The Hunting Times

So Sandy posted these on Facebook.  If you're not her friend, then you didn't get to see 'em.  But yes, we have a new puppy at our home. She is a rescue dog.  Mom was a pointer.  Dad was sneaky neighbor dog.  Vet seems to think she'll reach between 50 - 70#.  Time will tell. She is smart.  At three months she will sit and wait for her food until released.  She will retrieve balls and bring them back to be thrown again.  She is almost fully house-trained.  We still have the occasional puddle to clean up.  We are still working on Leave It, No, and Come.  She'll do these on the lease, but other than that, she has her own ideas of what those mean - usually it's as she pleases. Her name was originally Flora per the rescue.  We changed her name to Tiki.  My intent is to train her to retrieve like Apollo did for doves and pheasants.   Little Miss Tiki with her pink bow. Mostly black with white belly and tips of each toe...

Well if Covid-19 has taught me anything it's that 30 years of sitting behind a desk has caused me to get into shape - if you consider Round a shape... With help from fellow biker and friend Michael, I have taken up mountain biking as a new hobby. This past Saturday, we drove about an hour over to Danville, IL to ride Kickapoo State Park.  The bike trails there are set up really well.  We will be going back over there, but not this week-end.  They have an endurance race this week-end where riders will log 3 - 5 laps (LAPS) of the entire 17 mile course.  Nope.  Not me.  I had no "go" left after about 10.5 miles. Locally, we have also ridden Hoffman, the Amphitheater, and the Wabash Heritage Trail.  I'm getting better, but still have a long way to go.  At least I'm doing more than just sitting behind a keyboard now...   We rode trails 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10. I blew out a bead on my rear tire and crashed into a creek. Yep, we had a great time.  ...

Just catching up on some photos for the family.   Good picture of Wes in his swing.     He does enjoy swinging!   Mallory in the club house with Grandma. She took up her chalk to draw. She made an M for Mallory.   A close-up of Mallory showing her M.   All three kids and Jersey playing in the sandbox @ Will's house.   Walking the dog through the woods, I came upon this Praying Mantis who just happened to have caught a cicada for dinner. Zoom in if you don't have a weak stomach.

Dove Season actually opened on Sept 1st but we didn't kick it off here at the Ranch until Saturday.  We had about 8 folks show up for breakfast of biscuits and venison gravy.  The other 4 showed up by 8 am.  We split up into groups of 2 or 3 and picked our spots up and down the lane. Alex, Will, and Eric took the S end of the pond.  Davey & Jon took the willow tree in the yard by the cement post.  Nick & Zach picked the N end of the yard.  Michael, RePhil, and A-Aron (and good ole Tucker) took near the curve.  Kathy & I headed all the way N to the backstop.   There was a lot more shooting than there was hitting.  I cleaned and froze only 16 doves.  But we certainly had a great time. Lunch consisted of several courses of foods:  jalapeno poppers, deer tenderloins, deep-fried pheasant breast (cut into bite-sized chunks), doves wrapped in bacon (last year's haul), and deep-fried deer brats.  Of course those of leg...