The Hunting Times

 Well it's still windy here in the midwest, like plus 10 mph (16 kph).  But at least the temperature has not bottomed out.  It was a crisp 33 F (0.5 C) when Kathy, Eric, and I walked onto the golf course before sunrise.  Where's Nick, you ask?  He's not feeling well and stayed in bed.  Alex?  He had to watch the kids this morning. Kathy took the bowl again down on Hole #15, just like last weekend.  Eric took overwatch on Hole #16, again just like last weekend.  And I, following suit, stood on Hole #14's tee box.  It was a slow morning. After an hour, I saw four antlerless deer jog from the NE to the SW and cross in front of me about 200+ yards (183 m).  The three younglings played and scampered over the hill into the woods heading directly between Kathy and Eric.  If they continued due S, they would pass by them with no chance at tagging them. About 15 minutes later or so, a buck did the same thing.  Interestingly, both th...

 Well, only Eric and I ventured out today.  It Sunday and Nick just got back from a wedding in Vegas and Kathy & Alex are headed off to the Colts football game. Today is much colder and believe it or not, even windier.  Like up to 50 mph gusts (80 kph).  It's also freezing, literally.  32 degrees F (0 C) with snow.  Awesome day to be out if you're a snowman but not so great for humans or deer. We toughed it out for 90 minutes before coming back in to try and thaw.  We hauled yesterday's load to Young America for processing. We stopped at Treece's in Rossville for lunch of cajun blue gill.  Awesome. The snow just starting to fall. Looking down the fairway E on Hole #4. The snow accumulates as I am walking out. Just about had the course covered in snow. Eric is across the picture in the woods over there somewhere. And once again, Modelo sponsored our hunting trip.

 Kathy, Alex, Eric and I hit the golf course on opening day for the firearms season here in Indiana - Saturday, 13 NOV 2021. Kathy sat in the bowl on Hole #15, but the Snellenbarger's were hunting E of her on Jenkins.  They arrived late and then held a conversation that kept all the deer away from them and Kathy.  No wonder neither she nor they fired a shot. The boys on the other hand were filming a Rambo movie.  We each ended up shooting does.  I saw over ten deer - but only one buck.  It was N of the property line and too far away anyhow. Alex sat on the overlook on Hole #5.  Eric did overwatch on Hole #16.  I sat on Hole #14's tee box.   It was windy and breezy, but the deer were moving.  The high for the day was 39 degrees F (4 C) and the wind blew up to 40 mph (64 kph).  Yes it was chilly! We arrived at 6:40 am.  Legal light for the day was 7:02 am.  But if you were looking into the woods, it was too dark to see....

 Son-in-law Alex said I need to take up another hobby as every time I hit the mt. biking trails I end up with injuries.  I'm not quite that bad, but I am not that good either. Sunday was a gorgeous day, starting at 40F and marching up to 65F (18C).  We loaded up at 9, in the sunshine, and headed S to Fort Benj. Harrison State Park - Krueger has a park pass and we bought bike passes in the Spring.  Entry was free. We hit only one trail and went easy as we were out of practice.  It has been damp and the leaves covered the trails.  Krueger bought it early around a sharp corner - no traction.  A little mud, but hard on the shoulder.  Me?  I did not get my weight forward on a drop and bounced my right leg into the pedal.  I made the next drop and then walked down the third.   We had a good time.  Not many other bikers, but lots of walkers on the trails. We rolled N and were done in about 3.5 hours.  I spent the rest of the...

 Nope, it isn't the Northern Lights.  Just some low clouds as the front that dumped 2" of rain finally passed on through.  And, they reflected the lights from Lafayette - approximately 15 miles (24 km) away, population 73k.   You can see the lights from our neighbor's homes and a car coming down the highway.  And the beans have all been harvested. The yellow glow in front is from our security light on the power pole out front.  Photo taken facing W at 8:11 pm on Monday, 25 OCT 2021.  The sun set at 6:50 pm local time.  It's been gone for an hour and 21 minutes.  Yet it looks like a sunrise is about to happen. Taken with an iPhone 11 Pro with no filters, no touch-up, and no PhotoShop. Lights reflecting from Lafayette. Photo by God and Mother Nature.

 Krueger, Heath, and I took off last Saturday for a nice ride around the SE side of Mulberry.  This ride included some hills, like Cullom and Bailey's Bridge.  These are nothing for real bikers, but we found them challenging.  It was a beautiful day and a swell ride. Saturday, 16 OCT Then yesterday, Krueger and I rode due E of Mulberry.  This was an interval ride where we were to get our heart rates into specific zones along the way.  Ride hard, rest, ride hard, rest, repeat.  For me, I didn't get much "rest."  Also, I have a 3X10 gear set on my 2012 mountain bike and I was riding on the road.  Not the best set-up but the one I got.  No worries.  I'm out getting exercise.   The weather, however, will soon not cooperate with outside excursions - at least not for me! Saturday, 23 OCT

 Took the dog out for a walk tonight and caught the end of the sun going down. Sun going down at 7:45 pm - facing W, walking out driveway. Moon coming up with a star (iPhone 11, night mode). And yep, there's Tiki on the driveway. The crops are still in the field as it is too wet to harvest.  We received 2.33" of the wet stuff over two days.  I did get into the yard to mow this afternoon.  At least that's hopefully done for the year. Been cool. Fall-like.  Lows have hit high 40's and highs never got above mid 60's.  May warm up to 70 this week, but then Fall kicks in full-time come the weekend.

 It was a bit breezy this past Saturday and since it was also the Feast of the Hunter's Moon weekend, we had the Ampitheater all to ourselves.  Yes, it did rain most of the week.  But the trails were not too squishy to get in a nice ride. The goal today was to ride for at least 60 mins keeping our heart rates between 120 - 130 bpm.  Take a look, I think that Michael and I did a pretty good job at that. We made three complete loops around the trail in 92 minutes.  10.9 total miles.  BPM = see below. Average heart rate right on the money for a 90-minute ride! See the three peaks?  That's the climb back up to the truck at the end  of each loop.  Yep, I had to work! Three loops around the same 3.6 mile track right along the Mighty Wabash River

 I went out to the flag pole / flower bed area where our old weather station was installed on the Hoosier Homestead Farm sign post.  My intent was to install our new weather station.  But before I could do that, I saw this little guy warming himself up in the little sun that we had.  Awesome Camo!  Well done Mother Nature. Little dude is sitting on top of a weathered 2x4 that he seems to match really well.  At least no predator had found him yet.  He hopped under the roof of the sign when I started to unscrew the old weather station. The new station I put up is the Ambient model WS-2902C with WIFI and solar power.  It tracks more stuff than I know what to do with. Check out the dashboard at:  www.ambientweather.net and search for Seager Ranch or stations near Mulberry, IN.  We are the only one there currently.  Awesome detail.  Updates once every 60 seconds or once per  Weather station kit - outdoor unit in back, Indoor di...

 Dove season officially opened on 01 SEP here in Indiana.  We waited until Sunday, the 5th, to bring folks out to hunt them here.  Sadly, we have not been seeing any doves as we have close to 40 thousand barn cats and a mating pair of Cooper's Hawks flying around.  Doves are sparse to say the least! That did not deter us from having a great breakfast of venison biscuits and gravy before setting out the decoys.  We sat until lunchtime, bagging an entire ONE dove that we promptly cleaned and grilled.  We had Snow Goose poppers (thanks to Sykes), venison loins & salami (thanks to Eric) and carrot cake (thanks to my wife). There may have been a beer or two consumed during this time.  Lunch was followed by naps and since there were no doves to be shot, we called it a day. The 2021 crew escaped before we could take a group photo but included, Nick, Eric, Michael, Zach, Alex, Will, and myself.  Dad came out for lunch but didn't partake in not shootin...

I do NOT work for Bak Industries.  I paid full price for these products from Bak Industries' website.  I did NOT receive any incentive to write my opinions in this blog.  I'm calling it as I see it.  That's all.  UPDATE :  Bak Industries has sent me a full replacement cover to fix the issue I had noted below.  All they asked for in return were pictures of the problem and proof that the 'broken' cover has been properly destroyed.  Wow.  Great / Awesome Customer Service!  Thanks! If you go waaaay back in my posts to 2017, you will find that I installed a Bak Industries Revolver tonneau cover on my 2017 F150.  After 4 years of abuse, it got turned in with the truck when I traded for a new F150. Mind you, I NEVER performed ANY maintenance on this old cover.  It occasionally got washed, but I never treated it with anything.  I'll bet that half the time it was left open to the elements (not rolled down).  I am betting that ...

 So off and on, I have had an issue when plugging the charger into the bottom port of my iPhone.  Maybe it was to charge, but more often than not it was to transfer photos to my computer. Of course Nick would say, "Buy a Samsung!"  And he'd be wrong. This really wasn't an issue as I have been charging wirelessly.  But when I went to put grandkids' birthday photos onto Mama's computer - none of my three cords would connect. A quick search of all things internet, and I found this YouTube(TM) video.  This dude was on it.  I didn't even watch the entire 4 mins.  2 minutes in and I got this. Sure enough - it worked!  I guess that 2 years' worth of dust, dirt, grime, and lint would not allow the charger to go all the way in to make a proper connection.  Some compressed air and a sharp metal instrument (my pocket knife) and the port was cleaned in less time than it took to watch this video. I am getting nothing in return from posting this.  I j...

 And about a week after our annual prairie dog trip (see post below), Kathy, Alex, Nick, and I took off for a South African Safari with John X Safaris. We left Indy to Newark to Johannesburg.  We spent the night in Jo-burg since we arrived too late for the last flight to Port Elizabeth.  We got up a 4 am to catch the flight down to the coast and then drove about 2 hours E along the coast to the John X Safaris hunting grounds, arriving Saturday about Noon.  We ate a quick lunch and then off to the range. After proving our proficiency with the rental guns, we took a drive to the top of the plains (about 2,000' above sea level).  We saw a nice Impala that Alex shot.  First Day success! Alex with his PH Martin inspecting the impala The daily routine was to get up in the morning at 6:30, eat a light breakfast, then go hunt until lunch.  Back to the lodge for a meal then a quick nap.  We headed out again about 3 pm and hunted until sundown.  We ret...