Ice Storm

On our way home from Wisconsin, Rene' and I hit the tail end of the snow storm that had been a very severe ice storm in southern Michigan the day before...and was currently covering our home and neck of the woods with anywhere from 1/4" to 1/2" of ice on trees and brush to  around 1/2" to 1" of ice on the ground.  It was amazingly beautiful and equally distructive (although, not near as severe of damage as we had about 10 years ago when entire trees were falling over with everything covered in at least 1/2" of ice).   Of course, with this much tree damage....power outages were numerous and wide spread and we were personally told that we would be out of power for at least 5 days.  We ended up only having to use a generator for about 36 hours, which we were very thankful for the surprise power coming back on fairly quick...where many people in our area were indeed out for 4 or 5 days.   Here are a few pics of the campground and this ice storm: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080804&id=1086892434&l=0e533cfcc6

Catching up on the ole blog...

I have fallen into another blog rut and realized that quite a bit of life has gone by since my last post.  Some of the more memorable moments are worth documenting.  First and foremost is a long, and much awaited 25th Wedding Anniversary Get-Away for Rene' and I.   My parents offered to allow us to use their time share, so we chose the Wisconsin Dells!   One reason is because we wanted to see the musical production, "Wicked"...and it was showing in Appleton, WI at the same time period we planned to get away.  The time share unit was amazing too.  It is touted as being the largest indoor water park in America...and we enjoyed sitting poolside in Wisconsin in the middle of February with a snow storm outside.   The rooms were awesome suites! It was great!  Here is a link for the FEW pictures we took (bummer). http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080335&id=1086892434&l=0b2721d46a

Heaven Is For Real...

This book was a "faith builder" for me.  I have always believed in heaven...but, like many, still have a very hard time actually visualizing it and even getting my mind around the concept of heaven.    Being an extremely "visual" person anyway...I am finding myself thinking more about the verse in 2 Cor 5:7, where is says, "We live by faith, not by sight".   Well, in this book, 4 year old, Colton Burpo gets to be our eyes...and it has helped grow my faith in what is usually unseen....but has obviously been seen by the eyes of this little 4 year old ... and the book tells the whole story to help you understand that this is not just some hokie spoof type book...but this little guy actually was in heaven.  Gotta read it!!!  By the end of the book, your faith will grow too...and hopefully it will help us all live even better lives here in the meantime, until we can see it for ourselves.
Here is the link for the book:  http://www.heavenisforreal.net/
And here is a link for one of the better news articles out there related to the book, if you want to read it to get an idea of what the book is about:News article - Heaven is for Real

Also, in this book is the story of how this picture/painting of Jesus is quite possibly very accurate in the likeness of how Jesus really looks.   Here is the link for the artists web site:  http://www.artakiane.com/home
If you click on the "gallery" you will see this painting of Jesus along with many others.

A Blogging slump....

Well, the holidays have come and gone...and I have found myself in  a blogging slump.  It has been over a month now since I have made an entry... and in that time I have celebrated Christmas three times, (here at home with my own little clan of 5, down in Greenville with Mom and Dad, CK, Kayce...and a surprise visit from Benton that we all totally enjoyed, and then also here at Mom and Dad Osborne's with the whole Osborne-Johnson-Smith gang).  Of course, we rang in the New Year with family and friends gathering here at our home...and a good time was had by all.  Emily was home for all of the above, and it was great having her home for the holidays.  Zack has had basketball practices and games and both he and Caleb are in the spring play (Guys and Dolls)...and they just had auditions a little over a week ago and have just started practicing.  The boys and I also enjoyed the NFL play-offs, although the Colts did not go very far (which is the team we would have all enjoyed rooting for...) so, instead I decided to become a cheese-head (Greenbay Packers fan). 

I have also started reading 4 different books...unfortunately, that is one of my idiosyncrasies, in that I read multiple books at the same time...well, not exactly at the same time...that would really be amazing...but, I think you know what I mean.  Nevertheless, at least 2 of these books are "life changers"!  Crazy Love, by Francis Chan  and Heaven is for Real,  by Todd Burpo.    I will tell more about Heaven is for Real in another entry.   Both of these are awesome books...and I can only hope that God will allow them to penetrate into my innermost being. 

Christmas at Nana & PawPaw's house

A cheesehead "wanna-be"

What Christmas is really about...

I have heard a couple things lately...simple...yet true...having to do with the true meaning of Christmas Joy.

"The real gift was ON the tree, not UNDER it".
and
"The real source of joy is not a WHAT,  but a WHO".

If you read this and know of any other saying such as these, let me know.  I would love to hear them.

Hunting Season Continues w/ Zack's First Deer on Video...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words....well, this video link is worth more than that and tells the story of what happened here in the woods, in Michigan this past weekend.  Caution:  If you like BAMBI...please do not watch this video!  (live footage of the actual deer kill).  But, if you do watch it, be sure to have your volume up...it is not the same without the music...which starts soft...and builds.(and enjoy the ending...).
                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKqOldTPhmw

A Belated Birthday Present in the Woods...

They say that good things come to those who wait... I have wanted to be in the woods for the last 6 weeks, but have not been able to either make the time, muster up the energy, or get myself out there for whatever reasons. So, tonight, November 12, 2010, Caleb decided for me...that we needed to be in the woods. He got out about 2:30 or so...about the same time I was out posting the camp property, due to the upcoming firearm season opener on Monday. (I always try to post the property just before opening day). I had pretty much convinced myself that I was going to stick with the posting and once again just skip the woods...I mean it is short sleeve weather, too hot for the deer to be moving much, the wind is swirling in all directions, I won't see anything anyway and I'll just be sitting out there watching squirrels.

Well, most of that was indeed true, but nevertheless, after watching at least 142 squirrels and hearing all 142 of them scampering through the very crisp and crackling leaves, at just about one hour on the stand I heard some leaf noises that were just a little different than the squirrels. I'll let you also know that I was unprepared for hearing such noises, because I was actually getting very bored with the squirrels, the sun was shining and warm and I had just pulled my hat down to block the sun from my eyes and was just a few moments from drifting off into hunter's dream land. As I slowly came out of the near slumber to check out this leaf crackling back over my right shoulder, the first sign of movement I saw was his unique rack coming through the woods. At this point, I don't know where feelings of being tired go...but they are instantly gone. I had to move quick, but not too quick, because as I said, my bow is hanging on the tree next to me...and I still have to knock an arrow, get my release hooked on the string, get into position and hopefully not scare this buck coming right at me at about 25 yards away. He was coming up a trail that was wide open when I first saw him, but fortunately for me, unfortunate for him, as he got within about 15 yards he turned off the trail and into the brush. This gave me the cover I needed to make some movement with the bow and turn his way and get into a shooting position for the next opening he was headed towards, which was going to be almost directly behind my stand and the tree I was sitting in. (which is not good, if I can't get him before he gets to that point, due to having to then make a quick change over to the other side of the tree and all the movement it would require and noise it would make and possibly spooking him in the process). Well, the good news is that I was at full draw and ready for him when he hit the first opening. I was aiming at him even as he was walking through the brush, ready to "let ur fly" as he hit the opening, which is just what I did. To my surprise he dropped immediately, just like one other deer I got quite a few years ago that I hit high and in the spine. So, I figured that must be what I had done here...and then I even knew why. As I stood there and watched him laying on the ground, head up looking around, but obviously unable to run away, I realized that he had only been about 8 yards away and I had forgotten to compensate for the short distance (when they are that close, I have to aim at the bottom line of the body, instead of aiming straight on at the vitals as normal). He was in the brush again, so all I could see was his rack and just a few parts of his body. He continued to look around, and every now and then would make attempts to crawl or get up, but with no success and only getting a few feet further back down the same route he had just walked in on. About that same time, another deer, a little button buck showed up on the scene and made his way over to the downed buck. I found myself wondering just what both deer were thinking about each other and since not much was happening, I even found myself making imaginary deer conversation between them...which I won't bore you with...but you can imagine the scene. ("Hey little guy, wanna give me a hand ... I'm kinda in a bit of a jamb here". "What's happenin big brother?" "Yea, you're not lookin so good there") You know how it goes, I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I am now waiting for one deer to leave and wondering if the other one is going to die or if I'm going to have to shoot him again, and if I can even get another shot at him. Well, this went on for 15 or 20 minutes, and I just stood there watching and wondering, and he never did present another shot, but continued to stay in the brush and also continued to gradually scoot back down the same route he had walked in. It was going to be dark soon, so I decided to go ahead and take a chance at getting down from the stand and getting another shot at him while I could still see him. The little button buck decided things were not quite right, and moved along...so I started down my ladder stand. As I figured he would, as soon as I hit the leaves he found the energy to somehow move faster and began to crawl quickly towards what he hoped would be refuge in the thicker brush. I ran up ahead of him looking for a place to take another shot. I found one. The second shot was where the first should have been. It was time to take a picture and send out the news.

He is definitely the nicest buck I have harvested thus far, although, there are quite a few much nicer than him that I have had close encounters with, but they got away…which is exactly what keeps me going back into the woods.

This guy has a unique rack, with 9 points total. One side is a typical 5 point rack, but the other side has a split main beam, which makes it like two fork horns on the same side (2-2 points). I don’t know how much he weighs, but I would guess just a speck above average (probably around 135-145 lbs.). He is hanging in the front yard tree as I write this story, ready to head to the processor tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to me…one day belated.