to figure out how we are going to afford making this an annual trip!

Shreveport/Bossier has been a fantastic host. Even with this being the last weekend of Madi Gras, we have not run in to crowds and traffic the way we thought we would. All of the people that we have talked to that call this their home could not be any friendlier! If I wasn't so stuck on Texas, this would be a great place to call home. Thanks Ya'll!!!

2009 Bassmasters In Shreveport/Bossier City

We made it!!! We are in Louisiana all checked in the hotel. Yes we have been to the casino. I left Frank there (I know, not smart) but I am already out for two very good reasons - the cigarette smoke makes me terribly sick and I have already lost money! Neither of those are my favorite things so I decided to come out and find me a computer and start surfing!!!!

The tournament starts in the morning. If you get up early enough (and I know you do if you are interested in the tournament), watch "Mike and Mike In the Morning" (or set your DVR like I did). They are doing their show from the launch site in the morning and Frank said he is going to do everything he can to get on the show. This is frightening for two reasons 1.he can act pretty weird sometimes and 2. it is Mardi Gras here. Don't look for me! I will be in a good position to take pictures just in case he really does achieve this task.

It has been a fun trip already and I plan on having plenty of pictures, but I don't want to hold up this computer any longer (not that there is a waiting line - I think everyone but me and the employees are in the casino).

I will check in soon!

Louisiana - Here We Come!

As you can see from my counter - the championship is drawing near. We leave in the morning (EARLY). If the hotel has a guest computer, I will try to post some from the tourney. If not I will get something posted next week.

I am sure I will have a few pictures to share too!

2009 Kick Off

Last night Frank went to the first meeting of the year for Still Waters. He said there was a good turn out and he enjoyed catching up with friends.

The first tournament will be next Saturday at OH Ivie. I love that lake! We have been having some nice weather on the weekends so I may fish with him.

I am such a fair weather fisherman! I just hate being cold! I don't mind the cold, I just don't like to be out in it if I don't have too. Well will see. If it turns out to be like today I will probably go. I am just glad it is time to start fishing again!

Maybe next week I will have a great fish tale to tell!

2009 Bassmaster Classic

The count down is on for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic. This year, since it is just a few hours away, Frank and I will be attending! I am so excited!! We have always wanted to go. This year we decided instead of throwing a big party to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary that we would take this trip. And no, this wasn't Frank's idea, it was mine. I look forward to telling you all about it!!!

New Year Weekend 2009

JUST A QUICK WARNING - THE FOLLOWING POST HAS PICTURES OF DEAD ANIMALS! IF THIS OFFENDS YOU, PLEASE TURN BACK DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!

I wasn't sure whether to post this on my regular blog or just my fishing and hunting blog, so I just decided to post it to both.

If you really know me, you know how much I hated to leave this
for a week, but I was ready to go out of town! Frank and I spent new years with my mom and several friends. It was a five day trip that was just wonderful and here is a short recap of events. So sit back, relax, and welcome to The DudaThere is a long story as to how Frank and I get invited to this ranch that I don't really need to go into detail here. But what I will tell you is it is pure Texas! We love it here.
This is the second time we have spent new years here with Mom, Tom, Ben and Pat. Oh, and I can't forget Sam. Sam is Ben's dog and he is just one of us. We love him.
I am not sure how long the house has been here but even though it is not The Ritz, it is a great place. It is about 2o miles out of Aspermont and just has one TV station, but that is OK because there is not a lot of TV watching anyway. We spent new year's eve night trying to stay awake to watch the ball drop. None of the men made it that long. Mom had to wake Pat and I up to see it drop then we hugged and went to bed.
The guys all planned to go hunting the next morning, but I think Frank is the only one that got up early and he was actually kind of late. He got back to the house around eight and we, or really Mom, was fixing breakfast.
After we ate, we loaded in the huntin' buggy and went for a ride. We rode around the east part of the place for awhile. Didn't see any wild life and found a turkey roost. On our way out we did spot these turkey tracks.

They had obviously come through after we did. You can see their tracks on top of ours.

Frank and Ben went hunting and Tom, Mom and I went to the country club. Tom had a new call he wanted to try out and I try to never give up a photo op. There are some fantastic sunsets seen at the country club. I have many shots of them to show you later. After supper that night, we had a fire in the fire pit and looked at the beautiful starts. Amazing how being completely away from the city how many more stars you can see. God is awesome and I am so thankful for the sights he has given us.

Our first group portrait.

Me, Frank, Mom, Tom, Ben and Pat (l to r)

The next day Frank did some more hunting and shot this small jake. He wasn't very big but he sure did taste good. Thanks for supper that night Frank.

Ben and Tom were going Sandhill Crane hunting after we were to leave on Sunday. Frank and Ben worked on getting the decoys ready for the trip. I don't know, but there was just something funny to me when I walked out and saw this...

All these "birds" stuck in the fence. Just my warped sense of humor I guess. It ended up be a longer task than they had planned. they worked on them for two days. We went for some walks on Friday and just lounged around the house. That evening, just the girls went to the country club.

God gave us some awesome shots on this night. There were lots of clouds and so many colors in the sky. It was amazing.

Tom had dropped us off so he could go gather some fire wood. He got back after it was pretty dark and we were really glad to see him. It wasn't very long before he showed up we realized we were out there without a gun just in case some critter decided to sneak up on us.

Saturday morning Ben and Frank did some more work on those decoys. This scene still makes me laugh.

We all loaded up in the huntin' buggy and headed down to the river. The Salt Fork of the Brazos runs through the Duda. There is good reason it is called the "Salt Fork".

That is salt, not snow in this picture. There are several places where you find it like this. Mom found some that looked just like rock salt and got up the nerve to taste it. She said it tasted just like rock salt!

Our Group photo at the River

Finally Sam got in the picture

We hiked down and just played down there for about an hour. It was really warm down there. Some people even decided to take a little nap. That Ben! He can sleep anywhere. We dis some more riding around but headed back to the house to eat a bite of lunch and Frank and Ben wanted to do some hunting. We saw this lone covey of quail out in front of the house late that afternoon. (click on the picture to enlarge it and you can see them better)
This is what the guys do while they are waiting on supper.

Mom and Pat are the official cooks and I am the dishwasher. It all works at great that way.

The trip was wonderful! But I must say it was great to get home to Katie and Mattie May. I think Mattie May was pretty happy to see us too! We got home early enough that Frank was able to make one final trip to Clyde and with about 1 minute left in the season shot a doe. So we will have some good venison for awhile. I hope that 2009 started out as wonderful for you as it did for us. I am going to get in my bed. I have missed that too!