First big game animal of the season!

Monday afternoon after I got out of training, we headed out to the cabin for the night. The plan was to stay at the cabin and then head up to the Rocky Mountain Front Tuesday morning to chase sheep. As usual the night was a little restless. Dane makes a lot of noise when he sleeps so I woke up a lot. Morning came and we loaded up and headed to the Front. We spotted sheep way up in a Basin called Wagner Basin so we decided to hike up and see if we couldn't get on them. I tell you it was a tough hike getting up to them. We kept thinking we might bump some on the way up, but we didn't. Of course we had Dane along in the Kelty and Clint carried him the first half, I carried him the second.

About 1100 we topped out over the ridge and snuck up on the rimrock. As we peeked over we were able to see a couple sheep. Clint backed up a little with Dane but was still able to watch the action through his binoculars. I crawled up on the rock and was able to pick out a nice ewe. Of course the plan was to shoot a nice young ewe so she would be really tasty... Well, I think I shot the oldest ewe in the bunch!!! The problem is that I wanted to be SO SURE that it was a ewe. From a distance the young rams kind of look like ewes, so I took the one that I was sure was a ewe. Well, the shot was good and the ewe went about 40 yards before dying. I couldn't have been happier.

Dane slept most of the way up but of course right when we got on the sheep he woke up and was super chatty. We tried getting him to suck on his binky but he just shook his head emphatically "no" when we offered it to him and went on chatting. Luckily he didn't scare of the sheep before I was able to get one!!!

Here we are on the way up... Although he doesn't look comfortable, Dane is sleeping.

It's amazing how these guys can sleep anywhere!

The arrow is where I shot the ewe. We hiked up from the other side.

Right after the shot... I'm a happy girl!

My ewe had a birth defect that we noticed when we got to her. Her nose was kind of twisted off to the left. All of her teeth were really worn down on one side because of how her jaw sat at a crooked angle. She was obviously an old gal. You can see how her horns are really shiny and rubbed down at the base. I feel very fortunate to harvest such a neat ewe with so much character. She has obviously lived a long and productive life and probably didn't have too many years left. Hopefully, she had numerous lambs and good years. Thank you mama...

My guys!!!

Dane checking her out.

The views were truly amazing!!!

Here is the rest of the band taking off...

My awesome hubby loaded up for the hike out... His pack was pretty darn heavy. It had the whole boned out sheep, the pack, etc. What a stud! All I had was Dane and some gear...

It was an incredible hunt. As you can see the weather was great and we harvested a beautiful animal. Today we got up and cut all the meat up and then made pepperoni sticks. 50 lbs of pepperoni later we are done... Now Clint has to go to work. The poor guy. He tried to lay down for a nap but didn't ever sleep. Luckily this is his last week on overnights!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Little Fingers...

Poor Dane... His little fingers are taking some hard hits this week...
When we were up at the cabin I was trying to get some milk warmed up on the stove. As I was doing it I wasn't even thinking about the fact that he had climbed up beside me on a big tupperware bin. As I turned to pour the milk, he grabbed the burner on the gas stove. Needless to say it burned his cute little finger pretty bad. (blister and all)

So, today I receive a call from daycare letting me know that he had a mishap. From what I understand Dane (the little stinker) was in the corner playing with a rocking chair and got his fingers stuck before flipping it over. They let me know that his fingers were pretty bruised and swollen. Being that it is Friday I decided to take him to the Dr. so she could take a look. I didn't want to wait and then have to take him to immediate care, or a Dr. he doesn't know.

Anyway, although I'm sure they are very sore, his fingers are going to be fine. They are bruised and kind of ugly, but he is using them and playing normally. While at the Dr. I decided to go ahead and get his last round of vacinations and his flu shot. I wasn't going to do a flu shot for either of us, but I got one for the first time ever, and Dane's Dr. recommded it with him in daycare and Clint and I working where we do. Good news is that we are all done with his vaccinations until he is in kindergarten!!! Woo hoo!

Anyway, I think I mentioned that we had gone up to the cabin last weekend. We had such a great time!!! We headed up Saturday and then came home on Monday afternoon. While we were up there we hiked around looking for Mountain grouse and found a neat waterfall. We also were able to get 2 Ruffled Grouse which are really good to eat.

Besides that we hung out at the cabin, took a drive looking for sheep (I've got a ewe permit this year), chased grasshoppers, and just had a great time.

Here is one last picture of Dane playing in the grass.

This weekend should be fun. Saturday and Sunday, Dane and I are hanging out, visiting with Grandma, and just getting stuff done. Monday, I've got a training to attend and then we are headed to the cabin Monday night. On Tuesday we are going to try to find a ewe sheep for me and then Clint has to be back to work on Wednesday. It should be a lot of fun, and hopefully we will have some good pictures to post when we get back!

Dane has started this really cute thing where he spins around and around. It's too bad you can't see his eyes on this video, cause he tries to watch you while he does it and it looks really funny. Of course I decided to video after he had been doing it for a while, so he's kind of tired of it, but it's still kind of cute.

Mullet no more!

It used to be a party in the back, business in the front, but Dane's all business now!

Last week, we gave Dane his first haircut. I was going to cut Clint's hair and Dane was badly in need, so we got out the clippers and did the back and sides. The top wasn't too long and his patience was wearing thin, so we just left it alone.

At first Dane was intrigued by the clippers, but he didn't like how they tickled his head, so he quickly decided he was done. However, we weren't done yet, so he had to sit still for a few more minutes.

This picture obviously was taken before his haircut. We used some water and fashioned it into a cute little Mohawk so you could get the full effect!

Here he is at dinner giving us one of his "looks"... He is pretty funny with all of his expressions! You can tell what he is thinking and then you see the little devil horns sprouting from the top of his cute little head right before he does something naughty!

I don't remember what he was so excited about, but he probably just fed the dog or something else that is prohibited! (but very fun) His hair was pretty shaggy!and here he is checking out the hair... I don't have any other good "after" pictures, but I will try to post a video tomorrow of him at the cabin and from that you can see his haircut.

Tomorrow, I will try to get some pictures posted from last weekend, but I'm tired now, so it's time to sign-off and go to bed!!!!

Why do the weekends have to go so fast???

I'm not ready for it to be over!!!! But, my amazing hubby reminds me... One must end so another can begin!

Well, we didn't end up going to the cabin this weekend, but we had a great time anyway! Saturday we were super tired and went to bed early. Which worked out okay cause then we got up and chased snipe!!! Woo-hoo, bird season has begun.

It was such a perfect day... Not too warm and not too cool. There were lots of snipe flying and Dane LOVED it!!! After he got to see his first bird or two he kept saying "moa, moa" (which means, "more, more") My thoughts exactly!!! :)

I worked on getting the kelty adjusted and finally got it to where it fits okay. Dane likes it cause he sits up higher and can see over our head. He does list badly to one side though, so I'm not really sure what to do about that. He doesn't seem to mind... He also wore his ear protection like a champ... never took it off once.

Here he is checking out one of Dad's birds. Actually, I think he is trying to pry the beak open.

Getting to look at the wings and feathers

Poking and prodding like any good boy would do!!!

I think this was the first one he got to see. He was grinning but wasn't so sure at first.

Packing him around does add an additional edge to the workout. The swamp is muddy and the grass is pretty tall in places. Add him on your back and it's a workout!!! But, worth every moment to have him along!

Before and after!!!

Well, we are all tired after today. We got up pretty early and after I went for a quick run we ate breakfast and headed out to do some more work on the parking area. We got 10 yards of road mix gravel delivered yesterday and our neighbor brought home the little CAT and a compacter.

Clint had already dug out most of the trench for the retaining wall, but we finished that and then put down railroad ties. Then we drilled holes through them and put rebar through them. (okay, I use the term "we" rather loosely... Dane and I did a lot of supervising!!!)

Here it is this morning before we started.

Dane and I ran the compacter a lot. Notice his cool ear muffs. We picked those up for hunting season this year and they were perfect for today as well. The surprising part was that he even left them on!!!

The finished product!!!! We are thrilled with how it turned out!!!

Tomorrow we were going to go up to the cabin, but we have decided not to. We have so many projects going on right now, and we are going to help the neighbor with his yard. We are planning on sneaking out to chase some snipe in the morning, so that should be fun!!! We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!!