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!

I may Loose my Spot on the Boat!

Frank went fishing this weekend to a two day tournament in San Angelo. It was a three fish stringer per day tournament.

Saturday night, Frank was in forth place. He had fished Twin Buttes most of the day, but when the wind picked up he moved over to Lake Nasworthy. He didn't have a single hit! So Sunday he fished all day at Twin Buttes and fought the wind. He felt that was better than not catching any fish!

He had a very decent stringer and won 2ND!! Yeah Frank!

Our friend Craig won first. He had a 9+ pounder on Saturday, so Frank was really surprised they were so close. Craig's total was 15.61; Frank's was 15.25!! So even though I have no pictures, I have two really nice checks and know he had good fish!

Everyone we talk to looks at me and says "Frank should go without you more often!" Yeah, he probably should, but I hope he doesn't!!!

I Saw GOD Today!

We have only been gone for two days but it seems like forever. I get back to check my email and, wow, my box is full. I dread seeing my box at work seeing as how I was off Friday and will be off tomorrow too. Oh, as Scarlett says "I will worry about that tomorrow".

We had a good time, most of it spent just the two of us together. We had no travel buddies because we left so late Friday evening and none on the return trip because, well, we left after everyone else! We enjoyed the banquet and awards with lots of old friends and just as many new ones on Friday, but enjoyed a relaxing dinner at Chili's Saturday night, just the two of us. Then a quick trip to Academy and Walmart, we got to bed as early as we could. Four o'clock comes really early on Saturdays! We also ran into a long time friend in Walmart. Scott, we could have visited all night! It was great to see you and I will be sending you an email!



The fishing was not good. We each had one keeper on Saturday and Frank caught his first small mouth bass. It only weighed about 2.5 but it fought like a 10 pounder! We had a total of 4.24 on Saturday.

Sunday, the fishing was not much better. Boat numbers were called at 7:00 AM, and we got to our spot at 7:09 AM. By 7:15 we had two in the box! We thought we were at least going to have a limit, but boy were we wrong. That was it! No more, nada, zilch the rest of the day. We had 3.78 (I think, to lazy to go get my weigh slips!) total for Sunday.
You can see how happy Frank is in this picture. It was a long hot day, and we had a long drive ahead of us. 8.02 for the weekend. It took 22+ to win the tournament and you can read all the results here. It may take Pam til tomorrow night to get everything posted, but she will get it done so keep checking back if it isn't posted.



So now your saying to yourself "So what does this have to do with the title?" Lots!



Frank and I are so grateful for everything we have. As I have told you before, we know it is ours through God. He is so good to us. So look at the following pictures and tell me if you see Him. (Don;t forget, you can click on each image to enlarge it!)








He is there! Did you see Him? If not go back and look one more time. He is there, I promise!





We are firm believers in Christ, we believe it is He that created all in the universe. George Strait is my all time favorite singer and his song "I saw God Today" will be my favorite forever. We see God in every sunrise, sunset, animal and bird. He is there keeping us safe as we travel and as we face the elements as we fish. Amazing landscapes! Fabulous trees growing in crevices in rocks on cliffs. And then we come home to the most precious gifts of all... Our wonderful Father in Heaven,

Thank you for everything you have given us, our girls and each other. Please keep growing in our hearts as you continue to shower us with Your grace.

Time is Running Out

If you look at my counter, you will see that it is just hours away from our TBC Championship. We will not make it in time for all the festivities in the morning, but hopefully we will be there in time for dinner and get our information for start times on Saturday and Sunday mornings and weigh in times also.

I will try to do a couple of post while we are there, but if not, I will bring you up to date on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone!

Our First Trip to Lake Belton

Like I stated in an earlier blog, we have never been to Lake Belton. We have driven over it several times, but never fished it, skied it, nothing. But not anymore! If you don't know where Lake Belton is, here is a map to help you out. It is on I-35 about half way between Waco and Austin. Very pretty lake. It reminded me of Possum Kingdom, clear water, deep cliffs, lots to see.

We started our trip on Friday. Here is Frank driving.
He looks happy for me to be taking his picture, huh. This will not be the last time in this post that you see this expression on his face. We didn't leave until after work, so it was late when we got there. We checked in to the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat, and did some sight seeing in the dark. Have you ever done that, looked around a new place after the sun goes down? I have decided doing this is about as exciting as looking at Christmas lights during the day. You just don't get the same effects!

Saturday morning, we slept in a bit, woke up about 6, then we had breakfast and headed to the lake. This is as we were pulling away from the ramp.

Nice and smooth. One of those great mornings.

This is the ramp. See our truck?
Does this help? The yellow circle is our truck. The pink circle? That is the "toilet". I use that term loosely. A whole in the ground with seats and four walls and two stalls. Not the best, but when you gotta go, you gotta go!!!
Just some of the shore line. Some of God's handy work.

From what we could tell, the lake looks low. This picture shows what we think is the water line. This is what it would look like around our home lakes. I am sure if this is not the case, I will have some nice person leave me a comment correcting me.
I think this is an Egret. Really pretty bird. It posed for me then took off.
And I think this is a Heron. It stuck around a little longer than the Egret, but not much.
This is not what any fisher person wants to spend their time doing.

(Note, there is that face again)

Just more of the cliffs.

This is my OH MY moment!

Have you tried these things. They are fantastic!

Just remember to put them in the cooler if you will be outside in the heat!

This was about the time of day I got really bored and my wrist was killing me. (I have got to get to the doctor this week to check it out)
One of my favorite past times, looking at clouds. This is another thing that drives Frank crazy, me finding shapes in the clouds.
See this man? He is an old man, not happy or sad.
OK, if you don't see it, I have used red to outline it.
Did that help? I hope so.

See the elephant?

Again, I have used red to outline him.

OK, one more.
See the elf face?
Here he is.
I know, most of you can see these shapes. These outlines are for the Franks out there that don't see the shapes.

I love trees with character. This is one of those trees. It is dead, but don't you know at one time is was beautiful. Just imagine it during fall.
This was a surprise to us. A waterfall.
This is at the bottom of a water processing plant. Very pretty and surprising.

This is at the damn. Someone put in a lot of time here.

Oh, here is the face again. He was not happy having to take me over here to take this picture.
This was up in one of the coves. The best we could tell, this is a permanent dock, it is just out in the lake, not attached to the shore like most docks. They sure were having a lot of fun. We found it funny that being in between Baylor and UT that they had...
this flag flying.
Those Aggies are everywhere!!

Sunday morning brought some more wildlife. This roadrunner was running up and down the shore.
And when I took down my camera, I saw this!

OH! You know how I hate snakes and this one was about two feet from the boat. I think the roadrunner was looking for him too.

This little turtle was all alone sunning himself. He was tiny. I don't think I have ever seen one this little alone.

We did quite a bit of moving around the lake. At one point, we were in a flock of buzzards! Here are three of them.
Yes there are three, see the arrow.
They are not the prettiest birds, but the serve a great purpose. But on this day, I think we were right in their flight path. They would fly so close to our heads, we could feel the wind off their wings as they took off.
We ended our trip by going through Killeen to find the airport where I will have to pick Frank up before our tournament. Then had to turn around and go back when we realized I had left my purse at Jack In The Box! I was so mad! It took an hour to take care of that.

Then just as we pulled into Tuscola, Frank got a call that he had to go to work. The OT is always nice, I just wish he would have had some time to rest. Maybe next time he will let me do some of the driving.

OH, I'm sorry. Did you come hear wanting to read a fishing report? Well not much to say. We caught nothing on Saturday and Frank caught four fish on Sunday and they were just barely 14". So, any of you nice people that fish this lake often, if you have any suggestions, we sure would appreciate it. We will return the favor when you come fish some of our home lakes!

WE'RE GOING FISHING

Have you missed me? Did you wonder where I have been?

Well, not fishing! We were supposed to go a couple of weeks ago and had to cancel due to circumstances beyond our control. But that was OK, we were needed here so here is where we stayed.

We are going to go prefish at Lake Belton. Neither of us has ever been there. Oh, we have both been to Temple and Killeen, and we have probably driven by or over the lake, but we have never fished it. We usually like to keep our prefishing to one or two weeks before our actual tournament, but since this is a three day weekend and Frank will be in Atlanta the week before and we will have our Stillwater tournament next week, this was the only weekend we could go. So go we will.

Of course I will have my camera and I will try to post some pictures while we are there, but no promises. Frank gets mad at me when I go down to the public computers and play. But I do promise to post some pictures and hopefully a story or two next week.

Only 28 days to the TBC Championship Tournament!

The Worst Day Fishing...

I know you, if you are a fisherperson you have heard the saying "The worst day fishing is better than a good day working."

We are here to tell you, that is not true.

Saturday, Frank fished a tournament at Lake Stamford with Warren (it was a team tournament). Other than the regular fishing stories, "you should have seen the one that got away" told by both men, there was the broken favorite flipping rod, the loosing the rod and reel while running across the lake, and the oh so famous trolling battery that pooted out.

I still haven't been told the whole story on how the rod was broken but he did tell me the "Rod Saver" will have to be replaced. It didn't hold up going across the rough lake hence the lost combo. But when the wind picked up and the trolling motor wouldn't keep up with it, he checked and he had lost a battery. So Warren kept fishing while Frank made a run into the Wal-Marts in Stamford to purchase a new battery.

Needless to say, the tournament was won by someone other than these two, but they made it home safe! And Frank said he would have rather been working, at least that was guaranteed money!