Midsummer Getaway

We took Kellen to St. Paul last weekend to hang out with Johnny and Stacie. While there we visited the MN Zoo, where Kellen got to feed this giraffe. A good time was had by all. We also spent time at the Mall of America, or "America" as Kellen called it. He enjoyed all the rides, especially the bumper cars he got to drive all by himself. We also got to check out the huge Cirque Du Soleil tent outside of Johnny and Stacie's apartment. Check out a video of it going up here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7OXPYXZnPU.

Not much else happening. Harvest has begun, and John Urban has most of his wheat in the bin, but others are struggling to get things done with wet weather and late ripening wheat. Everything looks good though, especially the pheasants. It's hard to believe that we could actually start hunting the things in less than six weeks. I hope everybody else is as excited as we are. Can't wait to see everybody in a couple of months.

Fishing on the Fourth... or Fifth

We took the last day of the holiday weekend and jumped at the invitation to get in the Bacon's boat and do a little fishing. Brad invited us to join him, Brandon, and Abby, so Kellen, Cordie and I spent just a few hours hauling in nearly 100 fish. We managed to catch our limit (24) in just 2 hours. I promised not to give away the secret spot, but boy was it hot. Most of our fish measured in right around 15 inches, but Cordie hauled in the big fish of the day-- a 22 incher. He had my lucky pole, which also contributed to him hauling in the most fish, with Brandon in a close second. Thanks to the Bacon's for a great experience both Saturday and Sunday.

...Fish in a barrel

Okay, it wasn't quite that easy, but we did manage to catch the first fish out of the pond at K&M. The Clarke's were here to visit last weekend and Kellen and Joe got in a little fishing, as did Robert and I. We managed to catch a couple of bass and Kellen managed to get in this bluegill. The fish look like they're putting on some weight and growing like weeds. I think it's going to be a fairly productive pond. We've still got some tweaking to do, but I'm sure there will always be that.

We also managed to get in some pretty competitive golf games with the older generation coming out on top. Robert and I managed to win the first game against Cordie and John Lyell, but they got their revenge the next morning, and then topped it off by winning the "rubber match" by adding their ringer, Marlys. It was close, but their short game held us off.

Joe and Kellen had a good time all weekend especially when it started with Grandpa encouraging them to run through the ditches that were flowing with a fresh one-inch downpour. Kellen can't walk by a puddle now without charging through it, no matter where we are. All in fun right.

Ducks on a pond...

We've been busy the last couple of weeks with all kinds of work, and we've gotten plenty done with some timely rains in between. I was able to snap this picture of a couple sets of ducklings down on "south-south", where the big circle food plot is. I know some of you have gotten in on that hunt where we come in from three different directions, and usually have a heck of a shoot at the end. Cordie was planting that food plot, so I had some time to go exploring and get some pictures in the sunrise light. The ducks should be doing fine with the moisture that we've gotten- an inch and a half last Friday, and an inch and a quarter last night. That's plenty for a while, especially if you ask the wheat farmers. It's a good start to our food plots though which are all in the ground and coming up. The trees are mowed up again, and boy did we see a lot of pheasant chicks. I had plenty of photo opportunities, but no camera of course when the time was right. The concrete work is coming along fine also, with more to come. Other than that all we can do is let Mother Nature do her thing, and hope for the best. Things are looking good.

It's a little tough to tell, but can anybody identify the two hens in the picture?