The Hunting Times

Long story, but you need the background to fully appreciate the hilarity of these pictures. Dad's lawnmower broke, which itself is another long story that Dad would rather not remember.  So while his mower was down, Kathy, Alex, Nick, Shelby, and I mowed his yard and trees at least 3 if not 4 times.  Now Dad CLAIMS that the parts were on back-order, but I think it was a ruse to get us all to mow the yard. As a thank you for our efforts, Dad refilled my propane tanks (figured we were about equal in petrol versus propane) and then Mom and Dad took us all out for lunch at El Rodeo. After the meal was over, Dad got up to use the facilities.  Mistake!  While he was gone, I told our server that it was his birthday today and we were all out celebrating.  So all the servers come out, put a sombrero on his head and sing to him.  Then he got a bowl of fried ice cream. We laughed until we cried.  Take a look - you can see how much Dad is enjoying...

Held the Cousin Reunion this week-end.  Had cabins at Turkey Run for those who needed a place to rest the ole head.  Then everyone came to the farm on Saturday for photos and a meal. First Cousins / Spouses & Zeus at the Lecklitner / Seager Homestead Sept 2014 Not pictured:  The Nelson family (flight got cancelled - bummer) (Jim - Please note the Oregon Sweatshirt has made yet another appearance) And man did we put on a feedbag.  I smoked elk tenders and chicken wings, grilled elk steak, deer steak, and Clinton County pork patties.  I also cooked some Italian Goose.  Guests brought veggie trays, desserts, and all kinds of dips.  Of course Sandy had her spin as well with pasta salad and cheesy potatoes, along with some desserts too.  A few beers may have been consumed.  Land Shark seemed to be the favorite, followed closely by Modelo and Shiner Bock. The smoked meat was dry rubbed with equal parts of: chili powder, sea...

A couple years back, Sandy bought me an electric smoker for Christmas.  It had a safety feature that would not allow it to get hotter than 165 F.  And, there was no temperature control.  It was either ON or OFF.  Now this works great for adding a "smoke" flavor to food items, but it makes it really tough to cook with.  It took me 13 hours to smoke salmon. So what I would do is smoke meats (like ribs for example) for an hour and then finish cooking them on the grill.  It worked, but was not ideal. So I decided to purchase a new smoker (gas this time) that would allow for temperature control and heat in excess of 300 F.  My wife was not pleased.  She thinks I should have waited until Christmas again - but hey, what about the next four months of prime smoking?  Needless to say, I have it. I ordered the Camp Chef Smoke Vault SMV24 from Amazon.  $300 which included shipping.  It arrived in about 5 days - damaged.  Someone, som...

Summers in Indiana are accompanied by thunder storms.  Thunder is the sound generated when a sudden electrostatic discharge occurs during said storm - the vernacular is lightning, and it can be both very destructive and very dangerous. Generally speaking you can judge the distance to the storm by counting the seconds between the flash  of lightning and the crack of the thunder.  The shorter the time, the closer the lightning strike. Ground Zero, or being very close to the strike, means that the flash of light and crack of thunder occur almost simultaneously.  This is what happened last week here at the ranch. Sandy was in the back of the house when a storm rolled through.  I was in front of the boob tube.  Boom.  Ground Zero.  Sandy comes out and exclaims, "That was really close!" Forward ahead to Saturday morning.  I'm playing the Mulberry Men's golf league tourney and happen to be put on BIL Andy's team.  He asks if we ...

Mama decided that we needed a new deck.  She was right.  We could not walk to the hot tub without catching a splinter.  So, we ordered a new hot tub.  That makes sense, right? Old hot tub has to be removed.  New hot tub installed.  Now, we can build the new deck around the new hot tub. Ripped off all the old deck.  See pictures below.  It was 20 years old.  Had been stained multiple times and been sanded prior to Nick's high school graduation.  I cut the planks and Sandy pulled the boards.  Alex and Sandy also helped pulling the screws.   For the most part, it was in decent shape.  I ended up replacing 2 boards and adding only a few more to help support around the hot tub. Old deck plank removed.  Facing NW. Sub deck / support structure in pretty good shape.  Facing N. New hot tub installed. Truck parked to right of picture to capture old deck boards. Another shot of the old deck ...

Re-Phil, who did not join us for the opener, got picked to hunt Winamac Fish & Wildlife Area for doves on the second day, Tuesday, Sept. 02.  He could bring one other person with him. Winamac is about 75 miles NE of Mulberry, close to the Tippecanoe River State Park, N of Logansport.  Just suffice it to say that it's a 90 minute drive.  We left Mulberry at 0830. We packed a cooler and then stopped to get sandwiches from Subway.  We had to register by 1100, but hunting did not commence until Noon.  If you did not show, your spot was given away to "stand by" hunters. We checked in, and I will have to say that the assistant manager did a great job.  The safety / rules speech was concise, all questions were answered, and we were underway very promptly. Winamac allots 7 sunflower fields to 70 hunters.  There were not 70 people there, including stand by hunters.  More like 50 maybe.  We got to pick our field to hunt (outlined b...

These are more pictures from the opening day of Dove Season in Indiana.  Be sure to read the earlier post about the day. Most of the gang.  Back Row:  Alex, Jerry, Jon, Zach, Randy, and Aaron. Front Row:  Kathy, Eric, Nick, Chad, Jackson, and Ethan. Missing:  Chef Davey and Photographer Craig The Funk / Carty Brood Charlie's Angels?  More like Hell's Angels. Kathy & Alex Jon & Eric.  Please note Jon is holding TWO birds and ONE shell.

The wing season opened up here in Indiana, and most of the US, on Labor Day 2014 - Monday, September 01.  Not ones to miss out on such an opportunity, we made elk gravy and poured that over biscuits for breakfast at 0630.  About half of the overall crowd showed up to eat.  The rest of the gang made it by our designated shooting time of 0730.  We had fourteen people, but only 13 hunters.  We split up and headed afield to hunt the bird that more rounds are shot at than any other game.  Why?  Because (a) so many doves are harvested each year, and (b) it's about a 5:1 shot to kill ratio.   We split up like this:  Kathy & Alex under the dead Tulip tree in the yard; Nick, Zach, and Eric were supposed to walk, but ended up RIGHT NEXT to Kathy & Alex; Randy and Jerry in Dad's yard; Dave & Aaron on the N of the woods; Chad, Ethan, and Jackson at the N corner of the pond; and Jon and I at the E end of the sunflowers.   Mother ...