The Hunting begins.....

Jeff came down last weekend with 2 of his boys and he came down again this weekend with 2 more of his boys. They all had a good time and they all left with a kill. This is Jeff and his 2 younger boys, Micheal and Nathan. They each shot a white-tail and Micheal shot this black buck. Both boys enjoyed helping Cody harvest the meat.

This is Jeff's third oldest son, Joel. He got a shot at this black buck and we think it might hold a record somewhere. We shall see!

Jeff's oldest son brought his dog, Murphey. He is one cute dog! I think Cody fell in love with him because he actually fetched the ducks. I keep telling Cody if he wants to spend the money to train our dogs, go for it, but he keeps preferring his wader's (sp). This dog also rode down in the plane with them. I think Duke would freak totally out if we put him on a plane, lol.

While Cody was putting out more feeders this week he came accross one of the new Minnesota bucks we let out last month. Cody thinks it was the stress :(

He also came accross one of the Minnesota bucks from last year, that didn't make it through our hot sumer :(

Although I don't enjoy the actual hunting part (getting up at 4, shooting a gun) I enjoy the fellowship of it all and the scouting, and getting ready for hunting season and sharing something with my husband that he has a passion for. I also enjoy watching little kids enjoy the outdoors and getting excited about "the hunt" and then telling their story of how the day went and what they saw and when and how. they got what they wanted. It is also rewarding to see a father and son bond over "the hunt."

..........

Carrying the weight on the end of a limb.
You're just waiting for somebody to pick you up again.
Shaded by a tree, can't live up to a rose.
All you ever wanted was a sunny place to grow.
Pretty little thing, sometimes you gotta look up,
and let the world see all the beauty that you're made of.
Cause the way you hang your head nobody can tell.

Even through a stone a flower can bloom.
You just need a little push, spring is coming soon.
Umbrella in the rain, let it roll off your back.
Weather what you can, realize what you have.
Pretty little thing, sometimes you gotta look up,
and let the world see all the beauty that you're made of.
Cause the way you hang your head nobody can tell.

Christmas in November!

Sunday night I was in bed with a stomach bug and didn't watch the kiddos on Monday. On Tuesday Gisella decided to stay home from school and watch the kiddos one more day just in case I was still contagious. Well I felt fine by lunch and went to Wal-mart to buy a Christmas tree! I got the biggest one they had! I have never bought a tree, lights, ornaments, nada because we never had room to store it or even room to put one up and since Cody saw nannies' house everyday, there was no need for me to go all out when he could get the full experience from nannie's house! I decided since we are way out here in OK and not a tree in sight and we have plenty of room, why not!

And it actually feels like Christmas! It hasn't felt like Christmas since I was a littke kid. Maybe it was always the 95 degree, humid, east Texas weather that never made it feel like Christmas? It has been in the 20's at night and 40's in the day here and definitely feels like Christmas in November!

AI

I have been looking forward to the actual "AI" procedure all summer long, but when the time came, I had to watch the kiddos.......bummer. I wanted to witness this, but Cody, the wonderful husband that he is, felt my pain and took a lot of pics and actual video footage of the procedure! Pretty cool! The first time the vet came out, a month ago, we put the SDR's in, she was a little short with us and acted like we better keep up with her. Turns out she was very impressed with how smooth our operation went. Then a couple of weeks ago only me, Cody, Luis and Kim worked the deer at 1:00 a.m to pull out the SDR's and give them a shot and that went way smooth as well. Cody said when the vet lady got here for the actual procedure that she said, "well, ya'll just try and keep up!" and of course Cody said, "Oh, we will keep up!" and they did! The vet was impressed again!

Since we were AIing laproscopically (sp) the vet performed surgey on the deer right there! That is what I wanted to see :( They first ran the deer through the shoot, gave them a shot to knock them out and sent them in a room to "pass out." After they were out, they loaded them on a surgery type table specifically for this procedure, then the vet went to town. They would do 3 doe at a time.

Then they would shave the area.....

The vet made 2 small cuts. One for a camera to see where she was putting the straws of semen and one to put the semen in. Then she would just glue the skin back together since the cuts were really small.

Then they would unload the deer in the alley way, wait 45 minutes to give them the reversal and then they would wake up and walk straight back to their pen, like they knew where they were going! Poor babies were still drunk on the walk home :(

Also, before the vet left we wanted straws of semen from one of our big breeder bucks. Cody tranquilized him (we have this on tape and it is hilarious! The buck would not cooperate at first and Cody was getting frustrated and the guy video taping will crack anybody up.) Then everybody wanted a picture with the big buck!

Also, look again at the picture above: The lady holding the baby is the vet, she had that baby on her back the whole time in a baby sling. We did 2 different pens of doe, and when they had to take a break to herd in the second pen, she took a break and fed her, lol. That would have been a sight in itself to see! Talk about mother/daughter bonding! I think her baby is in training to be a vet!

Times like this...

I wish I was back in Texas, just for a little bit. My dad was diagnosed with cancer last month and it breaks my heart that I am all the way up here and he is all the way down there. He started Chemo 2 weeks ago and radiation/chemo last week. So far he has been doing really good with both and I pray that it will go this smooth for the next 7 weeks. I hope I gave him something to look forward to on Monday's though :) I sent him 7 cards with a picture and a little something about the picture and why I love it and some words of encouragement.


I wish I had a deer lease. There would not be hunting or deer for that matter. There would be 24/7 relaxation, pedicures, massages, comfy robes, feather beds and pillows, books, paints and canvasas, sleep when you want and get up when you want. Would this be considered a hobby too?


Times like this.....