elk hunt

Don and I brought back a cow elk Tuesday night. A couple hunters from Cambridge loaned us a thousand feet of rope. Don went down the hill about 250 yards and tied the rope around the elk's neck. We tied the other end to the hooks mounted on the front of the Dodge 4WD. I backed the pick up, retied, put on the chains and backed the PU up until we had the elk on top of the ridge. Leaving the pickup lights on, we cleaned the elk in the dark, cold (21 degrees), and in a blinding snowstorm. Then we drug the elk a half mile to a vacated hunters' camp where we had seen a cross beam mounted. We had a block and tackle thanks to the Cambridge hunters, so we used the pickup, rope, and block and tackle to pull the elk into the air, back the pickup up under the elk and with a great deal of effort get the elk into the bed of the truck. Hoisting around a 300 pound animal is not easy.

The next day we got the animal quartered and hung. I spent two different cleaning sessions with Biz and detergent washing the blood from the interior of the pickup.

Friday we go out again scouting for Don's elk that he must shoot with a black powder loading muzzle gun. Effective range is no more that a hundred yards, so this hunt will be more challenging. We will be hunting with my school principal and his son and our school's football coach. D might be joining me as I birddog through the brush pockets trying to drive elk towards the hunters. If they succeed, the work starts all over again. Right now I am a little stiff and sore.

Chores Around the House Nearly Done....

Just about got the place winterized. Have storm windows to put up and the front yard to rake one more time. Almost all the sunflower stocks have been pulled up and piled for a future burning. The yard is fertilized and the bird feeders are out and filled. The sprinkler pipes have been blown out and the water outlet for the heating and cooling system has been hooked up to the dry well.

Don leaves Friday morning and we go elk hunting Saturday. Don might have to find a tree to sit under so he can rest up to help pack the elk out after his 18 hour drive from El Centro. D might join us for one weekend or the other.

Kids at school will have to watch some film and videos.

I will take some pictures at the two TG Dinners we have been invited to. Grand daughter L has a cold and Gramma J might be coming down with it.

Gramma J has been busy decorating the house for Christmas. I have built a cover for part of the stairwell to the basement where Gramma J proposes to place the tree. The wrought iron fence will then become the protector of the tree. As in baby proofing and toddler proofing. I think I will be busy putting up some outide decorations and lights for Christmas on Friday while also getting ready to hunt.

John died and went to heaven. When he arrived at St. Peter's gate he could not help but to notice the very large wall that extended forever and ever. It was plastered with thousands upon millions of clocks. He asked St. Peter what was with all the clocks and was told that they were lie clocks. As in tell a lie and your special clock in heaven would move ahead one click. As John looked over the clocks, he noticed one that had not advanced as much as a single click. Thinking it had malfunctioned, he asked St. Peter about it. St. Peter was particularly proud of the clock as it was Mother Teresa's...she had never told a lie. Immediately John thought of Honest Abe Lincoln so inquired as to where his clock might be located. St. Peter took him for a short stroll and pointed high up on to the wall where a clock's hands had only advanced two clicks. Wow! said John. Only two lies? Yes, was St. Peter's reply. Not quite ready to inquire as to his own clock's whereabouts, he delayed the inevitable facing of the music and blurted out, "Where is President Bush's clock?" St. Peter replied, "Oh, that clock is up in Jesus' office. He is using it as a ceiling fan."

Yeeeeoooooowwwwww! and Yip, Yip,
Have a very thankful and pleasant Thanksgiving Day, Dinner, and after dinner nap.

Papa Coyote Loves You All.

Goldfish are showing up!

Yesterday the sun was shining brightly inspite of the dire warnings by our weather forecasters for rain. I returned from work and looked to see how badly the pond would need cleaning since we had a brisk wind the night before. Yup! Lots of leaves in the pond...and what was that? A gold fish swimming in the middle, six inches below the surface? Yes, my eyes did not deceive me. And what is that near the corner of the pond? A dead goldfish floating amongst the few lilly pad leaves still holding on after several frosts? Yes. It is!

WOW! We still have gold fish. Today I cleaned the skimmer box out and found about a dozen dead goldfish in the skimmer box. They looked none too alive. I think there are still about two dozen in the pond. It will be interesting to see what we have left come spring. Oh, Well. I know where to get some more.

Chad and I made 80 pounds of sausage Saturday morning. I tried a new recipe with a tablespoon of red cayenne pepper and a half a head of garlic for forty pounss. The red pepper definitely did not overwhelm the taste and the garlic is not too stong. J likes it and so do I, so I think the recipe is a good one. Chad had shot a small whitetail buck and got forty pounds of boned out meat from it. He put ten pounds of that meat into his sausage recipe.

Red Apple was nice enough to sell us 70 pounds of picnic hams boned out and ground for $1.59 a pound. We like dealing with the Red Apple meat department. They always treat us real well.

We were done early enough to try our sausage out for lunch and then go to the State Semi-Finals played at Fruitland. The home team won 49-21 over Timberlake so we were all happy with the day's activities.

Friday morning J and I leave to go to Pocatello to watch the state championship game. We are hoping the FB team can repeat as the state champions.

I don't know if you know or not, but the football team has a girl who kicks their extra points. She is pretty deadly and there simply is not a boy in the school who can do it as well as she can.

Yeeeeeeooooooowww!
Papa Coyote