Alarming!

Or should I say not so alarming... Thats right folks. Yours truly woke up late this morning because his alarms didn't go off on his phone. Waking up and seeing 7:55 on the clock is one thing but waking up and seeing that and needing to be at work in 5 minutes is another. I made it here in one piece, however, and just have to stay an extra 8 minutes to make up the lost time. Damn do I ever enjoy that... At my last job, had I been 8 minutes late, I would have been reamed up one side and down the other.

On another note, today will be my last post of the week as tomorrow is a vacation day for me. FMD and I are donating blood, cutting a christmas tree, and heading north to her parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving 9 days late! Have a good one everyone!

'Tis The Season

Its decided. The new family (FMD, me, and my dog) are starting their very own holiday tradition by cutting our own Christmas tree! Cutting a tree is a tradition of both our families and now that we're starting our own, we've decided we couldn't let the moment to cut our own during our first year of marriage pass us by.

I have a vacation day planned on Friday so FMD and I are going to go donate blood and then head out to the tree farm to cut our own! I'm a long needle fan and she's all about the short needle... Short needle it is... This year... I see an alternating thing going on for years to come including disagreements about who got to pick the year before.

Now that we've decided to cut our own, we're going to have to decorate the thing. Decorating is far more expensive than I had imagined! The good news is that we hit the stores last night and found some sweet bargains on a tree topper and glass balls. We also had to pick up a tree stand and ornament hooks. As far as lights go, well, we're hoping to use the ones we had strung up for our wedding dance... They're gold, white, and clear so they won't necessarily match our ornaments, but they'll do the trick and hopefully we can pick up some more sweet lights during the after Christmas madness.

I'm getting excited to see all my friends and family... I just can't take it much longer! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Then let us rabbit hunt ;)

Got 'Em!

This year's gun deer season was another success for me. I went out this last Saturday morning with my dad to sit in the deer stands for a while to see if anything would happen by. Needless to say, I didn't even make it to my stand. It took me a little over an hour of stalking through the woods and watching for deer, but as I checked back down the hillside one last time, I saw a deer get up from laying down, run a little while, and poke itself out from behind the brush and trees and a very inopportune time. Inopportune for it, not me.

A quick radio shout rousted my dad and I treked the 150 yards to the downed deer. There was a problem with my doe though... It had outdoor plumbing, not indoor... Upon further inspection and measurement, the total length of antlers on the young buck's head was about 1/2". Nothing spectacular but it filled the freezer for the year to come.

Saturday night involved a length of time on the deer processing line and yet another length of time playing Euchre and Shake-A-Two. I had a great time. I'm actually mulling over in my head right now a new web site... www.shake-a-two.com. What do you think? Well, since its a game invented in UC and none of you have likely played it, you'll just have to take my word for it that its a good idea!

Thats that in life for now. Tonight FMD and I are cleaning and picking up a new microwave. Pretty exciting huh? I hope everyone is in good spirits and I look forward to talking with many of you during the holiday season!

Black Friday

Or should I say Black and Blue Friday? I braved the masses this morning to cash in on some of the door buster deals being offered by retailers on the day they either make or break their fiscal year... It was mad out there at 5 am! I'd wager that I saw more cars on my way to pick up a gift this morning for my wife than I did on my way to work. It was nuts. Minivans cutting across parking lots to get the spot that just opened up closer to the store and people pushing their way though the crowds to get the ever important door buster deal that really isn't anywhere near the door where the crowds would have easy access to them. Oh well. Not all is lost... I scored a great gift for an amazing price!



Old Navy was even more hectic! Free MP3 players to anyone who purchased more than $20 in merchandise. After entering the store at 5:06, shopping for 6 minutes, and standing in line for another 20, I was told I had to be one of 60 people who got a wristband in order to get one of the players... That blows. Those bands were given out even before they knew people had spent the required money... I sent an email off to Gap Inc. Enterprises to see what can be done to help calm my nerves. I'm relying on the fact that companies think its easier to retain a customer than it is to get new ones. We'll wait and see I guess.



Hmm. Wait a minute. Whats all this talk about shopping and complaining and busting through crowds to get the deals? What happened to the spirit of the holidays? What happened to Thanksgiving and all the time we just spent with our families and loved ones? I guess the good will towards men and the feeling we all claim to revel in when this time of year comes around was just blown out the door by Kohls and their 4 am door busting deals... Its really sad when you think about it...



For those of you who care, my Thanksgiving was wonderful. I joined my parents and brother in UC for a great holiday meal with my mom's side of the family. We skipped the traditional Thanksgiving meal (yup, that means no meatballs!) and went with a lasagna instead. No one really cares for turkey that much so why not eat something you like, right? After dinner we all settled in to watch the Packers beat the Bears and Brett Favre break yet another team record for most consecutive completed passes. The man is amazing... I know why there are so many little kids named Brett running around these days!



After pie and apple crisp deserts, I left to come back to Madison to join my wife for our first Thanksgiving meal as a married couple. Awww.... A dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, and succotash was eaten and an evening of card playing ensued. It was a nice relaxing night without any distractions. Just what the holiday fairies ordered.



I hope everyone else had as great of a day as I did on Thursday and I also hope you keep the spirit alive! Do something special for someone and donate to your local food pantry or toy drive. Clean out your closet and donate those extra coats you never wear anymore so someone can be warm this winter. Lets make this a great season for everyone and not fall into the mass consumerism that seems to drive our cultures happiness...

Happy Black and Blue Friday everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you and yours have a great day!

Holy Crap!

Has it really been a week since I've written? Damn... Time flies when you're actually busy at work! Not much new to report anyways and I really only have one major thing in my mind that needs more mulling over, but I'm not ready to post up on it yet.

The weekend found FMD and I traveling back to Union Center for the 2007 Gun Deer Season complete with FMD's new 30-06! We had to wait a day until she got to use it but it happened! The sad part is that we didn't find the deer... We tracked it for a couple hours onto an adjoining property, but the trail dried up and we couldn't find where it went to. We did however hear a shot just up the way soon after we started tracking the deer so I'm confident it was finally harvested.

On to Monday and Tuesday... Well, still nothing new to report. My co-worker is traveling this week so I'm flying solo and so far, I'm loving it. Usually there's enough work to keep one person busy but two people turn the job into a boring ho-hum type of affair. With my pager buzzing and the phone ringing, its enough to keep my busy so I don't have to time to think about my job sucking and about how bored I am. I still think I'm going to have to keep my eyes on the job board however, just in case something else comes along, even if I am going to be moving out of Madison in 223 days. What they don't know won't hurt them!

The Land Of Blah Blah

Its yet another Blah Blah week here in the land of Blah Blah. I went to do my Blah Blah today only to discover that Blah Blah already did it. Thats Blah Blah though, I know how Blah Blah goes. Instead I Blah Blahed until about 3 o'clock when Blah Blah Blah Blahed me and I had to Blah Blah a Blah Blah.

Get the point?

I'm in a rut here and I'm in danger of throwing it in reverse only to find the rut is still there followed by a progression of forward, backward, forward, backward just waiting for the tractor to come bail me out.

Find me hanging out on my Blah Blah tonight doing a whole lot of Blah Blah.

Blah Blah!

Lazy Blogger...

Yes I am. I have plenty to report, well kinda, but I just am not motivated to write... Am I hitting the blall (blog wall for those who were wondering... Don't scoff! They did it with web log!)? Here's the recap:

• Friday night the parking ramp was too full to park in so we skipped the comedy club after being shut out at 4 restaurants.
• My birthday Saturday didn't seem much like a birthday... I had a great time and it was wonderful spending time with my folks, but it was just another day. Is that what happens when you turn 27? Now I know why old people have to stop and think about how old they really are.
• My wife won an 30-06 at a sportsman's banquet in Kendall on Saturday as well. I'm a redneck, hill-billy, but so is my wife and winning guns always makes a person smile
• Sunday my wife decided to skip out on her honor society induction brunch so I could buy her a scope for an early xmas present and we could sight in her rifle for the upcoming deer season. She hit the bullseye on her 4th shot. I'm so proud ;)
• Sunday morning I decided I'd drop a message to my boss to see what process I need to follow to apply for another job within the department so on Monday I sent said email. I haven't heard back yet... I know I should just go talk with her, and I came to that conclusion when I was at home for 4 hours today eating lunch and watching tv. Why did I decide I wanted a new job again?

Ok. Thats about it for now. Hope this post finds everyone well and I look forward to talking with you all soon!

How Much Stock?

How much stock can one put in an IQ test from Facebook? Lets say you're an intelligent 26 (27 in a day and a half) year old male and you can answer 29 of 30 random questions in 12 of 15 given minutes... According to this test's scoring, you'd score a 144. According to this site, you'd be considered to be very near to geniusness or maybe even a genius proper. An evil genius maybe, but a genius none the less. I'm not buying it...

Add me as your Facebook friend and check out my profile to take the test yourself... I'm interested in seeing if this test just likes everyone and wants them to buy their silly report at the end or if I am smarter than the average Bears fan.

On a side note, I misspelled genius 3 times in the writing of this post when I ran the spell checker...

Safe And Sound

Well, I made it home, safe and sound. There really was no worry about that at any point during my trip, but everyone says they're happy I returned in one piece.

The trip was wonderful and I wish I could have stayed for the rest of the week! After a 3:40 am wake-up call, an hour drive to the Suamico landing, and a little less than an hour worth of motoring across the lake in the dark and setting up decoys, we had our success.

The first bird of the morning was a bufflehead. It landed about 4 minutes of sitting in the boat. PDR's gun went click (dud shell) and mine went bang (after it cleared the decoys). Very pretty bird!

The next bird that thought our decoy spread would be a great place to visit was a common merganser (a.k.a. Lawndart, a.k.a. McFish Sandwich, a.k.a. Walleye of the Sky). I'll admit it was tough to id this bird as it was flying, but PDR let him have it in no time flat.

If you've been following the progress of my decoy that I'm carving you're halfway familiar with the next duck to join us in the boat... The greater scaup (a.k.a. bluebill). VERY pretty bird... It was great to see one in hand before I start painting on the decoy. The greater and lesser are tough to tell apart but through wing and head color variations, we could tell that one was a greater. Sounds like he'll be joining the collection on PDR's wall.

After all this shooting, my body just couldn't take it anymore... The afternoon constitutional was coming early whether I liked it or not... Being 300 yards from shore beached up in a tiny boat on a sand bar, there wasn't much cover for a man to hide in. Not being all that worried about being spotted and the fact that it was just time to go, I did my business on the sand bar. PDR told me while I was doing it he was going to shoot a duck. Ha ha ha. Pretty funny. He grabbed his gun and pulled up as to accentuate his point and by golly, a duck came whipping through the decoys while I was all hunched over bare-assed to the world! He missed however, but the bird will always live in infamy as "The Turd Bird".

After a few hours of sitting we noticed that some of the decoys were no longer floating in the water but were instead beached... We also noticed our boat had become slightly beached as well. Not good news. We heaved on the boat and eventually we got it back into the water and decided it was time to move the decoys... We moved about 75 yards down the sand bar what it was marginally deeper and reset. Not long after we placed the final decoy and we were about to get in the boat, a Barrow's Goldeneye landed with the goldeneyes in our spread. We shot the bird, but it dove in the water and popped its head up about 100 yards away... A pursuit in the boat continued half the way to Sturgeon Bay, but we couldn't find it after it dove for the final time. Yet another pretty bird and one that isn't all that common.

The final duck of the day was a common goldeneye. We shot the duck and it went down. PDR piled in the boat to go and get it and low and behold after flopping around a little on the water, it ran across the surface and flew away. Apparently the thing was just playing opossum... Sometimes thats just how it goes.

All in all, it was a great day out on the bay. A great time spent with a great friend. I was going to post a photo of us but the fact is, he had to play hookie in order to go out for the day and I just don't want to cause any trouble for him!

And in case you were wondering, the photos are all from Ducks.org, Ducks Unlimited's home page. Drop by and donate to a great cause if you have the time!

Heading For The Open Water

I'm heading to the big bay up north made famous by a little town and its meat packing industry for what may very well be my last duck hunt of the year. I'm a little bummed that I lost my coat however. The reason I'm not more bummed is because I'm pretty sure it's still on the boat where I left it and no one saw it to be unloaded. At least thats the optimistic look at it... It could also very well be on the island we camped on or even in someone else's closet. Who knows. Anyways, tomorrow is an off day for me and I'll be sure to give you an update on how the hunt goes come Thursday!

First Flakes

The first snowflakes of the year are falling in Madison today. Its far from "sticking" but its exciting none the less! I know its wishful thinking, but I really hope the people of this fair city aren't a bunch of complete morons for yet another year when the snow starts to fly full-time!

A Weekend Of, Well, Not Much!

On my only free weekend during the month of November, I chose to do, well, nothing. Of course I did something, but it really didn't' amount to much...

Friday night included a movie night with my wonderful wife. Mr. Brooks is one of those movies you just don't want to watch before you go to bed. I'm not much of a suspense killer movie type, but it was the movie FMD picked out and if you're a husband, you know her movie always comes first. She thinks there's going to be a sequel, me, well, I don't really think so. They set it up so there could be, but I don't remember hearing that much hype about it when it was out in the theaters so I think its just what it is, a movie with no sequel.

Saturday brought sleeping in and video games. Yes. I'm almost 27 years old and I still like to play the Nintendo. Got a problem with that? Well too bad! Anyways, I got my Zelda on and am now up to a total of 46 some hours of game play and just entered the City in the Sky. Don't know if anyone out there is a Zelda dork like me so it probably doesn't matter, but I might have to say this is the best one of the series... I'm not a Wii person, I'm still old and archaic with my Gamecube, but hey, it gets me by.

Saturday was BJ's movie night. The Departed. With all those big names, how could it not be good? I pride my self on figuring out who did what and what it means and how its all going to turn out in the end... Well, apparently I haven't watched enough Scorsese films because this one really threw me for a loop! I always enjoy a movie that stretches my brain and imagination a little.

Sunday was wonderful with the extra hour of sleep. Sunday was also the day my mom came to town. We were successful in completing her shopping list and had a good time hanging out with her and my brother. I don't get to see my family as often as I'd like I've decided. Its tough to have all these goals, ambitions, friends, and family members you want to spend time with... Where do you draw the line and say one is more important than the other? Well, when that line comes for me, I usually know it. Now it is on to 3 weekends visiting with my parents back in UC so I'll get my dose of them and be ready to tackle other things ;)

Sunday afternoon also marked my introduction to the Nintendo Wii.

Yup. Still almost 27 years old. Still enjoy the Nintendo from time to time.

I visited with my brother to play his new Wii. I now know why they can't stock these things in the stores... IT WAS A RIOT! Wow. Anyone who says video game players are lazy hasn't played one yet. My brother has a fan in his window that he'd dubbed the Wii Fan because playing this game gets you up off your butt and moving around! I now have more respect for tennis players in this world... Now the question is if I'll ever get one... Probably not anytime in the near future, but I'm not ruling out indefinitely!

No Title

This post doesn't even deserve the title it got to be honest with you. Yet another boring day. Thankfully however, the week is pretty much behind us and there's a night of drinking about to ensue. Tonight may be a cab night. Well, maybe not. FMD has to work at 7am so I don't think she'll let it get too out of control... Other than that, a little work on the decoy (maybe some paint finally?) and a visit from my mom on Sunday is all I have planned. The next 30 minutes can't pass fast enough!

Sneak One In...

Its still Thursday for another 10 minutes or so and I thought I should sneak in my post for the day. After sleeping like I haven't in a week or two, tonight, I can't wind down and get ready for bed. *SIGH* I hope this isn't any of that insomnia crap kicking back in! The decoy has its second coat of varnish on it so it should be ready for paint this weekend. Not much else to report. Good night!