Two Visits down......

We had a wonderful time with Dean and Deb. They took us downtown Dallas to the Kennedy memorial. Then out to South Fork. No didn't see Bobby or JR. Dean prepared us a great dinner and we then watched the Oscars. You know, at times the Oscars are so predictable. All you have to do is think political correct and sazam, you have the winner, if you know what I mean.

Monday was a travel day to Austin. We stopped at Waco and took some time to look at "Texas Ranger Museum". What a very brave bunch of men and women there. God Bless them all.

We met up with Dave and Tegan in Austin. Bar B Q is the flavor in Texas! Last night is was at the County Line. Wow, what a great supper! Ribs, Chicken, Pork! Dave and Tegan looked great! We had a very enjoyable night with them. It's fun talking with people you knew as "kids" but are now adults. They enlighten me!

Well good places to eat and check offs of this trips bucket list.

Rudy's   www.rudys.com

Countyline   www.countyline.com

Both are great bbq places, and both are chains.

Winter 2012 Trip South

2/25/12-Norman, OK, 63*F when we arrived, back home maybe 20*F, it's nice, looking forward to two weeks south. Our first stop in Texas will be the Dallas area, with a visit at Dean & Deb's. Our next day will be Austin, will meet up with Dave & Tegan. Then five days in San Antonio, being tourist. Then over to Corpus Christi area meeting up with Larry & Mary. Look for some upcoming photos and more discussion.

Archery Hunting

Fall for me is archery hunting, this little 3x4 I let go tonight, this was only my 3rd time out this year. I'm looking for the big guy. As I sat in my stand, at least 16' up, this guy came within 13 yards of me. He grazed, moved in front of me and I let him go.

Why do I hunt deer? It's tradition for me, and memory's. I hunted deer 1 year with my grandfather. I shot my first deer with his gun, a 30-30 Marlin lever action, I still own that gun. I hunted deer with my father. I remember as a boy that he would go up north to the hunting camp every November for the opener on the 15th of the month. He finally talked mom into taking me with, when I was I think 13. The next year I went and I could hunt. I hunted deer with dad for 10 years.(Actually more, as every time I go out I think of him and he is with me.) Now I hunt mostly alone, sometimes though, I get a license with my boys, I saw both of them get their first deer. Also, I was with my wife Abby when she shot her first deer. She no longer hunts, we don't need more than 1 deer a year. I keep saying, I don't care if I shot another deer, but when they come close to me, the blood starts flowing and I get excited, and I'll try to take it. It's my heritage.

As I sat in my tree stand tonight, the call of the crow could be heard, the splash of the carp, a slow moving muskrat went in front of me, also a mink, the wings of a hawk was heard, a doe and a fawn walked by, geese honked nearby, the wheels of the 18 wheeled grain trucks could be heard in the distance, the whining of the grain bins. These are the reasons I really enjoy my hunting.

Fall time and family.

Well, yet another fall is upon us, so far so good with the weather and all.

Late summer brought us a trip to visit our youngest Josh, golf, good food and all. These made the trip, a treat for Josh since he can't get these every week.

Talking of ribs, I got a new grill this last summer, it's a wood pellet grill. If you like smoked food, check these out. I absolutely love it.

After, visiting Josh, we headed home and stopped in Madison, WI. 9 holes of golf, lunch with Buck and Deb at a A&W, and sight seeing in Madison. We had a wonderful evening with Doug and Karen Wahl, drinks in their beautiful backyard and then supper a local brew pub.

All in all we're very blessed, we have good friends, a roof over our head, and a few toys to play with. One of my favorite toys is my 08 Kawasaki Nomad, I just had her face lifted.

Pretty soon I'll have to park it for the winter, the leaves are mostly off of the trees now, the docks and boat lifts are out of the lakes, the geese are flying south, the hummingbirds have left, the air conditioner has been covered, my brother texted me today saying there was 6" of snow in his drive way, lucky him, I've started my winter beard, been out deer hunting a couple of times. These are the signs that winter will soon be upon us. I miss summer already. I'll be getting my cross country ski's out soon.

Until next time.....love you all.

Late Spring 2011

It's been awhile since my last post. Cold, wet, weather has been the norm here. We've had 2 hot days this spring, where a hint of summer came through, but then the wet, cold, came back. Oh well, it may be that kind of year.

I did get down to this years art walk in downtown Watertown. I painted Plein Air, well kind of. I painted m y normal mountain lake scene outside, which I'll get posted soon, along with other recent works.

I also picked up a used "Shopsmith Mark V" over in Minnesota. I'm looking forward to working with it, and have also turned a bowl which I'll also post. Whether it's painting, woodworking, riding motorcycle, golfing, fishing, it's all good therapy.

I also picked up a Green Mountain Grill. This is a wood pellet, smoker grill. I'm having a lot of fun with that, smoking the meat first, then finishing it off with the grilling. Since I've got this grill, I haven't used my gas grill. I'll share some of my favorite recipes soon.

February Blizzard!

Last week we enjoyed temps in the 30's and 40's, boy was that nice! Then comes the weekend, temp was down to 8*F yesterday morning, and today we wake up to a blizzard, we're expecting 8" to 15" of the fresh stuff. The lord taketh and he giveth, we probably lost that much of our snow cap during the warm up.

So what did we do when it warmed up last weekend? Cross country skiing and snow shoeing.  This is Abby's first time this year on the shoe's. Her first complaint was that I took her snow that was way to deep. As I calmly told her, with all the snow we had on the ground, the snow pack was about 24" to 30" deep, and further more, that is why she had on the snow shoes! She still didn't appreciate where she was at.

This day for me at this time was a leisure ski, as I had gone out earlier in the morning for my physical workout. The temp was warm, with no breeze, but the snow was a little sticky due to the melt.

This brings us up to today. We awake with threats of another blizzard. So what do you do when these come? Make chili! Watch hockey! Surf to Nascar! Paint! Which I did last night. My art work is coming along, I enjoy all mediums, but I prefer working with the oils. My paintings are landscapes. I try to paint from pictures, but that isn't always the easiest. I like to paint scenes of places I'd like to be at or at places I would have enjoyed in a previous life. I'll continue to practice to perfect and below is my latest. Enjoy, and hope you all have a wonderful day.

Europe in 10 1/2 Days. Wrapping this up.

Now where are we?

Our last day in Barcelona, and like I've always said, when visiting a location you've never been to before, take the city tour. Becca, Abby, and I did exactly that, we bought a day pass on the double decker. Now I would suggest that when riding the double decker you should either, do it on a warm day or have warm cloths on. Our day found us not doing either of my suggestion. So in the morning, although it was chilly we road up top, after lunch, it was all down stairs. Barcelona, being an old city has hosted many things for the world in the past. To name a couple the Worlds Fair and Olympics. We saw both of these complexes.

1992 Olympic Stadium.

Like I said yesterday, old equals spectacular architecture! Old school to modern. Great finishing touches with unbelievable attention to detail.

Statues galore. 

Sagrada Familia.

Bingo!

As we travel through the streets, we come across familiar sights, a bingo hall, yes even in Spain they have Bingo!

One of the most famous designers in the world is Gaudi. His work is truly amazing, as I have posted 2 of his works.

Saturday night in Barcelona is crazy. People all over the place. Vendors keep their stores open to at least 9pm. We walked into a knife shop, it was elbow to &%*($#, we looked around and started to walk out when a little old lady sitting next to the door pointed at something, I looked a little closer and it was a ticket machine, you know something you might find in a meat shop, next customer ticket. We laughed and walked out.

Gaudi's Place.

 We finished out our night by getting a light supper, more topas, wine, beer, a stew, muscles, sausage, it was all good. We were taking off early in the morning so we needed to get back to pack and rest.

The following morning we're up early to catch the bus to the airport. Upon arrival we find our airplane needs repair so they offer to reroute us, we take them up on that so instead of flying to JFK then MN, we take a flight to Atlanta, then Mn, but get in to late to catch our connection to Watertown, so Delta puts us up in a motel for our last night out.

Over all we had a pleasant trip. It was very relaxing and we really enjoyed the special attention our tour guide gave us. Now comes my bias, you all know our tour guide was our daughter and her special friend, but I really have to endorse them highly. Was the trip perfect? Of course not. Do they have a lot of work to make it better? Of course they do! The real questions is, are they capable of doing all of this? My answer is of course. They're young, energetic, and most of all have a passion for what they do! You can tell that with how they get along with people and we wish the best for them.

Check them out for a trip, at thefinestkind.net ........until my next blog...John

John, Becca, Abby, & Jesper.