Dec 19-Dec 31 2016 Christmas Time

Kidney stones have been kicking my butt. Several nights with not much sleep  and several days just laying around.  When they don't hurt I am perfectly fine. Hard to accomplish much like this. Since this is Texas I mowed the yard before Christmas to clean it up. Christmas morning we went to Kristi's to watch  the girls open their presents. Adam and Lori were also there. By noon we headed home. The next morning Peyton and Luke made it to our house for their Christmas here. They were at full throttle all day and evening. The next morning they headed back home to  Bryan. Kyle called and his fuel pump went out.  He was still In Liberty so we just towed them back home and they took my truck back to Bryan.  Tuesday night we went to a dinner recognizing Mike Zellers promotion to Managing Director at Citibank.  On Thursday I went to the lake with Mike, Mackenna and Sammi,. Ashley came home with Nana. At the lake we ran power and water down to the boat house. We didn't finish as it was just too cold to get in the water to run the conduit and wire under the dock. I felt good on Thursday and Friday but had a bad day Saturday. Kyle picked me up and brought me home that evening. We had a quiet New Years Eve, I went to bed early and slept hard all night.  Susan and Ashley just sewed and quilted all three days. Kyle got his fuel pump replaced in his truck.  Ashley is staying till Monday and we will take her home.

Christmas morning with the girls

Ashley

Mike"s  dinner

Ashley and Nana

Lori

Watching Thomas the Train

Kyle Peyton Luke

Kevin Luke

Luke

Peyton

new boathouse

Mike Z digging a trench for electricity and water 

Mackenna and Sammi

Dec 6-19 Moved Back Home

Its been a pretty quiet time with not much happening.  I spent time at the deer lease not really hunting but just walking the woods. I did do a few things at home like putting in whole house water filter. In the last 3 months we were getting a bad odor in our water. The filter did help a lot but still the hot water has a slight odor. It might just take time to flush out the hot water heater. We went to an all day volleyball tournament for Mackenna . She is on a new select team and this was their first games. They did well placing 9 out of 30 teams. Not bad for the first time these girls have played together. We finally got some real  cold weather, I brought the trailer home so now I will be back to living at home. I have plenty of things that I need to get done. Kidney stones have been slowing me down for the last few days. Hope to pass them soon.

Mackenna

David and John enjoying the fire with an early Happy Hour 

Nov 29- Dec 15 2016 Just Living

I'm still spending most of my time at the deer lease and Susan is still sewing. I cant shoot any more deer so I am just walking the woods and looking around. I move my deer camera every couple of days to see whats coming to the feeders. Still just getting night pictures. We went to eat and hear Eddie Bird at Fish Tales one Friday night. We had several couples meet us. The next night we went to a Surprise birthday party for Kristi. She turned the big 40.  Mackenna is playing basketball now for Jr. High and we have been going to her games. Sammi has started basketball also playing in a youth league. I missed her first game but Susan said it was great fun and she scored her teams only points.  Susan had a friend over for a 3 day sewing event. Our washer went out and our dryer was already on the blink so we had to bite the bullet and get a new set, not what we wanted to do this time of year. I will probably go back to the deer lease Sunday and when I come home I will bring the trailer in. I need to do some repairs before we take many trips. We are probably not going anywhere till the weather gets nicer .

Only day picture on my game camera

Its nice in the woods

Where Mack Creek hits the Trinity River

Fish Tales

Fish Tales

Kenna is #45

Sammi

Lavonna, Susan, Jo Ann   at Fish Tales

Sewing room rearranged

Nov 18-Nov 29 Deer Lease Thanksgiving

We have had a slow deer season so far. The deer have been in night mode. All my pictures of deer are at night. I did hit a lucky streak and killed a doe and two bucks. The first buck I killed I shot for a doe but it ended up a 1 pt. It was an ugly head and needed to be culled. My second buck was a nice 8 pt. He had heavy horns and weighed 163 lbs. Adam checked his teeth and said he thought he was 6 yrs old. His inside spread was only 13 !/8.   Kevin shot a little spike the same day.  David Bird killed a great 10 pt which is the best so far this year.  My buck has been the heaviest so far. Its really been warm weather and dry and dusty. We did get a cool front right before Thanksgiving. We did Thanksgiving at the deer lease and turned out well. So much food. December is almost here and I m  out of tags so I will have to just piddle around the deer lease.  Susan has been doing lots of sewing getting ready for Christmas.

John Lovett, Kenneth Taylor, David Bird, Judy Lovett

Lavonna, Susan, Slyvia

Recording a CD      David Bird  Eddie Bird  John Callahan

Getting the food ready

Luke is ready to ride

Kevin and Peyton

Luke and Kevin

My Trophy 1 pt Buck 

David Bird 10 pt

Eddie Bird 8 pt

My 8 pt

Nov 1-17 2016 Finally Deer Season is here

Youth weekend is before the opening day of deer season. We only had three youth hunting. Mackenna hunted with me but we didn't see anything. On Sunday Alyssa Grubbs hunting with David Bird killed a longhorn spike. It was a rather warm weekend.  We had a nice crowd at camp. Jennifer and I took all the kids and let them play in the creek. They had a blast. we did get a few cool evenings where we could have a little fire. It has been slow hunting but we have killed a few deer.. We had to use Kevins dogs 3 times  and they found the deer each time. On one chase they had to catch , they don't bark so you have to try to keep up with them. So far I have killed a doe and a cull buck. I am not really seeing many deer or hogs. We are stuck on 17 hogs for the year which have been mostly trapped.

Fun in the creek

Hard to get the kids to share

Just Chilling

Girls are having fun

Kyle got a spike

John Callahan 8 point

Judy got a doe

John Callahan

Cool enough for a fire