The Story of My Life

"GONE HUNTIN
 LOVE SEAN"

Wordless Wednesday

It's Wordful Wednesday!!   I promise this is my last post of Hunting Photos...I think.  You can visit my previous posts to read about my horrible hunting experience.  Or you can just click here and also here and here.

I also wanted to randomly share with you that the top Baby Names of 2009 were announced and guess what name was number 1, Isabella!  I'm sure Twilight had a lot to do with that.  I found it funny.  Guess what name made it to the top 100??   JENNA  comming in at 99th place.  I barely made it :)

Rounding out the top 5 girls was 2. Sophia 3. Emma 4.  Olivia and 5.  Ava.

Top 5 boys are 1. Aiden 2. Ethan 3. Jackson 4. Jayden and 5.  Jacob...another Twilight name!

Merry Christmas!!

Ducks and stuff II

I just thought I'd share with you a few more pictures from our hunt. I also want to know, what is your husband obsessed with? (other than you of course) My husband eats, sleeps, and breathes duck hunting.  Unfortunately he also eats, sleeps, and breathes, any type of hunting: deer, coyote etc.  He also eats, sleeps, and breathes rodeos so actually he's pretty full, and rested.

Now, the rodeo obesession I don't mind so much, because I like to go and watch and it makes money. The hunting obsession is a totally different story, which you've already read about...

At least I got some cool shots...with the camera not a gun. 

Check out Banjo's drool...ew

Somehow I think the whole face paint thing is pointless if you don't cover up your hands...

So, what does your husband's (or wife's) favorite hobby?? Poker night?  Golf?  Hunting?  Or are you one of the lucky ones and your husband adores you and never leaves your side?  Do you ever participate with him in his obsession? Did you ever want to see what the big deal was and come back with frost bite on your feet? No? Just me? Well...Let me know!!!

Still hating duck hunting,

I Promise never to Go Again!

So if you read my last post you know that I went duck hunting with Sean Yesterday.  Kelsey commented on how hard core I was because of how cold it was yesterday morning but after she reads this post she might just want to retract that statement.

Get ready...this is a long one..

Sean and I traveled three hours north to my Mother's Family's Christmas dinner on Saturday night and we had a wonderful time!  I finally finished the WWII scrapbook for my Grandfather and he was just in awe of it and it made me so happy that he loved it!!  I guess I was in such a good mood on the drive home that I agreed to go Hunting with Sean so I could take some photos of them hunting.  Now last time I went Duck Hunting I was horribly cold the entire time and swore I'd never go again.  Sean assured me it wouldn't be so cold this time and that they would actually see some ducks as opposed to last time when we saw like two.

Sean was very wrong my friends.  Very wrong.

See we left North Arkansas at 8 pm and got back home at 11pm.  We gathered our clothes and drove another hour and a half to duck camp.. making our arrival time around 1:30 am.  The alarm jerked me awake at 4:30 am and I wanted to shoot it, except that no shot gun was in reaching distance.  So going on three restless hours of sleep...oh and I had to crawl in bed with Sean's brother because all the other beds were taken...at least I didn't have to sleep on the floor like Sean did.  So anyway going on three restless hours of sleep and zero food and drink, we loaded up and got on all the many layers of clothes and waders and drove out to a duck hole on the Bayou Meto in Stuttgart, Duck capitol of the US.

Let me just insert here that I'm a little bit moody when I only get three hours of sleep and have no food or drink...and there's a good reason for the no food or drink rule.  Last time I went I had to pee so bad that I almost fainted and Had to hold it for FOUR hours.  It's not possible to pee when you're in the woods in waist deep water in waders...not possible.  But even though I was moody, hungry, and thirsty, I was optimistic about this hunt!  I just knew I would fall in love with hunting as Sean has and we could go hunting as a couple next duck season and hold hands as we shoot ducks out of the sky.... I was very very wrong.

Within 20 minutes My toes went numb and I couldn't feel my face.  Sean told me to move around a bit so I walked in circles which wasn't easy in waste deep water and heavy waders on.  Finally the sun rose and we could hear other hunters shooting away, it sounded like bombs exploding all around us.  But um...why were we not seeing any ducks to shoot?

After the sun rose high enough for me to get good pictures I started taking photos which ended my boredom and got my mind off my cold feet until I took so many pictures it got boring again and we still weren't seeing any ducks.  I was so cold by this point that I thought my feet were going to fall off and I started praying that this miserable cold would disappear.

Sleepiness started to creep in at this point also, so I walked a good 200 yards to the boat, flung myself over the side and layed down for a good hour nap.  When I awoke, I could no longer feel my legs, my hands, or my face.  That's when the whining set in.  I wanted to cry.  I was hungry, sleepy, bored, and the coldest I'd ever been in my life.  My feet were burning they were so cold and I'm pretty sure that there was zero blood flow to them at this point.  I told Sean that if he took me back to the truck now I promise that I will never come again, that I had hypothermia and I am about to cry.  I'm sure his Dad and brother were annoyed but honestly I was so miserable I didn't care at this point.

Thankfully the hunt was dying down and an Hour later I was in the warmth of a heater and I still today cannot feel my toes.  I think I might have frost bite, which I delirously called freezer burn as we were leaving the bayou.  I also feel as if I'd been hit by a truck because in an effort to stay warm I did lunges, squats, ran in circles, toe rises, leg lifts, and any other excersize I could think of to stay warm.  It did not help me stay warm but it did help tone my muscles, which will be the only exercise I will do for the rest of this month because of how sore I am today.

After leaving the Mouse House we went to Mack's Prarie Wings, which is much like a bass pro shop except geared more towards water fowl hunting.  It was fun and we stayed there and looked around for awhile and spent too much money.

I got a few good photos, I'll be showing throughout the week. Here are my favorites of me, sean, and Banjo.

I don't know why but I really like this picture of Sean,  he looks so cute!!  I like Men in Camo!

Notice Sean's face paint, that is so when you look up at the ducks they won't see your shining white face.  He put some on me too but because I was so cold and had a face warmer over my entire face all day, it rubbed off a little.  This photo below is probably my favorite of me.  Sean took it on the boat ride out of there.  I was delirious, miserable, cold, half covered in face paint, and happy to know that a heater was just minutes away.

I love this photo of Banjo looking to the sky for ducks.  He looks so innocent and sweet, which he is!

So Totally needless to say the duck hunt was horrible.  We left the hole with two ducks and a promise that I would NEVER go hunting again, NEVER...unless it was hot outside, which is like saying when Hell freezes over. 

Hope you enjoyed my extra long post about me being a whiny baby.  And for the record my toes are still tingling and very much in pain from freezer burn.


Never Duck Hunting Again,

Geese

I went Duck Hunting this morning with Sean,  more on how miserable that was tomorrow.  I just wanted to show you what we saw on the way home.  A flooded field covered in Snow & Canadian Geese.  I've never seen anything like it before, there were tens of thousands.  I just had to get out and take photos.  These pictures don't even capture how many there were!!!  Enjoy!

Ducks and stuff

I had a very uneventful weekend. I laid around, cleaned my house, dog sat my cousin's great dane, (She's huge! I'm pretty sure she's as big as some of our steers) Oh and I wrapped a few Christmas Presents.

Sean was at The Mouse House (their name for duck camp) all weekend and so Me and Bird were left at home.   Let me just paint you a picture of The Mouse House...

It's a single wide trailer house that I'm pretty sure is older than I am.. in fact I'm almost positive it's older than I am.  It is very run down on the outside...it looks exactly like a camp of some sort or maybe like an abandoned hideout for rednecks. On the inside it's decorated with random furniture and ducks and maps of the Bayou and Hunting magazines and Hunting paraphernalia everywhere!  It smells a little like old feet and I think there might be a reason behind the name "Mouse House"  Its definitely not stayed in by women, I'll just put it that way.  It's perfect for the guys though, and it will sleep lots of people because of all the bunk beads! 

Last year I went up with Sean to turn the water and heat on before season started and we discovered someone had stolen all of his Mojo duck decoys (duck decoys that move) and the bed room door.  Yes you did just read that someone stole the bed room door.  The funny part was that the guys at the camp next door said they helped the old man that lives down the road install a new bed room door in his trailer house.  Coincidence?  I think not. 

This year when we went up there Sean thought someone had stolen his MoJo ducks again and all his hunting clothes that were left there... turns out his Dad had already come to camp and had gotten them so they wouldn't get stolen this year.  Whew!

 Anyway...When Sean came back from the mouse house I took pictures of his weekend kill (more dead animals..I know...)

The other day Melissa Posted a Red Beans and Rice recipe and I just thought I'd post mine too!

This recipe is really easy but not at all made from scratch...sorry.

Ingredients:

Two Cans of Light Red Kidney Beans (Do not Drain)

one 8 oz can of Tomato sauce (you can use two cans if you like extra tomatoey stuff)

1 lb smoked sausage link

1/2 chopped onion

1 tablespoon of butter

3 tablespoons tony Chachere's

1 tablespoon Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning

1 tsp Chili powder

salt and pepper

3 cups rice.

Directions:

Cut sausage into small pieces and put them in a heated pot.  Add beans, rice, and spices.  (when adding the spices I usually just add however much I think will taste good, I've estimated the amount.  You may want to add more or less) Chop onion and sautee it in butter until soft and add to pot.

Let simmer for about 20-30 minutes.  While letting simmer cook your rice (I use minute rice because I'm lazy)

Serve beans over rice and enjoy!!!

Oh just a warning...don't eat three bowls of this before bedtime or your stomach will pop, because mine almost did.

Duck Camp

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The men of the household left Last night for Duck Camp.  Banjo is super excited...can't you tell?

The Life jacket helps keep him warm in the freezing cold water.... it's not actually a flotation device, believe it or not he Can swim...he is a lab...he was born for it :)

His jacket is too small for him this year,  It fit just right last year.  Of course he was only eight months old.  Which makes me realize Birdie is nine months old and she's half the size Banjo was. I put the jacket on her and it swallowed her whole! She's a shrimp!

Hopefully the boys will bring back lots of Duck meat!

Sleeping in

Duck Season in Arkansas Starts Next Saturday.  Sean and I will be at the United Professional Rodeo Association's Finals Rodeo in Sulfer Springs, TX.   Sean is really hacked off that he'll miss opening Day, but will be ready to go the Day we get back home. 

These two puppies will be at home doing more of this until late into the morning...

Because come next Monday morning at 4 am they will be up and ready in the cold morning air to jump in the boat, drive out to the duck hole, and patiently wait until sunrise to retrieve every fallen bird.

Regardless of what their mommy thinks, this is what they were born for.  Born to swim, retrieve, sit, stay, sleep, eat and breath duck hunting.
They will need as much of this.... as they can get right now!!!

Birdie, Banjo, you better enjoy your sleepy mornings now, because it won't last much longer!!