November 4=24 Deer Season

I got back to the deer lease on Thursday. Sure ready for some cool weather.Susan came up on Friday. Lots of folks showed up Friday. Opening day was a Monsoon. It rained hard all day.I killed a big spike. Just had to because he needed to be shot. Mackenna got here at lunch so we hunted that evening. She killed her first deer a nice 8 pt. She made a very good shot at about 125 yards. The deer ran about another 100 yards. She thought she missed it but I was pretty sure it we as a hit. We trailed it and I let her find it. We were both very excited. .For me the next week was pretty slow. I saw a few small does and a couple of bucks that were less than 13 inches ( I wont get started about what I think about that stupid law).Overall we had a good opening week and even better we ate like Kings..After the first ten days the hunting really slowed down. The deer got in their night mode and we are seeing few deer in the day time . One Saturday night we all went to the VFW Hall in Livingston to see Eddie sing with The Southern Breeze Band. They were very good and we had a good time. It has been a wet season so far. It was a slow week before Thanksgiving. Expecting a big crowd the last weekend of doe season

Mack Creek at the VFW Lodge

Friday evening < camp filling up

Richard   and   John

It was raining hard opening morning

Mackennas first deer

Holly Grace sleeping in the deer stand

sitting in a tree

view from a tree

Boar Hog

Starting an evening fire

Eddie Bird singing 

sitting by the fire

cull buck

This fellow eas under the couch in the camp shed

Oct 31-Nov Rain, Rain and Peyton

I came home from the deer lease Friday as it was supposed to start raining. It didn't start till Friday night and didn't quit until late Sunday night. I don't know how much rain we got but Liberty got over 14 inches. I don't think we got quite that much probably about 10-11. Kevin came home Saturday and went.  to pick up his new puppy. His name is Max and he is a German Rottweiler. 8 weeks old and 14 lbs. Sunday morning we picked up Mom and headed  to Byran .We visited awhile and then loaded Peyton up and headed home. We didn't bring Luke as I couldn't keep up with two little ones. Peyton is really easy  to keep, very active but minds well.Monday, Kelly, Tilly and Pam came to visit. Kase was here and all the kids played in the floor. Sure wish it wasn't so wet so they could play outside. On Tuesday Peyton played outside for a little while. Mom and Kerry came to visit him. Then on Wednesday we had to carry him home. Its sure going to be quiet around here.

Luke

Nana Peyton Luke

Sharing lunch

Sept 17-Oct 30 Getting ready for Deer Season

I have basically lived at the deer lease for most of this time. Susan has spent a couple of days up here but she has stayed home much of the time sewing. She went to a quilt retreat for four days and then to the International Quilt Show for two days. I did a lot of mowing usually working till about noon and then shutting down and chilling the rest of the day. John Callahan moved in Sept 29 for the season. He is getting around great at 87.Folks have been in and out but not many big crowds. Squirrel hunting was excellent this year, best we have had in 14 years. Lots of hogs this year, so far we have killed 17. It was really dry and we didn't get any rain till Oct 25. We are not going to have very good rye grass patches this year. I  got down in my back for the last 10 days but am getting around pretty good now. Susan fell at Kristis while walking and face planted a tree root, She was lucky nothing was broken.  It looked like she had been in a barfight. it took several days to recover from that. Old age is hell sometimres. Going home today. Hope to go get Peyton Sunday and keep him till Thursday. If not I will probably be back up here Monday.

Kitchen area

Susan at Quilt show

Feeding by camp

Dang Hogs

Coyote slipping thru

What we are looking for

rready to disc

Eddie found a hog

Trapped

John Callahan

Kenneth  Eddie John

The twins fell asleep riding

Pickin and Grinning

Sept 13-17 Port O"Conner Fishing Trip

It is time for our annual fishing trip. We planned to go from Monday thru Thursday. After talking about it four of us went down on Sunday instead. I rode with Willie Fowler and we met up with John Kocurek at his deer camp near Ganado. Al Brasher also met us there, and we headed down to Port O"Conner with Al riding with John.We got there and unloaded the boats, parked the trailers and then headed to our house, later we took a little boat ride out to check where we would be setting up for our night fishing. When we got to the pass where we usually make a camp there was no more beach. The landscape had changed greatly since last year. No night fishing this year. We headed back to the house. John had cooked fajitas for us to have supper. We just ate and drank a few beers and chilled out. On Monday Johns son Jonathan got there along with John Anderson,Pat Schnell, and Mitch Rossi. We day fished for the next two days with not much luck. Big John and Mitch caught a couple of keepers. We had a good time and ate like kings.

Pat and Lil John

John and Al.    There used to be a sand beach there to fish off of.

Al and Mitch scouting

Willie

John and Willie at deer camp

Willies boat

John, Al and Willie            Back Porch Think Tank

Intercoastal Canal

Morning sunrise

Canal view from house

John and Jonathan

Al, John and Mitch

Al fishing hard

Sept 3- 7 Mike Z Birthday and moved to Deer Lease

 Thursday morning Sept 3 we carried the RV to Mike & Kristi's lake house near Riverside, Tx. We stopped in New Waverly and had breakfast at our favorite little cafe there. We got to their place about 9:30. It was dry and made it easier to get the trailer backed into their drive.The road is narrow and it is tight to maneuver. After getting everything set up we headed to Kristi's house in Kingwood. Before going there we had to go to a home depot near 610 to pick up an electric smoker I wanted. Only a couple of stores had them in stock. We went to Kristi's so we could babysit that night as Mike/Kristi went to a concert. The next morning we headed back to Riverside. This was Mikes 40 th birthday party weekend and they expected lots of folks. Mike and Kristi got there a little later. A friend of Kristi's picked the girls up from school and brought them later that day. We all went out on the boat and the girls did some tubing along with Mike and Brian Kinney.A few more people showed up and they all had a late night. We on the other hand went to bed early. Saturday morning I got up and notice none of our smokers were going. Mike  was supposed to put briskets on at midnight. Oops he forgot. Kristi came up with a new food plan for the party. Folks drifted in all day and there were lots of people by the evening. Mike had set up a big screen and used a projector to put on the Aggie game, both the picture and game turned out great. They had a DJ set up karaoke after the game and the vocals started. Activities went way into the night. Once again Susan and I slipped off the bed early. Sunday was another nice day. All the kids had a great time. Monday morning we got up early and headed to the deer lease .  We got the trailer all set up, rested awhile and headed home..

The quiet before the storm

The girls are ready

Piper, Kristi, Susan

Campbell   Ashley

Mackenna   Lacy

Brian      Mike Z  

The morning after

Set up at the deer lease