Turkey Hunting

Skyler got another turkey!! The girl loves to turkey hunt and has been very successful at it. Skyler got her first turkey last year and was "hooked." This morning was the first day that all of us had tags to fill so there wasn't anything that was going to keep us out of the woods. When there are tags to be filled -- you can pretty much find our family in the timber -- no matter what. Our main purpose for today was to make sure Skyler got a turkey and anything beyond that was just going to be icing on the cake. The longer story of the hunt is on Paul's blog - so I won't repeat it, but I am very proud of Skyler for taking her time and making a great shot on this bird. I am so glad that we all get to hunt together now. Paul loves to teach and he loves to call turkeys -- and he is great at both. Paul, great job on calling these birds that were IN LOVE with our decoy. They were a committed bunch -- so much so -- that most of the time after spotting them we spent waiting for them to separate far enough from each other that Skyler could make a shot on only ONE bird rather than the whole lot of them. Watching Skyler make her shots this morning with the 12 gauge brings back memories of me when I was approximately the same age -- cuz I don't think my dad had ever uttered the words "20 gauge" -- so I always shot with a 12 gauge -- it was all I knew. Seeing her little body getting thrown back just makes me laugh the way my dad laughed when my body did the same thing. What is that old saying?? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? ;-) I think its true. Skyler is turning out to be a pretty tough cookie - which makes her fit in our family that much better!!

I wanted to attempt shooting a bird with my bow this year - something I have never done. A shotgun seems to be the weapon of choice for most people, for obvious reasons (I say obvious because of the lesson I learned today). I brought my bow along and set it aside in case we had a situation where Skyler got her bird and there was still a bird hangin' around. Actually, it happened. Skyler shot her bird and after a short family celebration inside the blind, I saw one of the toms returning to see what had happened. I got my bow ready and waited for the most opportune shot. One thing I have learned about turkeys -- when they are fighting with another bird (which he was doing) they don't stand still. I like my targets to be standing still -- plus their vital area is actually quite small (yep, this is me making excuses). Well, needless to say, I did get a shot off (after holding at full draw for what seemed like several minutes -- but I know it wasn't that long) and between my shaking muscles and the incredible movement of the turkey - I shot through the feathers on his back and he stayed around a little longer just to show me that I hadn't hurt him a bit. The only thing hurt on that one was my pride, if only just a little. Well, back to the shooting range in our back yard and I might bring the bow along again tomorrow as Paul and I try to fill our tags.

Welcome to the World Baby Drew

Our nephew (Skyler's cousin) Drew Victor Hawk entered the world on Sunday night, April 4th. He weighed in at a great 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He is adorable! Congratulations Dasan, Jeri and big sister Molly!!

1750 Family

I actually did this layout one snowy cold day this winter but forgot to post it. For the top trim piece, I used some of the material that was leftover after I made Skyler's dress which she is wearing in the picture.

This is a part of our lives that we seem to have less and less time for -- reenacting the Pre-Revolutionary War days -- but it will always be a part of what defines us and made us who we are. We have learned to appreciate all of the luxuries that are a part of people's lives these days and how much more difficult life was back then even though society has romanticized "the old days." Would I want to live back then? A part of me truly would. However, the early deaths because of war, disease and dangers we never even have to think of is something that makes me glad I am living now instead of then. But the simplicities and hard work of a time long gone are something I wish were more a part of today's society -- and so where we can -- we try to incorporate those things into our lives now. Because of this we carry and hunt with our flintlocks and that will never change. Hunting with a flintlock means we have one shot and one shot only to make an ethical kill -- so we spend a great deal of time practicing regularly in order to make that one shot count. Also, in keeping with this lifestyle, other than when we go out to eat (which is also very rare) we eat almost exclusively wild game. It is a VERY rare occasion when we stray from this. We also have, for the past 2 years, cut, split and stacked the wood that solely heated our home. This is something that we almost always do as a family. We each have our chore. Paul runs the chainsaw and I haul the wood to the truck. Skyler helps by making the wood stack in the back of the truck nice and tight so we can haul as much as possible. We then unload the truck at home and Paul splits wood as I stack. The manual labor is something that both Paul and I love and we have a warm home to show for it. So although we have the luxury of a truck instead of a team of horses and a chainsaw instead of handsaws -- we are doing our part to keep alive an era that has unfortunately become too far gone for many people to grasp.

Last Day of Squirrel Season and Our Weekend

Monday was the last day of the Illinois squirrel season -- a sad day at our house. Squirrel hunting is always a good excuse for us to enter the woods from August 1 until now. Paul had to work part of the day, but Skyler and I were home so we decided to head out to the timbers to look for squirrels. We came home empty handed - but had one close encounter with a big red squirrel -- he just wouldn't stay put long enough for Skyler to get situated and make the shot. However, we had a great time tryin' and we were glad to have gotten some hiking, scouting and exploring done at the same time.






Recognize this face? I was so excited to get to see my buck's face one last time. A friend of ours used my big buck's cape to mount this huge buck. I was glad to see that the cape went to good use and it really was great to get to see my buck's face again!


Our Valentine's day consisted of A LOT of ice fishing -- the picture of Skyler is from when she was plugging her ears because I had just screamed when my big bass broke the line JUST as I was pulling it out of the hole (I think the plugging of the ears is a little overkill -- I didn't scream that loud ;-).

Skyler is the Ice Fishing Queen -- she easily outfished both Paul and I and continually declared "I love to ice fish!"

Paul had a lot of luck in the beginning while I got nothing so I was able to help Skyler put wax worms on the hook and untangle lines. She takes her own fish off the hook for the most part. I finally started getting some fish at the end (including my big largemouth bass) while Paul wasn't getting any bites so we traded off and he helped Skyler. I think Skyler was catching 2-3 fish a minute during the best times and about 1 fish every minute during the slow times. It was super fun! So this means that when most others went out for Valentine's supper -- we were all cleaning fish. Skyler kept us entertained by giving the fish we hadn't cleaned yet CPR. The fish would occasionally jump and she was sure she had brought them back to life. Skyler also used one of the fishes tails to "paint" the puddles of slime over all the fish. I wouldn't trade our Valentine's Day for anyone else's!! ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day

Mark Twain once said:

“Love seems the swiftest,

but it is the slowest of all growths.

No man or woman really knows what perfect love is

until they have been married a quarter of a century.”

Since Paul and I have been together going on 21 years,

I can attest to the fact that the above quote is quite true --

I'll let you know for sure in 4 more years.

To those of you, like me, who started the day off making heart-shaped pancakes to start off a fun day, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Now, off we go to ice fish!!

Winter Fun

Thought I would post a picture showing my 2 favorite people in the world! We took Skyler out this weekend to get her new rifle sighted in (yep, it says Skyler on the side of the stock). I am so proud of Skyler for being such a trooper! It was super cold for this type of activity but she kept with it and made several great shots. We hope that this rifle will help her in harvesting a deer this coming year. There will be MANY more days of shooting this year for all of us, like always, so that we will know that she (and we) can confidently and ethically harvest a deer. I have so many pictures I want to scrap from hiking, sledding, skiing, shooting, etc. -- but I just can't get motivated.

Skyler has been so patient following us out into the timber on an almost daily basis -- hunting, hiking, scouting and exploring. I am pretty sure she has put more miles on her feet than most people 3 times her age. We occasionally give her a break - but not often. I sometimes look over at her when she is trudging through the snow and almost want to laugh. We have gone from the tiny 1 month old baby who we would hold in our arms so that we wouldn't miss out on our timber activities - to this strong 9 year old who can hold her own against most adults in the timbers. She has come a long way!!

Worldwide Publication Holds my Photos

A couple months back I was fortunate enough to be selected to have a photo shoot for Lewis Machine & Tool, a local company who manufactures weapons for military, law enforcement and civilian use worldwide. They wanted a woman who hunts and knows how to hold a weapon. I thought this would be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity so I said I was game. The 2010 catalog is now in print and can be viewed here:

http://www.lewismachine.net/media/2010_LMT_Catalog.pdf

My photos are on pages 19 and 30 (or 21 and 32, depending on how you view it). Thought I would share my 2 seconds of fame ;-)

Advent Stockings

I had planned on posting this earlier but haven't had much down time lately. This year I started a new fun tradition for Skyler. It is simple. I bought 10 Christmas socks and used numbered clothespins to attach each one to a piece of string. As we count down the last 10 days until Christmas - - Skyler gets to open a "stocking" each day. I just put a simple item in each sock but Skyler is really excited to receive them! It is something fun that seems to extend our Christmas celebration. Thanks Ali for your inspiration on this one!!

My latest venture

In addition to rabbit hunting today with Paul and Skyler (nope, we weren't successful - only got to see one rabbit who was too wiley for us) we got to spend a good port of a beatiful day enjoying the timber. We love being able to "see" where all of the critters have been - because of the snow.


While Paul went bow hunting for deer tonight I worked on my latest venture. The natural expansion of my photo art is that now I have been matting and framing people's pictures/artwork they would like to hang in their home. Here are some I have been working on and I have about ten more to do (sorry for the awful pic - I took this tonight with the flash and it made it look weird). I am learning as I go and certainly wish I had started out with the knowledge I have now, because now they are going much smoother, quicker and look better than my first tries.

Also worked on many Christmas presents. I made tutu's for each of my little nieces to open for Christmas in addition to other gifts.

Also, I cooked up our pheasant meat tonight and we all agreed it was delicious!! Gotta get some more of them critters before the season closes!

Pheasant Hunting

Had such a fun time today! Skyler got out of school early today, but before she did, Paul and I had the morning off and we had a date morning - so we did what we always do - we went hunting. This time it was pheasant hunting. We had an awesome time hunting behind two great dogs (Jack and Ginger - a little confusing at times - as you might imagine - someone is yelling at a dog - I think they're yelling at me. . .). This isn't the first time I have hunted behind a dog named Ginger so I am starting to get over it. Wow, we got GREAT exercise. We were plowing through snow and grasses that were very THICK and as tall as me for about 3 hours straight. SOOO much fun! I have to thank Paul for including me when a lot of husbands would have enjoyed a day out with the guys to themselves. I finally connected on a wild pheasant after years of going along on hunts - I am usually the last to shoot - if I shoot - and the birds are usually too far when I do shoot. This time I was a quick draw! :)


Great news! I finally found my camera (yep, again - as some know this is the 2nd time I have lost my camera) - so am able to post some of the photoart frames I have been doing. I don't have pictures of all of them - and some were for Christmas presents and I have to be careful which ones get posted -but here are a few:

Frieden

Gina

Zeitler