I Cubs game in Omaha

On Friday July 31st, Dave, Charlie, Joe, Sam and I went to a baseball game in Omaha. The Iowa Cubs were playing the Omaha Royals. The game was good and the I Cubs were in command until the bottom of the ninth when the Royals scored 4 times to win the game. The highlight of the night was when Charlie was called down to the field for a promotion between innings. He had to spin around a bat for a long 10 seconds then run to first and then back to home. He started out for the first-base dugout before getting help on his direction. There were fireworks after the game and we made it to the hotel the same time a good thunderstorm hit. No luck for me at the Casino. Harrah's has a nice hotel and an awesome brunch buffet!!! All and all I think fun was had by all.

Sam's First Catfish

The boys and I headed to the Sioux River to do a little fishing today. Joe decided we should go to the river because he wanted to catch a catfish. But it was Sam that caught the only fish of the afternoon, a nice three pound channel catfish. It was a little much for the Zebco and he needed some assistance reeling it in. He caught it on a night crawler. We were hoping to catch a carp or moon eye to use as cut bait, but they only nibbled and stole our worms.
Sam spent most of his time watching for bugs. The ticks are very bad this year. He's going to be like his mom when it comes to bugs. Joe's going to be like his dad when it comes to "itch weed", his legs were very red and itchy! Next time they want to take the boat out to a lake where there aren't so many bugs, just different kinds.

Hunter-Frying Pan Wilderness

Last fall I went on a mule deer hunt in the Hunter- Frying Pan Wilderness. The DOW (Colorado Dept. of Wildlife) told me the deer numbers might be a little bit down from normal, but I should see some good deer. Well I spent a week up top here (the photo is of the upper drainage of hunter creek where I spent most of my time) with binoculars and spotting scope and the only deer I saw was a fork-horn. And he was on the wrong side of the mountain and out of the wilderness area and my hunting unit. It was kind of depressing to spend the time and effort to prepare and then go that far and not see any deer. I did see some elk and a couple dandy bulls! Evidently the winter of '07-'08 was harder on the deer in this area than the DOW thought. So if anyone is thinking about giving this area a try for deer you may want to give it a couple years. Just a heads-up. I plan on posting more pictures and stories from this trip in the future.

We Need Some Rain!!!

It is getting very dry around here. We had some showers move through this morning but most of it evaporated before it hit the ground. It didn't even get the pavement wet. If it doesn't rain tonight I will have to start watering the lawn. It's starting to turn brown and doesn't recover from foot traffic. Not good this early in the season.
Tomorrow is Sam's first little league baseball game. We have been practicing. I never thought something simple like catching and throwing would be so hard to teach. We haven't even got to hitting yet. I wanted to get catching and throwing down first, but we're out of time. Today we'll get the bat out. I hope that goes better. This is the first year that he'll get pitched to. I'll try to remember the camera and start posting some pictures on here.
I still haven't been out fishing yet. I've heard some good reports from Platte, SD. Tara and Tayler are going on a mission trip to Parkersburg, IA with Youth Group in a couple weeks to help with last years tornado damage. I am taking a few of those days off and the boys and I can hopefully get some camping and fishing in. I'll try to remember to post pictures of that too.

White Robin

This Spring I have noticed several robins with white feathers in places they normally are not. One had an almost complete white head and shoulders. Another had a white stripe on each wing. Still another had a white back and partial white on it's tail. Just curious if anyone else has seen a robin with white in unusual places?
Also we are starting to see a lot of turtle doves around here. A couple years ago there weren't any. Mainly morning doves, but now the turtle doves seem to be taking over.

Cubs Lose a Close One.

The Cubs almost came back in the ninth. Trailing 6-3 they ended up losing 6-5. They have to do something with that bullpen. They are getting quality starts and some consistency to their offense, but their bullpen is dragging them down! I'm really liking Scales. I hope he can stay for the long haul. He has been a real spark to the team when they needed one. It was great to see D Lee snap out of his slump in a big way with a homer, double and 2 singles!!! Let's hope they kick some Red Bird butt this week!

Introduction

I love most everything about the outdoors. From camping, hiking, hunting and fishing to football and baseball. I'm a Bears and Cubs fan. I will probably blog about them allot. Camping season is finally here and I hope to be out there more this year. I didn't get anything done with the boat in the off season so I hope it's ready to go. Last Fall's hunting season did not go as planned. A trip to Colorado that was great, but I came home empty handed. A deer season here in Iowa that was the worst ever and a pheasant season that was well below average.