Febuary 1-27 2020 Another Wet Month

The first weekend we headed to Kenna's volleyball game in the Woodlands.  Ashley was off this weekend and Sammi's team was playing in Missouri City. Sammi was injured (collar bone issue) and was not playing. Kenna injured her ankle in the second game when she came down wrong on it. We left after she was hurt since she was out for the rest of the day.  Susan needed to start packing for a quilt retreat anyway. We had our first beautiful day in awhile.  I washed both truck and car that evening.  On Sunday Susan headed to her retreat near Madisonville until Thursday. I just piddled around because its still pretty wet .  I did some troubleshooting on my JD lawn tractor. Its not starting or even turning over. It has some kind of electrical issue. Later that day we found out that Mackenna's foot is broken. She will wear a boot for 6-8 weeks.  We had another pretty day on Monday. I filled up my deer feeder in the pasture even though it looks like I'm feeding more coons than deer. I figured out my lawn tractor issues, a bad battery and a blown fuse. I continued to take down old pasture fence since its a little more dry. Susan made it home Thursday, it was a cold and windy day so I didn't move much outside.   The next weekend

we went to Ashleys tournament.  Ash had a good tournament and so did her team as they got a third place finish.  I started cleaning the inside of our trailer getting ready for some small trips. I also have a few repairs to make also, The underneath of fifth wheel skin needs to be replaced and also the fill water line to my fresh water tank needs to be replaced. Ive been waiting for some sunny days to do that. On the 12th I had my annual dr visit and then we also went to the rv show. I would like to downsize and go to a bumper pull trailer. The problem with the rv show is you see all these roomy floor plans that are really nice  but then you see that they are 36-38 ft long. Not what I'm looking for.  Its going to take some compromise to reach a 30-32 ft trailer. I had my annual check-up at BCM.  Eveything was good except my A1c.  This was not unexpected because I pigged out Nov,Dec,and Jan.  I'm now back on my diet track (which sucks).  I plan on getting below 200 lbs and my A1c down to a 6.5 by the end of May.  We finally got around to shopping for floors. Susan found what she wanted and they are going to install them on the 26. I went to Lowes and Home Depot and bought baseboards and new toilets . On the 23 I went with Kevin to pick up his old Chevy truck in Bryan. Its just been sitting at Kyles for 2 years. It needs a few things done to get it running so we loaded it up and brought it home.  On the 25 Susan left for another small quilt retreat at Kristi's lake house. She will be gone as they work on the house. I moved all the little items out of the way in the house. The flooring guys will move all the furniture. I also pulled our old toilets out so I moved to the trailer untill all the work is done.  They showed up on Wednesday and went to work, by Thursday around 3;30 they were finished.  I only had to spend one night in trailer .

Mackenna's broke foot

Kenna broke her foot when she came down on this play

Ashley's Game

Quilt Retreat Ladies

Trailer cleaned

All clean inside

Trailer cleaned inside

Look at dem coons

The deer like that corn

loading base boards

Kevin strapping down is old truck

They packed some furniture in the kitchen

Moving furniture back in

Maggie was content in trailer

Jan 1-31 January 2020

January has pretty much sucked so far. I have been moving things off Mack Creek and bringing home. It hasn"t helped that we have had a lot of rain, I was able to get my trailer home and set-up before it got too wet. Since then I have had to pretty much mud stuff in, I did set up a deer feeder  in the pasture and put a camera on it. I checked it after two days and I had 3 does, 5 coons and 1 squirrel coming to it.  Club volleyball has started for all three granddaughters.  We have somewhere to go every weekend now.  We still haven"t replaced our floors from Imelda,  we are going to redo our bathrooms first or at least the guest bath. We had a guy come and he refurbished the bathtub. He is supposed to give me a quote for our shower stall and sinks.  Once we get that done we will get the new floors down. Susan went to Adams for about six days. I finally got all my stuff moved off the lease. We had a good run of 53 years. Lots of good memories.  On another note since I no longer have a horse I have started taking down the fence on the back pasture, its old and I have no plans to put any animals back on it, Since its so wet it has been easy to pull up all the posts.  Even so, after two days my back is killing me so I'm thinking to let it dry some where I can use the tractor bucket to pull up posts. Old age is not fun sometimes.

Kenna got her first car

Ashley

Sammi"s  first volleyball game

refinished tub

Dec 26 2019 - Jan 1, 2020 Junction

The day after Christmas we headed for Junction.  Regan and Kerry left before we did as I went to town to get the oil changed in the car. We did manage to get away by 9:00. Adam also went with us . We meandered our way thru 290 and finally back to 1-10 where 290 ends. After 4 stops we got there about 4:00.  We pretty much just chilled for 4 days. Kerry and Susan went to Kerrville one day. Regan Adam and I just piddled around the ranch doing some small jobs. I really didn't hunt as I didn't need any more deer meat. I did all my hunting from the back window of the house.  Regan did shoot a cull buck which is a funny story but too much typing for me to put in here.  The weather was the warmest we ever had at this time of year but it did finally get cold enough the last 2 days to have a fire. The highlight of the trip was the last evening we were there. Regan and Adam were hunting in stands and I was hunting from the back door. I saw 14 deer, 10 does, 3 bucks and 1 uncertain. I had a nice fire going in the fireplace and was cozy. The deer had moved on and it was getting dusky. I went ahead and put my gun up and then was going out the side door to get more wood. I picked up some movement along the creek bottom so I went to get my binoculars, With the naked eye you could not make out anything , It turned out to be an Axis Buck, Not just a buck but the biggest Axis I have ever seen. I told Kerry and Susan to come see, Kerry said oh that's probably Big Daddy, we see him sometimes, when she looked thru the glasses she said good lord that's Grandpa, never seen him before.   It was just too late for my camera phone to get a picture and no gun available to get a closeup picture.  He never came to the feeder. You have to wonder where hes been and where hes going as no one has seen him before. I have never done a full shoulder mount but I would have this time.  We left a little earlier than normal and went to Adams near Corpus Christi. We left there New Years day and came home.

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Finally cold enough for a fire

watching deer for the back door window

watching some turkeys from the back door window

Regan Buck

Chester hiding from the thunder

Chester likes riding

Cooking a little supper

The beginnings of a little rock dam to collect water

Looking back fro top of the hill, Thats the neighbors place

Regan mulching a little cedar

Headed up the hill to ride around

December 22-25 2019 Christmas

Our Christmas was rather disjointed this year. We went to Bryan on Monday to have Christmas with Peyton and Luke. We all went out to eat lunch when we got there and then back to Kyle's to open presents. We had a good time and headed back home. On Tuesday Kevin came and we took Mom out to eat, she loves Crackle Barrel so that's where we went. We decided to stay home Christmas Day as the flu was running rampant at the Zeller House. We basically spent the day packing as we are headed for Junction and then to Adams near Chorpus Christi.

Dec 10-22 Hunting and Volleyball and a Huge Shock

This time of year it usually is just Me and John Callahan at the lease. There will be a couple of folks on the weekends. Its still dead during the day with only a couple of deer seen. I have still been getting plenty of night pictures.  I usually walk the woods in the morning just looking around and then hunt some in the middle of the day. I went home for three days as club volleyball is starting. Mackenna had a tournament on Saturday and Sunday.  This year we have 3 granddaughters playing so somebody will be playing every weekend thru May.  I will be heading home on the 20th. I will not be back to Mack Creek till Jan 2, 2020. I headed home Thursday because I needed to pick up a trailer. Kevin had a wheel bearing go out on his truck. We picked his truck up and took it to his Moms. Kyle came down on Friday and replaced the hub. The huge shock was when I got home , I had a letter from F & W Forestry.  Our deer lease has been sold and will no longer exist.  The new owners said we have to be out by Jan 31 ,2020.   After 53 years Mack Creek has been killed.  I spent a couple of hours calling folks to tell them.  Everyone was in shock. There are several kids (now grown men from 25-39) that have hunted here their whole life. I have hunted here the whole 53 years with mostly family and then a few others who are like family.  Ever since I retired I moved in to the lease after Labor Day weekend and stayed thru the first week in Jan.  It wasn"t just the hunting , I enjoyed the tractor work , riding the Ranger , walking the woods and all the fellowship.  These things cannot be replaced. At this point in my life I have no plans to find another lease. Susan has always wanted to travel some in the fall so now she will get the chance.   Life goes on.

Maggie is napping

Night time feeding

Buck chasing a doe

Two bucks together

Pretty Fox