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!

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!