Gentian Violet---Abby, this one is for you!!!

I just couldn't seem to get that last little bit of thrush out of Dane's mouth, so I decided to revisit the gentian violet treatment that helped me so much... This is only our second day, but hopefully we can get this taken care of. I'm so tired of this whole deal! (I'm sure he is too!) Anyway, my good friend Abby said that she thought the "purple crap that I put all over his face" was hilarious, so I thought I'd take a couple pictures and share... It does look pretty funny, like he decided to eat purple lipstick or something crazy!

I also think the little guy is getting close to crawling... We've been thinking that for a while, but now he gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth... He also has figured out how to roll and then scoot backwards so he is getting most places that he wants to anyway!!! This picture is a little fuzzy, but it shows him up and concentrating so hard... look out when he gets his forward momentum!

Nobody said we weren't stubborn!

Despite the "not so great" bird hunting on Saturday we decided to go back out on Sunday. I wasn't really that excited at first cause I figured that the wind would be blowing at gale force winds again... and like I said before, that just makes everything hard, poor Dane was a trooper, but it had to be hard for him too. Well, Saturday night we looked at the weather and got great news... cold and clear with wind at 5-10 mph! We were so excited, and to top it off big game season opened on Sunday as well. So, we went to bed early on Saturday with high hopes for Sunday!

Sunday dawned just as promised and we were up on some state land to watch the sun rise. After a few unsuccessful stalks for a mule deer doe, we decided to go chase some birds for a while. Once again the sharptails were flushing wild on the first piece. So, then we moved on and found a covey that had broken up so the birds were flying one or two at a time.... Perfect... Karl and Clint each got a sharptail and then Karl got a pheasant! Finally some birds! The dogs had a great time... It was pretty funny because while Bones was retrieving Clint's bird, Grits and Sadie both retrieved Karl's bird and NEITHER were going to let go... So, they both brought the bird back. It was pretty cute!

Here they are with their birds!

After lunch here was everyone just relaxing in the grass!

Karl and Dane having a good time!

Karl with a couple birds... Grits and Sadie looking proud!

After we finished bird hunting we decided to go back by some state land where we had seen some deer. We have a couple mule deer doe permits so we were hoping to fill one. Well, we spotted some feeding and decided to make a stalk. Dane went into the pack and off we went!

We had to do some major crawling through some really thick grass and brush. At one point I looked back over my shoulder and there was Clint with Dane on his back. Dane was looking up, smiling and sucking on his pacifier... what a trooper! Finally we got to the best spot we could and set up with the shooting sticks to see if I could get a shot. After a ton of patience I was able to get a shot on a doe. With one beautiful big doe on the ground we got to work. What an amazing hunt with the whole family!!!

While we were quartering the deer, the sun was setting and it was so beautiful. Here are a couple great pictures that Clint took! Those are the Rockies that you can just make out with the sun behind them!

That's why they call it hunting! (Saturday)

Our friend Karl made the trip from Washington to do a little bird hunting with us. We were thrilled to see him and his two dogs (Sadie and Grits). Friday Clint and Karl went out to Freezeout Wildlife Management Area and they were able to get one pheasant. (Clint had to be to work at 1100 so it was a short morning) Then we all headed out Saturday morning to the Conrad area to find some birds!
The sunrise was beautiful!

Where is that rascally rabbit???

Well, the wind was HOWLING! It was blowing so hard that it made everything difficult. On the first piece that we stopped at, we hunted pretty hard and only saw one big flock of sharptails. We chased them and bumped them about 3 times but they were flushing so wild that they flew at about 100 yards... So no birds went down. Clint did find a very cute Cottontail rabbit in a pipe...

The blue thing strapped to Clint's back was Dane. I found the coolest full body suit made out of thick fleece. It is very warm and covers every inch of Dane except for his face...

Here is a close up of the cute rabbit. He wasn't coming out of that pipe!

The hatch this spring was affected by our late snow. It appears a lot of chicks didn't make it cause there just aren't very many birds! But, we did see more when we stopped at the
second piece of land. There were about 5 pheasants... But they all flushed as soon as we pulled up. They probably have been hunted numerous times and they get pretty smart about leaving when vehicles pull up. (Okay, all but one pheasant flushed as soon as we pulled up. There was one rooster that I saw hiding on the side of a windrow. Clint was driving and as soon as he stopped I hauled butt over to where I had seen it. I was SO EXCITED! I got close, the rooster flushed, and ........... nothing.......... Rarely do I forget to click off my safety before trying to shoot, but of course that time I did. Needless to say I did say some pretty words after that.)

Well, we still hadn't gotten Karl's birds any retrieves, so we decided to go jump shoot some ducks. Since the wind was still blowing really hard, I felt bad dragging Dane along again. He had been a trooper all morning, but the dirt was getting in all of our eyes and such. So, Dane and I hung out in the car. We had a good time making toys out of water bottles, and all kinds of other fun things! Dane even pretended to drive for a few minutes!
Unfortunately, when Karl and Clint got back they had bad news... Not one bird... Well, as I said before I guess that's why they call it hunting...

Bathtime!!!

Usually Dane just gets in the shower with us, but tonight I decided to give him a quick bath in the sink. Well, he quickly realized that it was fun to splash... We made a MESS! But, it was a great time and we did get him clean eventually!

I had to share some pictures cause it was really fun and he was so darn cute!

(Doesn't he just look like trouble... Oh goodness we are going to have our hands full!!!)

What a nice visit!

Dad and Marsha came from Oregon and spent the weekend with us. We didn't really go out and do anything fun, but we got a bunch of projects done and had a great time catching up and playing with Dane. Oh yeah, and Dane's thrush is starting to clear up, but I got it pretty bad over the weekend. In a moment of weakness I decided to try Gentian Violet which is REALLY purple. (everyone told me it was the answer to my problems!) It stains pretty bad and you can still see it on Dane's face...

Dad and Clint working on the shed... Hasn't Clint done a great job?

Grammy and Dane

Marsha helping me make curtains

Gramps and Dane having a great time

Look at that face Dane is making... So funny!

Poor Dane... the saga continues...

Oh, our sweet little boy... We feel so bad for him cause he just can't get well! When he gets sick, it just holds on FOREVER and wont go away!

Tuesday I was in training for work. I got a message from Daycare saying that they think Dane has pinkeye. I called them back and then went and got him about 1 pm... Good thing I have an understanding boss! Well, I get him home and yes, it is gummy and yucky, but it is absolutely not pink at all. There is no redness, no swelling, etc. I called the Doc and she said to keep an eye on it but it's probably a plugged tear duct, so she told me what to do and we went on with our day. Clint had already arranged to stay home with him the next day (if it was pinkeye we couldn't take him back to daycare for a couple days) so, Clint could take him in the next day if need be.

Well, about 10 pm rolls around and Dane wakes up crying... Not just a "feed me" fuss, but all out "I am in pain". He would not calm down when he was held, he only would nurse a little and then would cry again, and as the night went on it got progressively worse... The tylenol didn't help at all. It was awful. He was also pulling on his ear so we thought he probably has another ear infection. Clint and I took rounds with him all night, but I think Clint was probably up with him more than me... What a great dad!!! Finally about 6 am, right before I was going to work, I remembered that I still had some ear drops, so I put those in his ear and he actually went to sleep with Clint for a while.

We got him into the Doc yesterday morning and his ear infection is back with a vengeance. They think it actually didn't entirely go away with the last round of antibiotics, so now he has to get shots for three days in a row. Poor little guy, they are nasty shots! But they said it would make him sleepy and it sure did. We were only up once last night and I feel like a new women!!! It's amazing what a little sleep will do!
He is a trooper as usual. He was back to his smiling lovey self last night and it was such a relief. As all parents know, it is an awful feeling when you don't know what to do to make your baby feel better.

Here is a picture I missed when I was posting from our hunting trip the other day! It was such a great day to be out with the family!

Last night while we were eating dinner I gave Dane a dried apple to mess with. He loved it and sucked on it, played with it, just had a great time. That is until he shoved the whole thing in his mouth, gagged, and threw up all over... Oh the beauties of child rearing!!!

This weekend we have Dad and Marsha (one set of Tanya's parents) coming for a visit. I am so excited. I'm not sure how much fun stuff we will do, but we have some projects that Clint and Dad will probably work on... and it's always good to catch up! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I think that we get the prize for #1 guides!

Today we woke up to a cold snowy day. But, snow just means that the birds will hold tight. So, we loaded up and went back up to Conrad to see what we could find. Our friend, Marcus joined us and Dane was along as well.

By the time we got up to Conrad, the ground was dry and the clouds had lifted. It was fairly chilly, but an awesome morning to be out. Marcus and I both had guns, and Clint had Dane.

So, off we went. Bones worked really well. He has caught on to this like a pro and even found one dead bird that was in some pretty thick nasty stuff, and we had marked it further out. We would have never found it without him. He hunted hard the whole time and impressed us with his drive.

Marcus was really on today as well. We flushed 3 birds that were shooters and he dumped all three! Since he had filled his limit he took Dane and Clint took his gun. After that we actually didn't bump any more shooters. There were some in front of us, but they were flushing wild and running up the hill way in front of us. After we got out of that basin, we didn't find any more birds so we were super glad we had found that "honey-hole". We put on some miles and had a great time! We are so glad that Marcus was able to get some birds. I think that we were pretty successful as "guides". :) We look forward to chasing birds with him again.

Here's Marcus with the first pheasant of the day. (Bones was too busy looking for more birds so he wouldn't pose for the camera!!!)

This was Dane sitting on Clint while we took a little break.

Clint and Marcus

Then, this is what we returned to this afternoon in Great Falls. So, we are just going to hang out and have a relaxing evening. We probably have about 4 inches already and it just keeps coming down. We can't believe the difference between here and Conrad. It's amazing the difference that 60 miles can make!!

Pheasant season opened today!

When we woke up it was cold and overcast and the snow was sifting down. We got dressed, packed up our gear, and off we went. The whole way we tried to think of what we may have forgotten (opening day we ALWAYS forget something!). We couldn't think of anything so we figured we were good to go. The first place that we planned to hunt was a piece of state land. The first thing we realized when we arrived was that there were a bunch of other people hunting it. Then I suddenly realized what I had forgotten... Our pack for Dane. Well, I was able to zip him into my jacket. It was cold so that was the plan anyway, but we meant to have a pack to put him in which makes it way easier because we don't have to hold up his weight. When we visited the Ped. yesterday he weighed 21 lbs. Needless to say he felt even heavier than that after a little while!!! Despite the other people, we decided to hunt anyway, and Clint was able to get one bird, but then we thought we'd move on. So, we went to one of our favorite block management properties and had it all to ourselves. I told Clint I would hold on to Dane until he got one more bird and then we'd switch. Bones was working really well, and Clint was able to pick up one more pheasant. He is such a great shot... While he had the gun, we flushed 2 birds and he got both of them!

Then we switched and actually didn't find any more birds. So, we are headed back out tomorrow and hopefully we will get on some more pheasants!

Here are a couple pictures of Clint, Bones, and a beautiful pheasant!

It's Friday!

So, this week was another good one! Dane is feeling much better, we went to the Pediatrician today and his ears look great. Now we just have to get rid of the thrush and he will be good as new!!! Dane got some fun toys given to him this last week, so we had to try them out. After I put him on the blanket, Bones quickly came and laid next to him to check things out!

This morning we decided to take a drive to check out our antelope hunting unit. I had the day off, and Clint had to be in at 1100. Well, we covered a ton of ground and didn't see very many antelope... But, there was a little skiff of snow this morning and some of the mountains were white! It was beautiful. Tomorrow we are headed out towards Conrad because pheasant season opens. The weather is supposed to be kind of crappy, but hopefully the birds will hold tight! Well, if all goes well we should have some pictures to post tomorrow!

A great day to be in the field!

Once again the weekend has flown by. Yesterday we worked around the house and Clint got most of the shingles on the shed. It looks really great... He is such a handy guy to have around.

This morning we picked up Brock and headed out to our favorite Snipe hunting grounds. We got a few snipe and then we loaded up and headed to some state land to jump shoot some ducks. It was pretty windy, so the ducks couldn't hear us coming and we had some incredible shooting. The creek is a little hike from the truck, but as soon as we topped over a little rise to drop down into it, some ducks flew and Clint got a double. Two beautiful mallard drakes!

Since there usually aren't a ton of ducks we went ahead and traded. Clint took Dane, I got the gun, and Brock carried the birds. Well, we started hiking along the creek and sure enough we heard the telltale quacking of some mallards. I snuck ahead and I was able to get a double out of that flock! One mallard hen and one mallard drake. Deciding that we had enough for dinner, and wanting to end on a good note, we decided to head back home.

We had such a great time. Bones worked well and retrieved the birds, Brock had a good time and did great helping out, and Dane was such an amazing little trooper!

Well, here are some pictures from our day...

There is a little pond to the East of our snipe hunting ground. Dane needed to eat, so Clint, Brock, and Bones headed over to the pond to see if there were any ducks. Well, there were no ducks but they had a good hike around and when they got back, Dane and I were ready to go! Here is a picture of them heading over to the pond. Isn't that scenery amazing!

Here's Clint, Brock, and Bones with the first snipe of the day!

Here is Dane hitching a ride!
Here are the boys with Clint's two mallards! Clint was really on today with his shooting!
Bones making a good retrieve

Here I am with my double!

Here's Brock with a heavy load!

All the boys

Dane after a long day hunting! (How do babies sleep like that???)

This upcoming week is crazy busy! Wenesday and Thursday I am in Helena for a workshop, so the boys will be getting into trouble without me... Then Friday our good friend Karl will be here from Washington to go chase some pheasants. We are really looking forward to seeing him and hopefully we will be able to find some birds! We hope everyone had a great weekend as well!

Oh what a week!

Well, the weekend is here... thank goodness! Sleep was sparse this week, especially at the beginning. On Sunday and Monday we were sure that Dane was getting better. He seemed to be back to his good natured self. Then Tuesday night he went to bed and woke up about 11 pm. After that there wasn't much sleep to be had. Finally at about 3:30 I woke up Clint and said, "I need you to take a turn!!!!" which he was happy to do so I could get a couple hours of sleep before work. Dane was ultra-fussy and obviously not a happy boy. He would fuss and then fall asleep for about 15 or 20 minutes (but only if he was being held)... wake up, want to nurse, not want to nurse, fuss and we would do it all over again. About 9 am Dane did a miraculous turn around and all the sudden seemed to feel great, but he had a nasty discharge coming out of his ear (not normal). Well, I had called the Ped. so we went in and he has a ruptured ear-drum. Poor little man. He hadn't been pulling on his ear or anything so we had no idea that he was having issues. Anyway, now he is on antibiotics for the ear infection... so our battle with Thrush will continue until he is done with that. We do seem to have a decent handle on the thrush, it's still there a little, but if we keep up what we are doing we should be able to stay on top of it.

Dane is a little trooper though, during the day he has been just a happy little man and the nights have been progressively getting better. Last night he only woke up once and then went right back to sleep after eating! I feel much better now that I'm starting to catch up on sleep. Except for the fact both Dane and his father were up at 5:15 today. (apparently, it is very difficult for them to entertain themselves without me...so I had to get up and join them. Once I was up, Clint said "you can go back to sleep!!!")

This weekend should be another good one. We are going to work on the shed/house today and then tomorrow we should be heading out to find some birds to shoot. Waterfowl opens this weekend so we will probably try to go jump shoot some creeks and maybe shoot some snipe as well. It should be fun, and the weather is supposed to be decent.

Here are a couple pictures of Dane hanging out!