Our new smoker!

Clint is such a handy guy!!!

Our old smoker was huge and not very efficient. It worked fine when we lived in Oregon, but once we moved to Montana it was hard to get it hot enough when we smoked stuff during the winter. So, after smoking the meat outside, we would have to bring it inside and bake it to ensure it reached the right internal temperature! Though the old one worked, it was inconvenient and kind of a pain in the butt!

So, Clint took iniative and built us an awesome new smoker!

Below are some pictures of it with the very first batch of jerky! The smoker worked beautifully and the jerky was absolutely delicious!!!

Fishing with the Dilley family!

We met some friends out at Wadsworth today and had a great time. They brought their two awesome kids, the weather was phenomenal, and the fish were biting so we couldn't ask for anything better.

Clint's helping the kids take a fish off the hook!

Shalin and Chaz proudly holding up their catch!

Bones also decided since there were no birds to retrieve, fish were the next best thing!!! He would carry them from the tip-up back to the sled. He got so excited about it and even though the perch were alive he seemed not to be bothered by the spines and would deliver the fish still flopping!

Here's Otis with a nice perch!

Otis and Kim were nice enough to bring a little bar-b-que and they grilled burgers and hot dogs for us on the ice! It was a great treat compared to the cold sandwiches we usually pack! As you can see we had quite the spread with the chairs, sleds, cooler and bar-b-que!

Lake Francis Fishing Derby

Yesterday was the annual fishing derby at Lake Francis. It started out as an awesome day, a little chilly but a great day to be on the ice. At about 1100 the wind picked up and that took a little of the fun out of it! We had arrived nice and early so we had already caught a fair amount of perch and several small Northern. None of the Northern (Pike) were big enough to keep, but some of the perch were nice sized. When we left our biggest perch weighed .64 lbs and the biggest one that had been caught during the derby was 1.3 lbs. That is a HUGE perch! Needless to say, we didn't win the derby!!!

We were lucky enough to have a couple that we know from Conrad join us midmorning. (Cal and Sandy) The perch were still biting so they were able to catch some and I think they had a good time. I know we enjoyed getting to see them!

These first two pictures show all the people. Many of them have ice houses that they set up and leave out on the ice for the entire season. Even though the ice was thick we don't ever drive out on it, but many of these people have no qualms at all about driving all over. (Crazy if you ask me)

Here is Clint with one of the nice perch we caught on a tip-up.

This is me and Clint with several of the nicer perch we caught. They don't really look that big in the picture, but I promise that they are decent sized for perch!

Here are Cal and Sandy with some of the perch as well!

Snow on the property

This was from a couple days ago, but as you can see we had some good snow. This is one of the best winters we have had for a while and the mountains are getting a great snowpack to get us through the summer!

Clint and Bones are putting together the baby jogger that we got from Bill and Sheri! It looks great and we can't wait to use it with Dane!

Caught a few perch!

We ventured out to Wadsworth this morning and caught some perch. Some of them were smaller than what we have caught out there in the past, but they were biting good. We also caught our first walleye out there... But it was so little we had to let it go!!!

Clint caught the biggest perch of the day!

I only could catch little ones... But, it was a great day to get out. As you can see it was sunny, but as usual the wind was blowing so that made it cold.

32 weeks and counting!!!

For those who aren't able to witness "the belly" first hand... Here are a couple pictures! As you can see, things are moving right along, and little Dane Jakob (we think that is going to be his name) is growing like crazy. I'm very fortunate and the pregnancy is going really well, I'm only suffering from some minor pregnancy discomforts that I think are pretty normal. Clint is probably about the best hubby a girl could ask for and is so helpful and understanding!

Need I say more?

Winter in Montana?

Today the temperature is a little higher... it should be in the 30's. Unfortunately, the wind is blowing steadily at 35 + mph and is gusting above 50 mph. Ice fishing in that kind of wind is rather challenging (chairs, buckets, tip-ups, etc blow away if you haven't weighted them down, so you spend a lot of time chasing things) I think we are going to work on getting some stuff organized around the house. (okay, nesting!)

Starting tomorrow night, it is going to dip back into the single digits and below zero after that. It is also supposed to snow all week after today! We are actually happy about it. This is what winter is supposed to be like, and the snow is imperative during the long dry summers. I thought I'd show you who else is happy about the snow!!! Bones loves it and the cold doesn't bother him at all!

For those of you who know and love Rebel... He has had a large "change" take place. We decided with the baby coming that we would get him "altered". He is now officially an IT. He got the surgery yesterday and as you can see from the pictures he is perky and happy this morning. (I don't think it has sunk in yet.)

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Well, Montana is finally giving us a little taste of winter. We have a fair amount of snow, and it just keeps on coming... It's also about -2 degrees. The good news is that we are going to be getting some thick ice for future ice fishing trips! (maybe I'll try to take some pictures and post them later)

Yesterday, we processed about 60+ lbs of meat. We made about 35 lbs of salami, 15 lbs of German sausage, and 15 lbs of burger. Today we have to finish smoking/cooking it and then it will go in the freezer to be enjoyed in the weeks to come. I think with that project and the current weather conditions, we may hunker down and spend the day working inside!

Awesome sights on the Rocky Mountain Front

Yesterday, we went up to the Front and really lucked out. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks was netting mountain sheep for a relocation program. The helicopter pilot was amazing...

In the first picture he is swooping down, picking up this guy off the ground (without really landing) and then seamlessly taking off!

Once they successfully catch the sheep, they put them in these bags and airlift them to another area where they have horse trailers/biologists/veterinarians/etc.

You can see the blue bags in these pictures!

In another area, we were able to find these sheep. The rams are still rutting a little as you can see from the pictures. This time of year the sheep aren't very flighty, so we were able to sneak in for a couple great shots!!!

Another picture of our beautiful baby!

Here is a picture of our wonderful baby boy! We are at about 28 1/2 weeks and he is just under 3 lbs! One thing that surprised us was the fact that he already has hair, and we could see it on the ultrasound! (you can't see it in this picture, but it's there!!!)

I think we also may have a confirmed thumb sucker!!!

Another great day on the ice.

Clint is home for a couple days, and we were able to sneak away to Lake Francis for some ice fishing. The weather was superb and the fishing was great! As you can see from these pictures, the sunrise was really great and the view of the mountains from the lake was awesome!

This is a really nice perch that Clint caught. Probably one of the biggest that we have ever seen. It was our first fish, so we figured it was going to be a good day.

We quickly realized that the fish were biting really well. I lucked out and caught a really nice Northern. She later weighed about 18 lbs and was 38" long. The tricky part was pulling her out of a 8" hole in the ice! Clint did a phenomenal job gaffing her at the critical moment to assist me in landing her.

As you can see, Clint followed this Northern up with another couple beautiful HUGE fish!!! First it was a mammoth perch...

Then it was a Northern that rivaled the 18 pounder! (yes, this is the same kind of fish!!)

Clint is always a great one for "giving the fish a little love"!!!

A beautiful day to chase some birds!

Today we went out and attempted to find some birds to shoot. After watching numerous geese fly over "just out of range" we decided to head out to Shaw Butte and see if we could find any upland birds.

We were just about to head back to the truck when we bumped a covey of Huns. They broke up and I was able to see where the landed, so up the hill we went after them! Soon, Bones got really birdy and we bumped them again. This time they were in range and we each were able to take one! Being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we followed them up the butte further, but this time they all were flying too wild and we weren't able to get any more!

We chased the birds right up against the base of the butte. As you can see in the picture it was a beautiful day!

I think that the baby enjoyed his in-vitro bird hunting experience... Though I wont mind once I deliver and Clint can take his turn carrying him. I do have a complaint to make to the camo industry... I can't fit into my hunting pants anymore, (check out that belly) and the shelves at the local sporting goods stores aren't exactly bursting with maternity camo pants.... Hmmm maybe I just figured out how to make our millions.

Bones did really well and had a great time. We felt bad about not having Rebel, but since we were after geese initially, we just took Bones.

Here are some of our local geese. You can also see the big wind turbines in the background. They are huge, and I am so intrigued by them. I'm so glad that Montana is starting to use some of this wonderful renewable resource (wind).