Dec 25 Christmas Day

I have had a head cold for a couple of days and now it is settling down in my chest. I haven't felt very good and have not accomplished very much toward getting ready to leave after Christmas. I have had some troubles with my satellite dish and the TV in the trailer. I think the problem is in the TV as I couldn't get it to work in the house on our home satellite or the  digital antenna either. Feeling bad and frustrated I decided to let it go until we go on our trip and then I will work on it then. We will take a TV from Susan's sewing room so at least we have a working TV.  Anyway enough of that, Christmas day arrived and we were very busy. Susan and I got up early  ( at least for Susan as I usually get up at 5) and went to Kristi's to watch the girls open up their presents.  We came back home and Kyle,Kristen,Peyton, and Kevin came over so Peyton could open up his presents. He likes to tear the paper off. Then we all loaded up and headed to Pam's house to eat. Peyton is such a good baby. He was passed around all day, maybe had a 15 minute nap, but never got upset till they were ready to leave around 6 headed home to Bryan. I bet he slept most of the way home. By the end of the day i lost my voice completely.  All in all we had a good day.  Our plans are to leave on Friday. We are going to Bryan for a couple of days and then to McKinney Falls Sate Park. When we leave there think we are headed to Canyon Lake . After that we don"t know for sure what direction we will take, We will see what visions we have.

Dec 14-21 A Slow Week

The weekend started out with a bang as we had all three grandaughters Saturday and Sunday. They were really good as Sammi watched movies and The big girls did arts and crafts. The went home on Sunday. On Monday night I went and watched Mackenna in a school choir program and they did really well. It warmed up on Tuesday and I went to the deer lease to pick up Ranger and bring home. I washed it that evening after I got home . The next day i washed the RV. That takes about 4 hours and is not one of my favorite jobs. We are getting the trailer ready to hit the road after Christmas. Susan has been running the roads doing last minute shopping and visiting friends. Next I took everything out of the trailer compartments and cleaned and then rearranged them.  Okay the next item on my list was to shampoo the carpets and I got that done on Friday. I now need a break from all this work.  Friday night we went out with George and Delilah to eat crawfish and seafood. It was a fun night. To day is Saturday and i plan on doing nothing much but some reading and napping. It has been a warm week but we have a cold front blowing in today with a little rain. 

Dec 4-13 Deer Lease, Home,Peyton

There is not a lot of news to report. I spent most of my time at the Deer Lease. It was cold and wet. We have not had this much early cold weather in years. Susan has been sewing at home. I came home last Sunday thinking just for a few days. However Susan sent me to Bryan to get Kristin and Peyton so they could visit. Kristen has been helping Susan with her sewing orders for Christmas and Peyton has been just chilling out.  He is really growing and always happy. he will be five months old on the 21. He can roll over now and is eating cereal and apple sauce.  In the mean time I decided to bring the trailer home from the lease. I was afraid it might keep raining and I couldn't get it out easily. Got it home so I just need to wash it, shampoo the carpets, clean out all the storage compartments and restock the pantry.We plan on hitting the road sometime after Christmas. On another note Kevin called on Tuesday and said he had to be at Moss Hill for work Thursday morning. He has been in Cushing,OK since August. He was  glad to get back but it was short notice. He had taken Misty back with him after Thanksgiving because they told him he would be there till March, but things are fluid in the construction business. Kristen and Peyton leave Saturday morning and then our other three grand kids come for the weekend.

Nov 27-Dec 2 Thanksgiving at the Deer Lease

I left for the Deer lease Wednesday morning. I had planned on getting there early but it was about 2 before I got there. After I got unloaded I started getting the smokers ready for cooking. Iuse a Brinkman electric smoker with a water pan. I was going to smoke a 20 lb turkey on one of them and I have never done one that big. It also was cold wi the temp getting down to freeazing by Thankssfiving monring. After researching times it looked like I needed at least 14 hrs for the turkey. I decided to put the turkey on at 5 pm ande smoke it all night.  I stuffed it and marinated it and put it on. I used hickory chips for the smoke.  The next morning I put the ham on the other smoker. Susan showed up about 10.am. Eddie and Becky Bird were already here and Becky was making he dressing. There daughter and son in law were coming for dinnere. Also Mikeand Kristi and the girls were comeing for dinner. Adam also showed up for dinner.  The food turned out great and the turkey was a hit. It was so moist it just melted in your mouth. Kevin/.Jen and Kyle/Kristen/Peyton showed up later that day.  It was the last weekend to shoot does. The weather was cold and burned a lot of wood. On Satruday evening John Callahan killed a non-typical buck with 19 points. It had palmetoo antlers and heavy beams. We had never had a rack killed like this before.I hope he gets it mounted.Pretty much everyone went home on Sunday. I came home on Monday and plan to go back Thursday.

Nov 20-26 Deer lease and Mini-family Reunion

I spent most of my time at the deer lease until I came home Sunday night. The deer were moving mostly at night and I didn't see anything on the stand. I did see a couple of deer riding around. Susan dindt come this time as she had to babysit  and then wanted to do some sewing. Also her back went to hurting Friday so she tried to take it easy. On Sunday I carried John Callahan to the Catfish King in Livingston to meet some of our kinfolk on the Malone side. A small group got together (about 17) to talk and meet and then we went to the Bluff Creek Cemetery where all the Malone's are buried. When I was a kid we always went to reunions, one at Bluff Creek which was on my grandmother's side and then to Holly Grove which is on my my Grandfathers side. There was always lots of food to eat  so us boys really enjoyed that. Anyway Aine Malone has started a facebook page for Malone history and is responsible for getting some of us together. Her Dad, David Malone did extensive research on the families and has lots of pictures and information.  I forgot my camera and so am using the pictures that were posted of our little meeting. There were lots of good stories told and we had a good time. When going back and looking at pictures I have to be careful as there are Taylor's on my grandmother's side which are not kin to the Taylor's on my Grandpas side. I didn't know this before so it has helped clear up some confusion on pictures that are labeled Taylor reunions. Anyway I like to see the old pictures and think its is great  that someone is putting together all the information.

Smitty, Maudine,Pat , Dean

Woody Malone, Paula Malone French




My great grandparents Ma Polly, Pa John  (on right)  and  David a Malone in center




BR-Cleo,Ollie Foster FR--Willa Mae, Irene, Minnie Ola, Norwood , Lockwood, Snooks





My great great grandfather Carl Colvin Taylor

 


My great great great Grandfather John Colvin Taylor



Suzanne, Heather , Wes



Mike



Lisa Schoubroek and son



Smitty Pat Aine Lexi

John Callahan

  

My grandfather Jim Taylor, Carl, Jimmy Lee, John, my dad  JA,Farol, My grandmother Irene

Nov 13-20 Peyton comes to visit

Not a whole lot to report on at the deer lease. The deer have figured out that its better to feed at night than during the day. This happen every year. but seemed to happen quicker this year. I put up a new tree climber but so far have only seen one deer in that area. Lots of squirrels feeding in the white oak trees. When going back to camp at night I have been seeing lots of rabbits feeding.  I went to Byran and brought Peyton and Kristen home for a few days. He is really growing too fast. He went to his first resteraunt when we met Pam and Mom at the Cracker Barrell  for Moms birthday. Peyton was really good as he just sat and looked around. He actually got to eat some chicken/dumplings gravy and he loved it. Its the first time he got food on a spoon and tasted it. Not a whole lot else going on. i did mow the yard which I hope will be the last time this year. I am headed back to the lease today.

View from a tree climber

Sitting in a tree

Mike & Peyton

Just chilling at Cracker Barrell

Nov 3-13 Great Opening Weekend for Mack Ceek

I just cant seem to post daily blogs when I am at the deer lease. I am going to post every couple of weeks. We had a record opening weekend. I think we killed 18 deer. By Tuesday it had slowed down and was getting back to normal.  We caught the rut for the first time in many years. It really makes a difference in east Texas when this happens. For example the last 3 years we have killed 13-15 deer for the whole season. As of Nov 13 we are at 25. The weather has been perfect so far with mostly cool weather and a little cold weather. Mackenna has seen deer but nothing legal to shoot. Its hard for a 10 year old to kill a deer in east Texas. Also my stands aren't built for two people to hunt in. That will change for next year. Our camp is a social club and we have had fun this year. Eddie and David Bird entertain us with good country music. We have lots of food to eat and gain lots of weight. We have had lots of fun cruising around on Ranger. I hesitated to buy Ranger but I am glad I did. Before next year it will get a roof and windshield . I am also going to put a winch on it. We are home till Friday and then we are going back.

Nice 8 pt

6 pt

Mackenna

Boar Hog

Freaky horns

The twins first deer lease weekend

Ashley & Mackenna

Picking and grinning

Peyton is ready

Making bows

Don't go hungry